The strong start to the Tour de Luxembourg continues for Groupama-FDJ. Following Romain Grégoire’s win yesterday, it was Tom Donnenwirth who stood out on Thursday in the bunch sprint that concluded the second stage. In Mamer, the French puncher claimed a fine third place, while his young teammate retained the lead on the eve of the queen stage.
On paper, this was clearly the “easiest” stage of the week. Despite tallying nearly 2,000 metres of elevation gain, the second stage of the Tour de Luxembourg was surely made for the sprinters this Thursday. However, to bring a bunch finish after the 168 kilometres of racing, it was necessary to control a breakaway of seven riders that formed early on. Initially, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team took responsibility, since Romain Grégoire started with the yellow jersey. “There were two riders within thirty seconds in GC in this group, but the goal was also to gamble a bit and force the sprinters’ teams to come and pull,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard. “Eddy controlled very well and worked hard all day. EF Education-EasyPost and Alpecin-Deceuninck came later to take turns in preparation for the sprint.” Although the breakaway got a maximum lead of nearly five minutes, it was, however, quite logically, caught with five kilometres to go. The bunch prepared for the expected bunch sprint, in a nervous way, and Groupama-FDJ got organized around Tom Donnenwirth.
“It’s always nice,” Tom Donnenwirth
“Initially, the goal was to save the teammates for tomorrow’s stage,” explained Benoît. “That being said, we were waiting to see what the final circuit and the finish were like, and if it would suit Romain or Tom. We needed to wait until the first crossing of the line to decide who would sprint, and they decided among themselves that it would be Tom.” “I felt pretty good, so the guys supported me,” added the Frenchman. “They really did a great job, especially Romain, who made a big effort at three kilometres with his yellow jersey, then Lorenzo, who led me very well in the final, as usual. It was still quite technical, with two roundabouts that really stretched the peloton out, but we were ideally positioned.” Thanks to his teammates, Tom Donnenwirth approached the final 500 metres in a very good way. “I took the wheel of Marijn van den Berg because he was the one with the fastest sprint,” he said. “I waited until the last moment, I went for it with 100 metres to go, but two riders came back with much more speed from behind.”Nevertheless, Tom secured a very solid third place in this bunch sprint. “I’m not the one with the biggest legs, but it’s always nice to get a first podium finish in a bunch sprint,” he said. Since Marijn van den Berg didn’t take any bonus seconds, Romain Grégoire eventually retained the leader’s yellow jersey. “I wouldn’t have been mad if I’d lost it, because we wouldn’t have had to control the race tomorrow, but a leader’s jersey is still something special, so I’m enjoying it anyway,” said the Frenchman. “There is a very nice stage tomorrow, but before thinking about the overall, we will think about the stage, and we will ride it like a one-day race. We will take stock tomorrow evening.” Heading towards Vianden Castle on Friday, the Niklosbierg climb (2.8 km at 9.3%) will have to be covered three times in the last sixty kilometers before a final, uphill kilometre averaging 8%.
