In the East of France, “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ was unable to secure a convincing result on Friday in the Tour de la Mirabelle. After 180 intense kilometres in hard weather, Baptiste Grégoire still took a decent sixteenth place in Nomeny.
The 23rd edition of the Tour de la Mirabelle also meant a change of format this Friday. Unlike in previous years, the French event was planned over a single day. One hundred and eighty kilometres were therefore on the menu for the riders, with no fewer than eight classified climbs, including the Col de Moivrons (1.6 km at 5.4%) and the Côte de Belleau (1.5 km at 9.4%), to be repeated three times as they featured on the finishing circuit. “It was already a difficult race because of the weather conditions,” explained Jérôme Gannat. “We knew the weather would be bad, but we didn’t imagine it would be this bad. It was around eleven degrees and rained very often. Right after the summer, the change was brutal.” Yet, the riders of the French development squad took the race the right way at the start of Jarny. “We had two riders in the first breakaway, with Titouan and Eliott,” said Jérôme. “It was very good, especially since all the main teams were represented. We really thought it would go far, but they eventually took only thirty seconds. There were a lot of counterattacks behind, and the junction was made in the first classified climb, after thirty kilometres.”From then on, the day took a wrong turn for “La Conti.” Five men broke away, including three from the St-Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93 team. “It went very hard on this climb,” said Jérôme. “Reef and Blake were struggling, while Eliott and Titouan couldn’t make another effort, and so we missed the move. The three biggest teams were in front, with two ProTeams and one Continental team. Behind, no one really controlled.” The peloton therefore really came back. “For us, it became even more complicated on the circuit’s climbs because we quickly lost Blake and Reef,” explained Jérôme. “There was a succession of counterattacks, and it was hard to make the right move.” Shortly after starting the final lap, around ten riders regrouped at the front, then Samuele Zoccarato got rid of his rivals to win solo. “Baptiste managed to enter a move and fight for tenth place, and finished sixteenth,” concluded Jérôme. “It was probably possible to do a little better today, but not to challenge for victory.”
