Entering the Istrian Spring Tour from Thursday to Sunday with genuine ambitions, the Groupama-FDJ United development team unfortunately came away empty-handed from four days of racing in Croatia. Logically not in the front line on the sprint stages, Jérôme Gannat’s riders were also unable to make the most of Saturday’s “queen stage”. In the general classification, Soan Ruesche eventually finished in 22nd place.
Three years later, “La Conti” made its return to the Istrian Spring Tour in the 2026 season. On the shores of the Adriatic Sea, things began on Thursday with an unusual prologue of just 1,200 metres. “It required sprinter’s qualities, or even a time trialist’s profile, and that may actually have been our main issue throughout the week,” explained Jérôme Gannat. “We mostly had climber-puncheurs at the start, so it was difficult to aim for a big result in this prologue. We were more or less where we expected to be.” At Vrsar Airport, Baptiste Grégoire posted the best time for the Besançon-based squad, finishing 26th, five seconds behind the winner. On Friday, the riders returned to a more traditional stage, with 150 kilometres on a slightly rolling course. “We knew we had no chance in a bunch sprint, so we wanted to animate the race,” Jérôme continued. “That happened at kilometre 46 on a climb where Rémi [Daumas] went away with seven other riders. The favourite teams were represented, and we thought the move might stick, but the peloton stayed organised, and everything came back together. The last climb with fifteen kilometres to go was very fast (2 km at 5%). There were no gaps, not even any riders dropped. Johan [Blanc] tried to attack with six kilometres to go, but a sprint was inevitable.” Baptiste Grégoire contested it but could not finish higher than 25th place.
“We didn’t come here for this”– Jérôme Gannat
Saturday then brought the second road stage, where “La Conti” had much greater ambitions. “There were nearly 2,500 metres of elevation gain, but above all a five-kilometre climb at 6.5% around forty kilometres from the finish,” Jérôme explained. “With the team we had, we wanted to use that climb to make the race harder. Rémi in particular tried to create a big selection, but perhaps he did it a bit awkwardly. He led most of the climb, but 300 metres from the summit he was counter-attacked by six riders and couldn’t bridge across.” This leading group, including several of the favourites, quickly opened a clear gap while the peloton struggled to organise the chase. The advantage grew to one minute. “We still had four riders in a group of about fifty, but without Baptiste, who had crashed on the climb,” Jérôme added. “We tried to contribute to the chase and still managed to come back to thirty seconds at the foot of the final climb (3.5 km at 7%).” Caught out earlier, Rémi Daumas then went all in. “He bravely tried his luck by attempting to bridge across from the bottom of the climb,” Jérôme said. “He got to within thirteen seconds, but with the headwind he couldn’t close the gap, and he was caught again by the rest of the peloton one kilometre from the summit.”
While the six breakaway riders fought for victory, Rémi Daumas was overtaken by the fresher riders from the bunch and eventually finished the day in 26th place, 44 seconds behind the winner, alongside Soan Ruesche (24th). “Physically, that clearly wasn’t his place,” Jérôme stated. “He definitely had the legs and the potential to be up there. He wasn’t, and that changes everything for us. He probably made a small tactical mistake by pulling everyone along and getting countered.” With their riders outside the top 20 overall, “La Conti” had little to hope for on Sunday’s final stage finishing in Umag. “We were eager to bounce back, but the stage was once again very fast,” Jérôme said. “We tried something with Johan, but the final wasn’t difficult, and it ended in another sprint. It was a tricky finish, and we didn’t want to take risks for a minor placing.” The Croatian race therefore ended with a real sense of unfinished business for Jérôme Gannat and his riders. “Given our line-up, we knew our whole race would be decided on Saturday,” Jérôme concluded. “Those missing 300 metres for Rémi ultimately determined everything else, and we left empty-handed. Obviously, we didn’t come here for that. That said, Soan is roughly where he belongs, Rémi hadn’t raced since the Tour de Provence, Johan and Yann [Dubois] were competing in their first race of the year, and Esteban [Foucher] had some allergy issues. This race remains a good experience from which we were able to draw real conclusions.”
