An encouraging return to racing. In one of the most mountainous one-day races of the season, Clément Berthet made his comeback to competition this Wednesday by securing fifth place at the Mercan’Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes. After tackling the three major climbs featured on the day’s route, the French rider crossed the finish line in Valberg 48 seconds behind the winner, while Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet finished 13th.
The riders faced no fewer than 4,000 metres of elevation gain on Wednesday’s Mercan’Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes, packed into just 152 kilometres. More importantly, there was no flat terrain over the final 100 kilometres, with the successive climbs of La Colmiane (7.5 km at 7%), the Col de la Couillole (16 km at 7%), a short uphill portion towards Valberg, and finally the full ascent to the ski resort (14 km at 6%). “The day started exactly as we wanted, with good control of the breakaway thanks to the work of Maximilian and then Esteban,” explained Stéphane Goubert. However, it was 60 kilometres from the finish, at the foot of the Col de la Couillole, that the race truly came to life. Halfway up the climb, only around thirty riders remained in the peloton, including Quentin Pacher, Rémi Daumas, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet and Clément Berthet. Quentin Pacher was eventually forced to drop back, as was the recent stage winner of the Ronde de l’Isard a few minutes later. “Rémi had already suffered a harmless crash on the descent of La Colmiane, and then on the Couillole he struggled with the heat,” added Stéphane Goubert.
“We raced with the strengths we had today” – Stéphane Goubert
A group of around twenty riders reached the finish line in Valberg for the first time before heading down the descent and beginning the final climb. There, Léo Bisiaux made his move early, and with around nine kilometres remaining, Clément Berthet also launched an attack after an unsuccessful attempt a few moments earlier. “He went for it during a lull in the race,” Stéphane explained. “He wasn’t feeling at his best, so he tried to anticipate, but he never managed to get back to Bisiaux.” The Frenchman closed the gap to within fifteen seconds of the leader, but after chasing alone for nearly five kilometres, he was caught by a four-man chasing group. He was then unable to respond when the decisive moves were made in the final three kilometres. “The Kern Pharma riders climbed very hard and even managed to catch Bisiaux,” Stéphane continued. “Clément still fought hard to secure a top-five finish and reward the work of the whole team, but he is still missing a little something coming out of the training camp, which was also the case for several other riders in the race.”
Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet also finished 13th on the day. “He has had quite a lot going on in his personal life recently, and we also know that he is a real diesel engine,” said Stéphane. “He will continue to build form ahead of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Tour de France. We came here aiming for the win, and we did not achieve that objective. But on a course like this, there is nowhere to hide. We raced with the strengths we had today.”
