The big mountain stage of La Route d’Occitanie proved unforgiving this Friday. At the summit of Luz-Ardiden, the riders of the Groupama-FDJ were unable to join the fight for victory. Rudy Molard was the first to cross the line, in 27th place, while Nicolas Prodhomme took the stage and the leader’s jersey.
Stage 3 of the Route d’Occitanie clearly promised to be decisive for the overall classification. And for good reason, as no less than 3,700 metres of elevation gain were on the riders’ program this Friday. However, before tackling the iconic Col du Tourmalet (17 km at 7.4%) and then the final climb to Luz-Ardiden (13.3 km at 7.4%), there were about 100 flat kilometres to cover. This section allowed the formation of a five-man breakaway, which took up to an eight-minute lead over a serene peloton. Nevertheless, by the time they reached Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, at the foot of the biggest Pyrenean climb, the gap reduced to five minutes, while Lorenzo Germani was forced to abandon. “He was starting to get headaches, so as a precaution, we decided to stop him,” explained Yvon Caër. The race continued without the Italian rider, and Groupama-FDJ focused on tackling the first slopes of the Tourmalet in a good way.
“We didn’t have the legs of our ambitions,” Yvon Caër
Halfway up the climb, Rémy Rochas, Kevin Geniets, and Rudy Molard were still in a peloton of around forty riders. However, they were dropped following the favourites’ first attacks a little further up. “We clearly didn’t have the legs,” explained Yvon. “Rudy was more or less at his level, but Rémy and Kevin dropped 5-6 kilometres from the summit of the Tourmalet and were never able to recover. All the gaps that were made on the Tourmalet increased in Luz-Ardiden. Some riders really cracked. Was it due to the heat, or to the return to racing after a tough Giro? Either way, it’s a disappointment, because we didn’t have the legs of our ambitions.” With no overall standings to defend on Saturday, Groupama-FDJ will attempt to regain the momentum of the first two days, which brought two top-5 finishes. “We’ll try to anticipate because it could be an open race,” Yvon concluded. Three major climbs will still be on the program over the 128 kilometres from Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Girons.
