The first half of the Alpes Isère Tour has not exactly gone in favor of “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ United. Although Victor Loulergue remained well placed in the overall standings heading into stage three, thanks to bonus seconds collected over the opening two days, he unfortunately lost any realistic hopes of a strong final GC result on Friday. A hilly stage and another extremely demanding one will bring the race to a close this weekend.
As has now become tradition, the Alpes Isère Tour got underway on Wednesday with an opening stage around Charvieu-Chavagneux. In 2023 and 2025, the breakaway had beaten the peloton, and the exact same scenario unfolded again this year. After 135 kilometres, four riders finished eleven seconds ahead of the bunch. “It looked like quite a straightforward stage on paper, but the first day of racing is always tricky here,” Jérôme Gannat explained. “Maximilian and Reef tried to get into breakaways early on, but we weren’t there at the decisive moment. The key move went midway through the stage, shortly after an intermediate sprint won by Victor, and one of the race favorites, Matisse Van Kerckhove, was in it. Behind, the chase lacked organization. We contributed a bit during the final to bring the gap down, but it wasn’t enough.” Thanks to the three bonus seconds he picked up along the way, Victor Loulergue remained in the mix, in sixth place overall. On Thursday, the race scenario proved more straightforward after an early breakaway formed, and a peloton of around sixty riders arrived at the foot of the final climb, with Victor Loulergue, Reef Roberts and Esteban Foucher still up there. “There was then a big acceleration on the climb,” Jérôme said. “Victor found himself in a second group that came back to the front group with 1.5 kilometres to go, and it turned into a sprint between thirty riders. He couldn’t really contest it because he was a bit too far back and a bit at the limit.”
“We’ll try to be aggressive” – Jérôme Gannat
Despite everything, “La Conti’s” leader still sat inside the overall top ten, in eighth place, before another hilly stage toward Corbas on Friday. However, he had to dig deep quite early in this third stage. “There was a huge fight to get into the breakaway,” Jérôme explained. “A group of around fifteen riders went clear after about 50 kilometres, and while they already had more than 40 seconds, Victor counterattacked with another rider. He managed to bridge across on the third categorized climb, but it cost him a big effort. When we got back up to him, he confirmed that his legs weren’t feeling great.” The young rider nevertheless managed to hold his place at the front in a group whose cooperation was far from perfect. He even grabbed one bonus second at the last intermediate sprint, located just before the Côte de Gravetan (1.6 km at 7 %), whose summit was fifteen kilometers from the finish. “That gave us a bit of hope, but then he completely cracked on the final climb, which the breakaway had started with a twenty-second advantage,” Jérôme added. “He couldn’t stay with either the best riders or the peloton, which arrived with around fifty riders for the sprint. We only had Esteban left at the front, and he took thirteenth place, which was far from disappointing. On the other hand, we lost all our hopes for the general classification.”
“La Conti” will therefore have to find other objectives for the remainder of the weekend. “Saturday is hilly but not brutal, then Sunday will be a big challenge with 4,000 metres of climbing,” Jérôme concluded. “The goal will be to get the non-climbers back on track for tomorrow and possibly Victor for the final stage. We hope things will go better over the next two days and that the boys will be able to show themselves. In any case, there are now real gaps in the overall standings, and we’ll try to be aggressive.”
