Less than a week ago, he claimed his first-ever top 10 finish in a Grand Tour (8th). On Thursday, Brieuc Rolland caused an even bigger stir by being one of the main protagonists of the twelfth stage of the Vuelta. After entering a large breakaway alongside Stefan Küng and Rudy Molard, the young Frenchman perfectly anticipated the day’s final climb, reaching the summit in third place. Despite a fierce pursuit behind Juan Ayuso and Javier Romo in the final, the Groupama-FDJ rider had to settle for third place, barely thirteen seconds behind the winner. A finish as cruel as it was promising.
Following a day quite controlled by the red jersey Jonas Vingegaard’s squad around Bilbao, the breakaway seemed to have a clear path this Thursday on the Vuelta a España. Between Laredo and Los Corrales de Buelna, the stage profile, including a significant climb around twenty kilometres from the finish, lent itself perfectly to a victory for an attacker. As always in these circumstances, the fight to get to the front was therefore very intense at the start of the race. Although a group of around twenty men, including Stefan Küng and Brieuc Rolland, managed to break away before the first climb of the day, located at kilometre 33, the counterattacks continued to happen all the way to the summit of Puerto de Alisas (8.6 km at 6%). As a result, a small peloton formed in front of the main peloton. “The objective was to be at the front, and that was well done with Stefan and Rudy,” said Brieuc Rolland. “Once the last group made the junction, there were 50 riders in total in the break,” explained William Green. “Many teams had many riders represented, so we knew it was going to be quite dynamic. We had several options. We had Stefan to anticipate before the climb, Brieuc to follow on the climb, and Rudy to sprint if it all came back together in the last fifteen kilometres.”
“It was psychological torture,” Brieuc Rolland
The peloton led by Visma-Lease a Bike also let the breakaway go, and the front group remained quite compact until the intermediate sprint, located about forty kilometres from the finish line, but more importantly ten kilometres before the Collada de Brenes (7 km at 8%). “Lidl-Trek put a lot of effort to control until the sprint for Pedersen, then the race was more open,” added William. “Stefan was in the mix there, covering all the moves before Brieuc made the right move just before the climb.” “The guys protected me all day,” Brieuc said. “It was great to be surrounded by these two experienced men. I could ride in a conservative way, and I only used two bullets: one to be in the breakaway, the other to anticipate. It was Stefan’s advice, and it proved useful as it gave me a head start!” Thirty-six kilometres from the finish line, the Breton reacted well to join a quartet, and a rather good cooperation allowed them to reach the bottom of the climb with a gap of more than thirty seconds over the rest of the breakaway. “Considering what Brieuc did yesterday, alongside the best riders in the race, we were quite confident he was going to be able to follow, even if he hadn’t anticipated,” William said.
At the steepest point of the climb, the French climber proved superior to his fellow breakaway mates, but three kilometres from the top, Juan Ayuso came back at full speed from behind. The Spaniard took the lead with Javier Romo, but Brieuc Rolland didn’t give up and kept pushing a handful of seconds behind the Spanish duo. First with another man, then isolated, he never lost more than a dozen seconds. At the summit, the young man even estimated the gap at eight seconds. “It’s a little and a lot at the same time, it seems cruel, but that would be forgetting how flat-out I was at that moment,” he said. “I think if I could have followed them, I would have.” Then came a 7,500-metre downhill, then sixteen kilometres of flat roads to reach the finish line. “I did the descent alone, without a motorbike ahead, so I had to take a few more risks,” he added. “At the bottom, I thought I was quite far, but there were only fifteen seconds of a gap. I just wanted to give it my all, I didn’t manage my effort at all. I stayed 10-15 seconds behind Romo and Ayuso throughout the valley. It was really psychological torture. I was trying to be as aero as possible, but I had nothing left. It was a long way of suffering. Luckily, I always had them in my sights, which allowed me to hold on until the end.”
“A small regret, but a feeling of accomplishment,” Brieuc Rolland
Despite the hard task he faced, Brieuc Rolland didn’t give up, even though a chasing group of around fifteen men was getting close. “With the headwind in the final, we thought about waiting, but we ultimately decided to go for it and go all in, which Brieuc did perfectly,” added William. Unfortunately, the Spanish duo got along well enough in the final to prevent the French rider from coming back. Under the flamme rouge, he was therefore too far to hope for victory. Juan Ayuso took the win, but Brieuc Rolland still managed to secure a remarkable third place at the finish line, thirteen seconds behind the Spaniard. “Honestly, the level of the riders in that breakaway was so high that a top 10 seemed a realistic goal,” said William. “So, to come away with third place with a young rider in his first Grand Tour is really super. I think he surprised himself, he surprised the team, and he shows that he’s got a really bright future. Looking at his shape right now, you can imagine he’ll have other opportunities in the near future.”
After wiping away a few tears of frustration—and fatigue—at the finish, the former rider from “La Conti” was able to look back positively on the day. “I’m disappointed because I had some fantastic teammates today,” he concluded. “I’m so happy to share this Vuelta with them, and I really wanted to bring them a reward. I hope they’re still proud of me. I gave it my all anyway. There is a small regret, but also a feeling of accomplishment. You don’t compete to win a Grand Tour stage every day. Tonight, in my bed, I think I will still be very happy with the day I had and with this result. For my first Grand Tour, I was lucky enough to experience a superb stage victory, to defend a leader’s jersey. That was already great. Now, there are opportunities to seize. My legs are good, so I have to take advantage of that. I’m not going to be content with this third place, there are still some great stages left, so for sure I’m going to go back at it and fight for the win.”
