The second week of the Vuelta is drawing to a close, but before another summit finish and a stage for breakaway specialists this weekend, Clément Berthet has moved into the top 10 of the general classification. Very strong on the way to Calar Alto on Thursday, the French climber also joined a large breakaway alongside Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet and Rudy Molard on Friday, taking 19th place on the day in a final that suited him less well. The day after his prestigious victory, Bastien Tronchon, meanwhile, secured another top-10 stage finish on Wednesday.
Barely had the euphoria of the success subsided when it was already time to get back on the road for the 81st edition of the Vuelta on Wednesday. The action resumed in the Murcia region, with an 11th stage covering 153 kilometres and featuring just one climb, 30 kilometres from the finish. The sprinters were determined not to let this opportunity pass, and their teams had no difficulty controlling the four-man morning breakaway and then the few moves that took place during the final hour of racing. “There was some nervousness because of the wind around the halfway point,” Benoît Vaugrenard also pointed out. “Things started to get a little hectic at one point, but without any real consequences. In the end, it was a fairly standard day. Things moved a little on the final climb, Rémy followed, but everything quickly came back together and then we focused on Bastien.” Fresh from his victory the previous day, the Frenchman once again managed to make his mark in the sprint. “He handled the final well, also thanks to the team’s work all the way to the final corner, 400 metres from the finish,” Benoît noted. “Enzo, in particular, did a great job bringing him back up the group, even though he isn’t really used to that role. Bastien went through the corner in a good position, but he lost a little speed coming out of it. Riders came back up on his left, otherwise I think a top five would have been possible.” In the final 100 metres, the Groupama-FDJ United rider eventually moved up to seventh place. “It was difficult to do much better,” his sports director added. “We saw a very good group, which was pleasing to see, especially for a group that isn’t used to this kind of exercise.”
“Clément is where he belongs” – Benoît Vaugrenard
On Thursday, heading towards Calar Alto (17 km at 5.6%) via the Alto de Velefique (13 km at 7%), the fast men handed the reins over to the climbers in a 12th stage featuring nearly 4,500 metres of elevation gain. The battle to get into the breakaway proved fierce from the start, with the eventual 30-man group including Rémy Rochas. “It was a good stage for Guillaume, but he wasn’t having a good day and, logically, we were missing a card up front,” Benoît explained. “So we quite quickly focused on Clément.” The leading group built up a comfortable advantage over the peloton before the day’s final two climbs, but Rémy Rochas was forced to let his breakaway companions go on the Alto de Velefique. At the summit, he was even caught by a small red-jersey group that did include Clément Berthet. Among the favourites, the real battle began 13 kilometres from the finish, on the steepest section of the final climb. “When things really got going, Clément was dropped, but he found himself in a group of six with the two Astana riders, Skjelmose and Kuss,” Benoît recounted. “They stayed together, which was obviously more interesting than riding alone. Clément had a very strong finish. He was with riders who were sitting between eighth and 12th overall, which is where he belongs. There is a real gap to the riders ahead. So it was a fairly satisfying day.” It was also a day on which the rider from the Jura region retained his 11th place overall, 13’21” behind Enric Mas, who strengthened his position in the red jersey.
This was the situation in which he approached Friday’s 13th stage of the Vuelta, clearly suited to attackers on the way to Loja. “We knew the breakaway would make it to the finish,” Benoît assured. “We had decided to keep an eye on the riders close behind Clément in the general classification, because we know that on this kind of stage, they can try to get into the breakaway in order to move up the standings. That’s exactly what happened. They made their move, so we made ours.” The decisive move came on the first climb of the day, when around 40 riders — effectively a small peloton — broke clear, including not only Clément Berthet but also Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet and Rudy Molard. However, as expected in such a large group, the cooperation was far from great. Attacks and counter-attacks followed one another until eleven riders managed to break clear with around 120 kilometres remaining. Among this group were the two Groupama-FDJ United climbers, who subsequently benefited from better cooperation and built an advantage of up to 1’45” over the rest of the breakaway. Unfortunately, after 50 kilometres at the front, the trend began to reverse. “If Burgos or Tudor had been up there, it would have been over and nobody would have been riding,” Benoît said. “That’s the small regret of the day. We were just missing one team being represented.”
“Things didn’t go our way” – Benoît Vaugrenard
Little by little, the gap between the first two groups on the road closed, and the leading group had just 30 seconds left at the foot of the final difficulty, located 45 kilometres from the finish. By the summit, the groups came back together. “We then lacked a little strength to attack again because they had already given a lot and needed to recover,” Benoît explained. “Rudy could potentially have gone, but he hadn’t made it back to the front yet when the Van Aert group attacked.” Nine riders were therefore able to break clear after the descent and were never caught again. Wout Van Aert won around 20 kilometres later, while Clément Berthet and Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet finished in a chasing group around 40 seconds later. “Things didn’t go our way today, but that’s cycling,” Benoît concluded. “The guys are riding well, but we were not rewarded in terms of the results. I think we deserved better. We move into the top 10 overall, but we can’t celebrate a rival’s withdrawal. In any case, we know that you have to take risks to get into the top 10. We took those risks today, it didn’t work out, but it could have. We know that a Grand Tour is an elimination race. The big challenge on this Vuelta is not only the elevation gain, but also the heat, which will gradually start to come into play. From the beginning, we’ve been convinced that Clément’s freshness will work in his favour and I think he will finish very strongly. Tomorrow and Sunday, the breakaway still has a great chance, and there is going to be plenty more action on this Vuelta.”
