He was “knocking at the door,” in his own words, and just needed the final details to come together. That’s what happened on Sunday, on the other side of the hearth. After displaying his physical form throughout the Australian campaign, Laurence Pithie claimed victory in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, the season’s first WorldTour Classic. A winner from a small group sprint thanks to power and skills, he became, at 21 years old, the first New Zealander to win a one-day race of this level. He also opened the 2024 prize list for the Groupama-FDJ cycling team, down to five but remarkable alongside him over the past week. The season is definitely on.
“We were all very confident in Laurence”, Reuben Thompson
On Sunday, the Australian campaign and the three-week stay on the other side of the world was set to come to an end in Geelong. The Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, a WorldTour race since 2017, was the very last appointment for Jussi Veikkanen and his riders, and also the last chance to return with a major result in their bags. With this in mind, all eyes were on Laurence Pithie. “We felt like we were getting closer and closer on the Tour Down Under, and we were all very confident in Laurence”, said his fellow countryman Reuben Thompson. “He had shown that he was absolutely fine”. “Given his consistency, we trusted Laurence 100%,” confirmed Jussi. “For us, there was no doubt that he could win. This is also what made the team so strong. We all knew where we were heading.” One hundred and seventy-four kilometres were to be covered, with the traditional final circuit including the climb of Challambra Crescent (1.2 km at 7.8%). Four loops were planned around Geelong, but first, Josh Cranage, Dylan Proctor-Parker (ARA/Skip Capital), Jackson Medway and Zac Marriage (Team BridgeLane) established the day’s break. The bunch easily controlled the Australian quartet, which reached the first lap of the circuit with a gap of two minutes that kept on reducing from there on.
At the end of the second lap, the gap was under a minute as the race was about to start properly. “We knew that the tempo on the climb would be quite ok in the first two laps because the peloton was afraid that the break would be caught too soon,” explained Jussi. “On the other hand, we knew that we absolutely had to be positioned in the last two laps. Laurence often told us “I need to be positioned, then I can manage it by myself”. So everyone protected Laurence and positioned him before the climbs. We had only five riders, but they managed to find themselves easily in the peloton.” “Clément and Fabian set us up perfectly on the circuit,” added Reuben. “We were always in good position before the climbs when it was needed.” On the penultimate lap, the pace increased, and the breakaway was caught at the top of Challambra Crescent, which Laurence Pithie crossed in the top ten positions. A bunch of about sixty riders eventually reached the line a few moments later and entered the final lap. Once again, and despite being down to five, the Groupama-FDJ riders organized perfectly around Laurence Pithie and allowed him to tackle the final climb of Challambra Crescent in the very first positions.
“Patience was key”, Laurence Pithie
“The guys did an awesome job to keep me at the front before the foot of the climb,” said Laurence. “I knew I had the legs to follow the best, and that’s what I did.” “In the last lap, it went really fast on the climb and only Laurence was able to follow,” testified Enzo Paleni. Sharp accelerations took place, but as on Mount Lofty a week earlier, Laurence Pithie held off the best punchers to reach the top with them. After the climb, there were less than twenty riders left at the head of the race. “With Reuben, we found ourselves slightly in the back, and we managed to disrupt the chase in the second group where Viviani, Girmay, Ewan were…” explained Enzo. In front, Archie Ryan, Luke Plapp and Quinn Simmons tried to get away one after the other. The US champion actually managed to open a gap three kilometres from the finish, but the chase got organized quickly and the junction was made shortly after the flamme rouge. “We got worried about Quinn Simmons’ attack, because we know his abilities, but there was a slight headwind and that perhaps worked in our favor,” explained Jussi. Bauke Mollema also tried to give it a go, but the fight for the win eventually came down to the final sprint.
Laurence Pithie talked through these thrilling final moments: “I got stuck behind about one kilometre to go, and Strong was bluffing a little bit. He wanted me to go in front of him and to chase Williams, but I knew I had to be patient. At the briefing, we said that patience was key, but I knew it was also easy to be caught on the barriers here. I just managed to find my way through, found a gap and went on. I was coming back at Tesfatsion, coming back at him. I had to close the gap, and then Zimmermann on the outside was coming quick, but I just managed to hold on and launch the bike.” A moment of suspense followed as the photo finish had to be checked. “Coming over the finish line, we didn’t really know if Laurence had won,” said Reuben. “They said maybe, then yes, then maybe… We were all very nervous and eventually, after a minute or two, we found out that we won!” In the car, Jussi Veikkanen also had to wait for the RadioTour confirmation “before he exploded with joy”. That joy was obvious at the finish line as well. “It’s amazing,” said Reuben. “If I’m not mistaken, he’s the first New Zealander to win a WorldTour one-day race. It’s bloody epic.” “I’ve known Laurence since our beginnings in La Conti, this is our fourth year together so we have quite close ties,” added Enzo. “It’s a lot of emotion.”
“We managed to build something”, Jussi Veikkanen
Later in the day, Laurence Pithie was still incredulous: “I’m super happy to win today. I cannot quite believe it. It hasn’t sunk in yet, I’m speechless. I worked really hard over winter to be here in shape and increase my level. I wanted to win in the WorldTour, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon. A win like this is definitely nice to take off so early in the season. It’s nice to get this goal done, but of course I’m super hungry for the season in Europe and super motivated to continue with this form.” Before that, he will be just as hungry for his national championships. As for the Groupama-FDJ team, the first win is now out of the way, and a great Australian campaign has come to an end. “We spent three weeks together, and it wasn’t always easy with the injured riders, who we thought a lot about,” Jussi concluded. “However, we never lost motivation or got discouraged. On the contrary, as the days went by, the group got more and more united. We managed to build something here. Everyone really gave their best, and it paid off today. Every year we ask ourselves if we should do this race. This year, we said that if we had riders available who could win it, we had to come. The team supported the project from the start, it turned out to be successful, and that is the most satisfying thing. If Rudy and Kono had been with us with a bib on their back, these three weeks would have been even nicer. But from a results point of view, it is of course a successful stay.”