After a hard opening stage on the Tour du Limousin – Périgord – Nouvelle Aquitaine, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team didn’t experience a better day on Wednesday in stage 2. Down to four riders after the additional abandons of Lorenzo Germani and Eddy Le Huitouze, the French team was unable to make a significant impact in the final to Grèzes, and Rémy Rochas had to settle for seventeenth place.
Although it didn’t offer the biggest elevation gain of the week, the second stage of the Tour du Limousin – Périgord – Nouvelle Aquitaine could be considered as the most crucial. No fewer than seven climbs were indeed listed in the final seventy kilometres leading to Grèzes. The slopes weren’t certainly very steep, but the repeated efforts and the attrition race seemed enough to lead to a real fight for the general classification. After already losing Quentin Pacher due to a crash the day before, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team started with only four riders on Wednesday, with the abandons of Lorenzo Germani, following his crash on day one, and of Eddy Le Huitouze, due to illness. “From a collective point of view, all these abandons are obviously hard blows that have impacted the squad,” confessed Benoît Vaugrenard. “Lorenzo and Quentin, in particular, were capable of performing well on this type of course. With only four riders, the idea was to wait and ride conservatively. We didn’t really have a choice. The goal was to stay with the best for as long as possible.”
“The momentum isn’t great,” Benoît Vaugrenard
Five riders joined the day’s breakaway and got a lead of nearly seven minutes over a peloton that only increased the pace as the second half of the race’s difficulties approached. The gap narrowed from then on, until it was completely closed with thirty kilometres to go. It was also at this point that Tom Donnenwirth was distanced from the peloton. “Then, Rémy missed a little something to follow the group of ten that went away on the penultimate climb,” added Benoît. “We were definitely a level below, physically speaking. The momentum isn’t great at the moment, and we’ll have to get back on track pretty quickly.” After this hilly final, Sylvain Moniquet claimed victory, and Rémy Rochas crossed the line in seventeenth position, 1’28 later. The Frenchman holds the same position in the general classification on Wednesday. “Tomorrow, it could be an uphill sprint for the peloton, or a breakaway day, given the gaps that were made today,” Benoît concluded. “We’ll have to be careful about the moves at the start, then we’ll focus on Tom in the event of a sprint because this uphill finish could suit him.”
