The Italian week got off to a good start for “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ in the Giro Next Gen. In particular, the French squad managed to put no fewer than three riders in the top-10 of Sunday’s opening time trial, before Lewis Bower secured a decent result in the uphill sprint on Monday (16th). The real fight for the overall standings, however, will begin on Tuesday on the slopes of the Passo del Maniva.
The 48th Giro Next Gen kicked off on Sunday in Rho, in the outskirts of Milan. As in the last two years, an individual time trial served as the opening stage of this major U23 race. “It was a very short time trial, of 8.5 kilometres, very fast, with some technical sections and a few corners,” Jérôme Gannat briefly explained. Starting among the very first competitors, Reef Roberts put the team on the right track right away by setting the best provisional time, in 9’28, which allowed him to be in the “hot seat” for nearly thirty minutes. An hour after him, the French champion Maxime Decomble set a time almost identical to his teammate, in 9’27. The two young men stayed in the provisional top-5 for a long time, before dropping back slightly in the final hour of racing. The last rider of the team to set off, Lewis Bower, slipped between his two colleagues, allowing “La Conti” to put three men in the top 10 of the stage (8th, 9th, 10th, editor’s note). “The ambition was to reach the top 10 with Reef and Maxime, and we achieved that, and the little surprise came from Lewis,” said Jérôme. “The course wasn’t really suited to Maxime, but he put up a good fight. As for Reef, it was his first time trial in Europe; he prepared it well, and that was confirmed by a good result.”
“A big satisfaction”, Jérôme Gannat
The first pink jersey was won by Slovakia’s Matthias Schwarzbacher, winner of the time trial thanks to time of 9’17. “It’s perhaps the first time we’ve placed three riders in the top 10 in a race of this level, so it’s a big satisfaction,” added Jérôme. “We also say that when a race starts well, with good results, it sets the tone for the rest of the week. It was a great reward for the staff as well because we know these are always stressful days.” On Monday, after another start from Rho, the peloton headed towards the winding Cantù circuit, not far from Como, in a first road stage totalling 146 kilometers. “I had identified this stage as the only one that could end in a large bunch sprint, but I thought the start of the race would be much more eventful, that there would be more riders eager to take the breakaway,” Jérôme said. “In the end, it was a classic scenario because only two riders hit the front after about twenty kilometres, but two solid riders.” Ilian Alexandre Barhoumi and Jonathan Vervenne took the lead together, before the latter broke away alone with sixty kilometres to go.
“The UAE team rode to maintain the gap at two minutes, then it came back very close, at one minute, at the first time on the finish line,” Jérôme explained. “Then the bunch eased off, it took a while to get going again because no one wanted to ride too early and Vervenne’s gap increased to three minutes.” Although the gap was reduced to one minute at the start of the last fifteen kilometres, the Belgian managed to stay away until the end. “We often see these scenarios at the Giro Next Gen, with breakaways that can go all the way because there is no agreement between the teams,” concluded Jérôme. “The sprint suited Lewis quite well, but we didn’t want to work until the last ten kilometres. We weren’t able to position ourselves to do so, but I don’t think it would have made much difference.” Within the peloton, the New Zealander took sixteenth place after the last 500 metres at 8%. All his teammates also finished in the peloton, with Maxime Decomble now sitting in 9th place overall just ahead of the two “Kiwis.” “Tomorrow’s program will be completely different, with a summit finish,” said Jérôme. “The general classification will start to establish itself. Maxime’s performance, in particular, will determine the rest of our race”.
