The 2025 Vuelta a España came to an end this Sunday, following a twenty-first stage that was first neutralized and then canceled due to protests in the Spanish capital. With a stage victory, a day in the leader’s red jersey, and several other notable results, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team experienced a successful Grand Tour.
The sprinters didn’t get a last chance in Madrid on Sunday. After a parade of around fifty kilometres, the peloton was stopped as it entered the Spanish capital due to protests around the finish line. The riders did not resume the stage, which was canceled, as was the closing ceremony. That’s how a very good Vuelta ended for Groupama-FDJ. “When you leave a Grand Tour with a victory in the bag, that’s already a success,” said Frédéric Guesdon. “Even more so when you realize that only seven teams have won. We managed to win very quickly thanks to David, we wore the red jersey for a day, then we fought with our strengths, and I think we did it quite well. We knew it would be difficult to fight with the favorites, especially after having lost Guillaume very early on what was a very hard Vuelta with many summit finishes. We decided to be very active in the start of the stages, hoping that the breakaways would go all the way.”
“The youngsters made an impact on the race,” Frédéric Guesdon
Thanks to this strategy, Brieuc Rolland secured two podium finishes and Clément Braz Afonso took a fine fifth place. “Rudy was often in front too,” added Frédéric. “The rouleurs also helped the climbers to get in front. It was a good team effort. We missed very few breakaways that went all the way, but we also knew we wouldn’t have 100% success. The goal was to target the stages as best as possible, and that’s what we did.” In terms of results, Groupama-FDJ therefore cumulated one victory, three podium finishes, and seven other top-10 finishes during these three weeks. “We can be proud of our Vuelta,” Rudy added. “I would rate it 8.5 out of 10. We also had young riders doing their first Grand Tour, and they were up there until the end. I only take away the positives.” A statement shared by Frédéric Guesdon: “You never really know how your first Grand Tour will go, and in this case, they made an impact on the race, we saw them. Brieuc took three breakaways that made it and achieved two podiums, Clément finished quite strongly, and Thibaud managed to show himself with two top-10s even though he was much less on his terrain. It’s a very good first Grand Tour for them, and it’s promising for the future”.
