The Giro bunch endured a heavy rain on Thursday, in a lumpy stage around Cesenatico, which proved to be everything but fun. After a gruelling 200 kilometers, Jhonatan Narvaez took the win from the day’s breakaway. In the peloton, the fight started quite early on and the Groupama-FDJ cycling team gathered around its leader Arnaud Démare to join the finish line within the time limit.
“We couldn’t ease off”, Sébastien Joly
At the Groupama-FDJ’s hotel on Wednesday evening, the French champion, his teammates and all the staff did put on a good celebration after the team’s fourth victory in the Giro d’Italia. However, they did not forget that a demanding stage was anticipated the next day, with a fairly early start around 11 am. “As early as last night, after celebrating the victory, we asked everyone not to ease off, said Sébastien Joly, one of the team’s sports directors. After four wins, it could have been an issue today as it was quite a difficult stage on the menu. It was over 200 kilometers, with some elevation gain and without a moment to rest up. The most important thing was not to ease off the pressure. That’s what they managed to do.” The six Groupama-FDJ’s riders did not join in the fight for the breakaway, which took shape after around 20 kilometers. Fourteen men then took a ten-minute lead. At first, the peloton did not seem willing to chase, but in the first climbs, the pace suddenly picked up.
“In this kind of stage, we put the whole team around Arnaud,” explained Sébastien. “As soon as the NTT started to push, Arnaud and his group dropped out, and we asked Kilian to do the same so that they could be all together. From then on, it was all about riding at their own tempo, giving them timings and feeding them. Today’s most difficult thing was eventually the weather. The rain and the cold made it even tougher. With normal weather, a stage like this goes smoothly enough. However, with today’s weather, it was just a rough day. Therefore, we had prepared hot tea, bars, and everything you need for a typical rough day.” Since they were dropped with more than 100 kilometers to go, the points classification’s leader and his teammates also had to be attentive to the time limit. Fortunately, the team knows how to handle this matter.
“A large part of the recovery will be done at dinner time”, Sébastien Joly
“We calculate it virtually in the morning, imagining what could be the winner’s average speed,” explained Sébastien. “Then, we update it with the information we receive during the race, and when the winner crosses the line. We also had checkpoints with the assistants along the course, and with Anthony who was in front, in order to be able to reassure the riders. We also try to inform them about the route’s particularities, but it’s better not to annoy them too much with that. In these moments, too much information can be no good. We try to share with them what is necessary and give them good markers, like telling them that the Sagan group is four minutes ahead of them. That being said, it’s hard to change the tempo anyway, as the guys are almost giving their maximum. We knew, however, that the day’s profile was rather favourable after the last climb. We told them to stick together and to ride at a good pace. That’s what they did, and we told them in the finale that with this pace, they would be on time. It was so, for five minutes, but it was still a tough stage, one where we couldn’t relax too much.”
Surrounded by all his teammates, Arnaud Démare crossed the line almost 35 minutes after the day’s winner Jhonatan Narvaez. Tomorrow, stage 13 could offer a new opportunity to the French Champion, but until then, “they will have to recover”, said Sébastien Joly. “As usual, it is going to be massages, recovery boots, stretching and everything that we put in place every night for that purpose,” he concluded. “However, one of the most important things for recovery is also food, and we’re lucky to have our two chefs here, Mickaël and Vanessa. On a day like today, the riders burn a tremendous amount of calories. Therefore, a large part of the recovery will be done at dinner time tonight: first for the pleasure of eating good food, but also to rebuild stocks. This nutrition aspect is a huge added value that we put in place in recent years, and if we’re performing so well right now, it is also partly thanks to our cooks”.
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