Bastien Tronchon wasted no time making an impression in Groupama-FDJ colours. After crashing last Sunday at the Clásica de Almería, the French rider bounced back in style on Wednesday’s opening stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia. Following an animated day of racing, he powered to second place in a reduced bunch sprint, beaten only by Christophe Laporte. More opportunities await him and his teammates later this week.
The riders faced a demanding opener in Andalusia, with nearly 2,700 metres of elevation gain packed into 150 kilometres between Benahavís and Pizarra. Most of the climbing also came in the first half of the stage, which could mean aggressive racing from day one. Everything actually started with a twenty-kilometre climb averaging 5%. “Campenaerts went right from the gun, and we quickly realised that Visma-Lease a Bike wanted to make the race really hard,” explained William Green. “For the first half of the climb, there was no real fight, but for the second half, it was a very high tempo with a lot of attacking, trying to bridge across to Campenaerts. He went over the climb with around thirty seconds, and at this point more than twenty riders had already been dropped, including Paul. Maxime then sacrificed himself and tried to bring him back. He did a great job, Paul made it back to the convoy, but that’s when the fight picked up again.” On the third climb of the day, Puerto de las Abejas (4 km at 5.5%), a group of around fifteen riders broke clear of the peloton to bridge across to the seven-man morning break, with seventy kilometres still to race.
“I really believed in it for a long time” – Bastien Tronchon
“We were fortunate to have Clément [Braz Afonso] in there, but it also meant the end of Paul’s chances,” William added. With fifty kilometres to go, the leading group split up, but the peloton was still only thirty seconds behind. “We didn’t panic too much because there was never really hesitation in the bunch,” said Bastien Tronchon. “The gap wasn’t growing, and it was actually a pretty well-managed day. The guys did a great job covering moves, and once Paul was out of the front group, the plan was for me to sprint, so I tried to save myself as much as possible.” “We know how fast Bastien is, and we said in the morning briefing that this was a real opportunity for him,” added William. “Valentin also did a strong job pulling to bring back the break”. With around thirty-five kilometres to go, the race came back together and a peloton of roughly seventy riders was formed. Romain Grégoire followed one move before several teams took control to set up a bunch finish. On a flat run-in with no further difficulties, the peloton’s progress was no longer disrupted.“We were always together in the last ten kilometres with Clément [Russo],” Bastien explained. “He led me out until about one kilometre to go, but unfortunately we lost each other. I had to go left, he went right, thinking I was still on his wheel.” “It was also the first final they’ve ridden together,” said William. “We knew the wind was coming from the left in the sprint, and the plan was to stay on the right-hand side, where Clément was.” Launching his sprint alone on the left side of the road, Bastien Tronchon briefly went head-to-head with Christophe Laporte. “I really believed in it for a long time,” he admitted. “Maybe I opened up a bit too early, but I’d rather go too early than get boxed in. In the end, Christophe was just stronger. It’s a slightly bittersweet second place because we said again this morning on the bus that we’re not here just to make up the numbers — we’re here to win.” “We’re obviously satisfied with second place, but at the same time Bastien clearly had what it took to win today,” William concluded. “It’s a great way to start the week. The team is strong, we’ve got four more opportunities and cards to play on every stage.”
