For its first race weekend of the 2026 season, the Groupama-FDJ United’s development team delivered a highly encouraging performance in the final three rounds of the Plages Vendéennes. After winning on Friday through Eliott Boulet, then on Saturday with the team time trial, “La Conti” rounded off the weekend with two riders in the top 10 in Sunday’s final race. A very solid start to the season.
The Groupama-FDJ United development team kicked off its season in Champ-Saint-Père last Friday, in the fourth round of the Plages Vendéennes. Also, they could hardly have asked for a better start. After 136 kilometers of racing, and after two neutralizations, Eliott Boulet powered to victory from a small group. “We thought it would be difficult to make the difference on this relatively flat circuit,” explained sports director Jérôme Gannat. “Yet, a break went clear with thirty kilometres to go. Fourteen riders got away, including Eliott and Blake. The cooperation up front wasn’t perfect, so Blake committed 100% to make sure the break stayed away and set up a sprint for Eliott. On paper, he was the fastest, and the uphill drag to the line suited him perfectly. Blake did a huge job, he even covered an attack in the final kilometre before leading Eliott out with 250 metres to go, and Eliott went on to raise his arms.” “The team did an incredible job and Blake was very strong in the final,” Eliott added. “I wanted to take pulls, but he told me to save energy, so I was fresh for the sprint. I opened up from quite far out, but it worked.” Jérôme concluded: “We were very united, very present, very collective, and everyone worked for a proper team victory.”
“The goal was to build positive momentum” – Jérôme Gannat
They just needed to carry out this cohesion into Saturday’s 30.7-kilometer team time trial in Saint-Urbain. “It was mainly for this TTT that we came to the Plages Vendéennes,” Jérôme explained. “It’s an effort we very rarely get to practice in racing conditions, and it was a great opportunity to work on it for the future. We had trained for it once in Calpe, then again on Wednesday and Thursday on site. We felt the group was going well and we were ambitious, but there was some pressure.” The young men were briefly under threat during the time trial, trailing by a handful of seconds at the intermediate checkpoint after 14 kilometres. “We were a bit surprised, but the first section had a tailwind and we probably started slightly too cautiously,” Jérôme added. “The bigger gaps were made in the tougher final section into a headwind, and we managed to win with a fairly comfortable margin.” Eliott Boulet, Blake Agnoletto, Karl Sagnier, Soan Ruesche, Maximilian Cushway, Esteban Foucher and New Zealand U23 time trial champion Reef Roberts completed the course in 34 minutes and 24 seconds, at an average speed of 53.5 km/h — sixteen seconds faster than the second-placed team.
With two wins in two days, a clean sweep seemed possible on Sunday in the final 160-kilometer road race. “The profile was similar to Friday’s, without major difficulties,” Jérôme explained. “There was an early break with Soan, then another move with Maximilian, but we didn’t commit to the break because we were aiming for a sprint with Eliott and Karl. So we controlled things in the final kilometres, even if it was quite hectic. In the final, we were slightly fewer than expected. Maximilian moved everyone up with one kilometre to go, Blake launched the lead-out, and maybe Eliott went a bit early. On the uphill finishing straight, Karl couldn’t come around, and we were overtaken by riders coming from the right, sheltered from the wind. The sprint was a bit more demanding than we had anticipated, and we just lacked a little energy to finish it off.” Eliott Boulet eventually finished fourth, Karl Sagnier eighth, and the hat-trick slipped away. “That was the objective for the weekend, but the overall assessment remains very positive,” Jérôme concluded. “The goal was also to build positive momentum. We chose to start the season with Elite races, which allows the young riders to gain experience in more unpredictable scenarios and develop their race sense. It was a good collective experience, and that’s promising for what’s ahead.”