For their third official race in the team jersey, the riders from the Juniors Program proved very active this week in the Tour du Pays de Vaud. Unfortunately, Jimmy Turgis’s men didn’t manage to score the stage victory they were aiming for, but Johan Blanc still finished second in the queen stage and sixth overall.
The 2025 Tour du Pays de Vaud was scheduled to start on Thursday with a very unusual stage. In the streets of Lausanne, barely 4,700 metres were to be covered collectively. “The team time trial is rare among juniors, even more so for us because we don’t race together often, but a team time trial over five kilometres is really something very specific,” Jimmy Turgis explained. “We did a good recon and had a quite aggressive strategy. The idea was to start very fast because there was a hill at the beginning of the course, and each rider had a very specific role. They really did what was asked of them and gave their all.” Ultimately, this resulted in an eighth-place finish, eleven seconds behind the winning team. “We came a bit short, but we should recall that we had five riders riding their first Junior year in the team,” Jimmy said. “We would have been closer to fifth place, which was the goal, if the weather conditions had been the same for everyone. There was a heavy downpour before the start, and we had a really wet road on the course, while the final corners had dried out for the last starters. That’s part of the game. Eighth place is still satisfying, but we were a bit frustrated because I think the team deserved a little better.”
“The team was really fantastic”, Johan Blanc
The next day, on the hilly 113-kilometre circuit around Eclépens, the French team took the start with a clear goal. “We wanted to win with Alban Picard,” Jimmy said. “We did a very good race. There was a difficult climb to do twice, then 60 kilometres to reach the finish. Johan Blanc and Clément Bouyssou had to stay with the climbers on the climbs, while the rest of the team had to do their best to support Alban, which they did perfectly. Alban was dropped at the top of the second climb, and there were then 40 guys in front. Augustin Fahy, Clément Le Fur, and Maxime Mortier really got together well around Alban and managed to close a gap of one minute and thirty seconds on the main peloton. They put in a great effort and Alban was able to save his energy until the finish thanks to the work of the whole team.” In the final, a massive crash forced the organizers to neutralize the race, then a nearly complete peloton set off again for the last twenty kilometres. “Clément Le Fur was a little bit affected in the crash,” Jimmy added. “We did the final with five riders and the team perhaps did too well. Alban found himself in front too early and was a bit outflanked just before the sprint started.” This then resulted in a ninth place for the young man.
As for the general classification, it was set to be decided on Saturday. The third stage featured 2,000 metres of elevation gain over just 113 kilometers, with two climbs of the Côte du Molard (3.4 km at 7%) and the summit finish at Saint-Cergue (8.6 km at 5.7%). “The goal was to have an impact on the race,” Jimmy explained. “We had developed a really aggressive and collective strategy. From the start of the race, we took control on each climb to try to make the race hard for Johan. The guys went fast up the climbs and came back to pull many times. They really had a great stage, and we still had Clément Bouyssou and Johan at the start of the last climb in a first peloton of around twenty riders.” “The team was really fantastic, everyone did everything they could,” Johan confirmed. “They really gave me huge support; it was really great.” On the final climb, however, it proved hard to make any gaps. “It was quite rolling, and even though about ten riders were a bit on the limit, they managed to hang on thanks to the slipstream,” Jimmy said. “It was a race of attrition, and I wasn’t feeling so good either, so I didn’t dare attack early,” Johan said. “The Australian rider attacked with about one kilometre to go, and we looked at each other a bit too much. I then told myself that I had nothing to lose, that I had to give everything I had left, so I attacked.”
“They all grew up thanks to this race,” Jimmy Turgis
Unfortunately, it was already too late to hope to get the win at the summit. “He attacked at about 500 metres, gradually gained ground on the Australian, but crossed the line just three seconds behind,” Jimmy added. “He finished with a bang to secure a fine second place, but there was once again a lot of frustration because he realized he was perhaps the strongest in the race when he crossed the finish line. Apart from this frustration, there was also the satisfaction of the great job accomplished beforehand”. This performance also allowed Johan Blanc to climb to sixth place overall, which was almost secured before an easier final stage on Sunday. “We took the time to go and check out the route by car on Saturday evening,” Jimmy said. “Once the recon was done, we knew it would be very difficult to overturn the overall standings because the route wasn’t suitable for it. We still planned on attacking all out to try to put the Danish team in trouble. However, they were solid, and we weren’t able to place Johan in a breakaway. Once we realized it wasn’t possible, we quickly switched to the fight for the stage victory with Alban.” “We tried until the very end, I received a lot of support from the whole team to overturn the GC, but the course wasn’t selective enough,” added Johan.
A bunch sprint was then expected in Ecublens, which the young men of the Juniors Program approached perfectly. “It was a very particular final with two roundabouts with 250 metres and 150 metres to go,” Jimmy explained. “The peloton came very fast, Alban was in a great position, but unfortunately he was hit by a move in the peloton in the final straight. To avoid crashing, he jumped a sidewalk, landed on his rear wheel, and punctured 150m to go, while he was on the wheel of the German rider who ultimately claimed victory. He finished with a flat tire, but without that puncture, he would have at least finished on the podium.” A big crash occurred at the same time, while Clément Bouyssou (12th) and Johan Blanc (13th) were the first riders of the team to reach the finish, the latter therefore securing his final top 10. “The goal was to win a stage and get a top 5 in the general classification,” said Johan. “We came close, these are still good performances, but I would really have liked to do better.” “The balance is very positive because our young riders have accumulated some really good experience in a big international race,” concluded Jimmy. “I think they all grew up thanks to this race. Our goal is to train youngsters and these races help us to reach this goal. I think we can be happy from that point of view given what we have shown during this week.”