It could have been an almost perfect opening day. Unfortunately, Groupama-FDJ United Cycling Team’s eighth-place finish in Saturday’s opening team time trial of the Tour de France in Barcelona was heavily overshadowed by Clément Berthet’s withdrawal from the race. While Romain Grégoire produced a stunning finish to conclude the work of his teammates, his fellow rider from Franche-Comté crossed the line three minutes later alongside Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet, with whom he had crashed around ten kilometres earlier. The incident not only disrupted the team’s performance but will also prevent him from starting Stage 2 on Sunday. A truly heart-breaking outcome.
Everything was in place for a nice day of racing in Barcelona, the host city of the 113th Tour de France Grand Départ. The 19.6-kilometre opening team time trial, with the clock stopping on the first rider from each team, promised an exciting contest. Within the Groupama-FDJ United camp, the strategy was clear: Romain Grégoire was the team’s key asset. The plan was first to protect him throughout the course, then launch him at the foot of the final climb so he could fully show his strengths and set the fastest possible time. Unfortunately, the squad suffered a major setback just before halfway when Clément Berthet and Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet both crashed at the back of the group. By the second intermediate checkpoint, the team had already lost several valuable seconds. “Clément lost his balance, Guillaume couldn’t avoid him, and Quentin then suffered a mechanical and was caught behind the split,” explained Anthony Bouillod. “We suddenly found ourselves down to five riders. That said, we had agreed beforehand that if any rider suffered a mechanical issue, we wouldn’t wait because our goal was to produce the best performance possible. Everyone was on board with that decision. It was disappointing, but we stuck to our plan, and everything remained very clear for the riders.” “It was a real blow,” added Romain Grégoire. “In the heat of the moment, I didn’t even realise they had crashed. Since the plan was to save me for the final, the others were down to just four riders doing the work, but they were incredible. They were really strong and managed to limit the losses over the final flat section.”
“Romain is really strong” – Anthony Bouillod
At the third and penultimate intermediate checkpoint, Groupama-FDJ United had even moved into the provisional lead. “Romain wanted to contribute a little on the flat to help the others, but we ultimately kept him in the wheels throughout that section,” Anthony continued. “The others really stepped up because they had to extend their turns at the front, and they did an excellent job limiting the losses. The main change was that Romain had to start pulling on the penultimate climb to maintain the gap. Clément Braz Afonso came over the top with him, gave him one final pull on the descent, and then Romain went solo. The others compensated brilliantly on the flat, but naturally we missed having those extra riders in the final”. After powering up the Montjuïc climb (900 metres at 5.5%), Grégoire tackled the final ascent (800 metres at 7%) at full speed, allowing his explosive qualities to shine. At the summit, he beat the previous best time by more than twenty seconds. “We knew the final suited him perfectly, which is why we built our strategy around it,” said Anthony. “When you see the way he finished, it’s obvious that Romain is really strong. He didn’t work on the flat, but he still had to start riding on the penultimate climb and then during the approach to the final hill. He put on a tremendous finish.”
“The team did a really great job” – Romain Grégoire
Most importantly, Groupama-FDJ United’s time of 22’28” stood up remarkably well against the rest of the field. Before the final five teams – the main favourites – had finished, the French squad was still sitting on the provisional podium. By the end of the day, they had slipped to eighth place, just two seconds off sixth and 41 seconds behind stage winners of Visma-Lease a Bike. “I think the team did a really great job,” said Romain. “This eighth place reflects a very good team time trial for us, especially considering everything that happened. Personally, I delivered the performance I was aiming for on the climb.” “We got exactly the level of commitment we were looking for, and the result is quite positive given the circumstances,” confirmed Anthony. “On the other hand, Clément and Guillaume’s crash is obviously a huge disappointment. We could certainly have hoped for sixth place if they had still been with us, but more importantly are the consequences of the crash itself.” Although both riders managed to complete the stage around three minutes behind Romain Grégoire, Clément Berthet will unfortunately not be able to take the start on Sunday. It is a cruel twist of fate for the French climber and a significant loss for the team ahead of an explosive finish on Montjuïc Hill in Stage 2.
