The Groupama-FDJ cycling team took part in the fourth stage of the Tour de Luxembourg this Saturday without any real goals in mind. While Ethan Hayter claimed victory and Brandon McNulty took the leader’s jersey, Romain Grégoire and his teammates already had their eyes glued to the final stage, heading to Luxembourg, on Sunday.
After a “bad day” yesterday, which took him out of contention for the general classification, Romain Grégoire had no particular ambitions on Saturday during the decisive time trial of the Tour de Luxembourg. On a demanding and relatively hilly 26-kilometre course around Niederanven, it was Enzo Paleni who set the best performance of the day for the Groupama-FDJ cycling team, finishing twenty-second, 1’47 behind winner Ethan Hayter, but barely twenty-five seconds from the top 10. “Enzo wanted to do it well,” confirmed Benoît Vaugrenard. “For everyone else, including Romain, the goal was to try to “recover” a bit after the first three days during which they worked hard.” “I was already thinking about tomorrow,” added Romain, who wore the yellow jersey for two days but was pushed outside the top 20 overall yesterday. “I had nothing to gain today, so I tried to “recover” a little in order to do a good stage tomorrow.”
“Everyone is motivated,” Benoît Vaugrenard
Serious gaps were made on Saturday during the time trial, and Brandon McNulty took the lead in the general classification. The Tour de Luxembourg will conclude Sunday in the streets of the country’s capital. “We’ll finish with a short twelve-kilometre circuit including a very steep climb one kilometre from the finish,” Benoît explained. “It’s a stage that suits us well; David won it twice, and we’ll try to go for it again. Very bad weather is forecast, but everyone is motivated!” “I took the opportunity to recon the finish this morning, before the time trial, and I think we can do something great tomorrow,” Romain added. “Let’s hope that the legs will be there this time”.
