After a consistent and solid week, Axel Huens secured his best-ever result in the overall standings of a WorldTour race on Sunday. After five days of racing at the Renewi Tour, the rider from northern France finished in 11th place overall, thanks in particular to the four bonus seconds he picked up during the third and fourth stages. Sunday’s fifth stage allowed him to keep his position, although a split caused by a crash prevented him from contesting the final sprint.
After two opening stages designed for the sprinters, the serious action was set to begin on Friday at the Renewi Tour. Around fifteen Flemish bergs were on the menu, including some of the region’s most famous ascents, especially the Muur van Geraardsbergen, which was tackled twice during the second half of the route. The finish line was also located on the Muur, but halfway up the climb. A decisive day was therefore expected, although it ultimately took some time for the race to really come to life. While attacks were numerous after the first Muur van Geraardsbergen–Bosberg sequence, 60 kilometres from the finish, the peloton remained quite compact behind the early breakaway. In reality, it was a crash that split the bunch in two as the riders approached the second ascent. Axel Huens managed to stay in the front and crossed the summit in a chasing group behind two riders who had gone clear. Thibaud Gruel joined him a few moments later after the second peloton made contact. “We wanted to play two cards with Axel and Thibaud. Unfortunately, Thibaud had some stomach problems and wasn’t really in the game,” explained Frédéric Guesdon. “He positioned himself well for both climbs of the Muur, but he could feel he was losing ground and he quickly told us that he didn’t feel capable of taking on his role.”
“We had achieved our goal” – Frédéric Guesdon
Thanks to his position in the second group, Axel Huens was able to contest the bonus sprints at the “Green Kilometer” at the foot of the Bosberg, even picking up two seconds behind the leading duo. “We know that every second counts in the overall standings, so it was great that Axel managed to take those bonus seconds,” Frédéric added. “Thibaud then completely sacrificed himself to position him at the foot of the Muur. Axel struggled a little in the sprint, but the important thing was that he finished in the wheels and avoided being caught in a split. He did that, moved up in the overall standings, so we were satisfied with our day.” Twenty-fourth on the stage, eleven seconds behind the winner, the Frenchman consequently moved up to 15th overall heading into the weekend. The first of the two final stages consisted of a demanding 187-kilometre route. “We were nine seconds off the top five, which was the initial goal for this Renewi Tour,” Frédéric continued. “The best way to achieve that goal was to take bonus seconds, so we decided it was worth trying through the breakaway. We therefore sent Axel and Johan straight up the road.”
The Swiss rider and the Frenchman joined four other riders in the breakaway, but they never managed to build much more than a two-minute advantage, with the famous “Green Kilometer” located around 20 kilometres from the finish, after 160 kilometres of racing. “Unfortunately, there wasn’t much cooperation in the breakaway because the other riders obviously had no interest in Axel moving ahead of their leader in the overall standings,” Frédéric explained. “We really felt the pressure as we entered the final hour, because the peloton was getting quite close. It was a difficult situation to manage, the circumstances were not in our favor, and that forced Johan to ride hard, with Axel also having to put in more effort than we had anticipated. On the other hand, it suited their breakaway companions for the peloton to come back.” Thanks in particular to a strong final turn from Johan Jacobs, the breakaway nevertheless reached the “Green Kilometer” with around 15 seconds in hand, enough of a margin to contest the bonus sprints. However, Axel Huens was only able to fight for the first one, already showing signs of fatigue. “We immediately felt that contesting all three sprints was going to be difficult, especially as the other riders really battled for them,” Frédéric said. “He only took two seconds, but on the other hand, fortunately he got those two seconds. It was disappointing at the time because we were aiming for the nine seconds available, but in hindsight, those two seconds allowed him to move into 11th overall. We achieved our objective by going into the breakaway and moving up the overall standings.”
“Axel fully stepped up” – Frédéric Guesdon
Despite spending much of the stage in the breakaway, Axel Huens managed to finish within the peloton. Matteo Milan, meanwhile, could do no better than 21st in the sprint after a crash occurred directly in front of him during the final. There was therefore just one more stage to cover, with an action-packed stage around Leuven on Sunday. “We wanted to stay calm and take the risk of not joining the morning breakaway,” Frédéric explained. “If we had the opportunity to contest the ‘Green Kilometer’, we would have done so, but we could also have lost places by trying to fight for it at all costs against faster riders. The race circumstances had to determine the way we raced, and in the end, the breakaway went through the ‘Green Kilometer’ first. We didn’t take any bonus seconds, but neither did the others.” On the Leuven circuit, several accelerations nevertheless came during the final three laps, but none caused any decisive damage. Thibaud Gruel followed some of the moves, while Axel Huens safely maintained his position in the main group. A reduced peloton ultimately contested the sprint for the stage victory, with Jasper Philipsen claiming his third win of the week while also sealing the overall victory. Hampered by a crash 1.5 kilometres from the finish, the Groupama-FDJ United riders were unable to contest the sprint, but Axel Huens nevertheless secured his position overall.
“It’s still a WorldTour race, and finishing 11th in an event of this level is no small achievement,” Frédéric concluded. “It’s a great source of satisfaction for Axel. We had spoken a lot beforehand, and he told me that he felt capable of being a leader in this race, where he had achieved a good result last year as a domestique. So we made him co-leader alongside Thibaud, because both of them were highly motivated for this race. He fully stepped up, picking up seconds here and there, and he never faltered until the end. The slight disappointment is about Thibaud: he was riding strongly too, and he could also have achieved a very good result without his illness during the bergs stage. It came at the worst possible time…”
