After two difficult days on the Giro Next Gen, on stages 3 and 4, “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ regained momentum thanks to Rémi Daumas on Thursday, during the fifth stage of the Italian race. After entering a strong breakaway, the 19-year-old Frenchman was able to fight for victory in Gavi, in Piedmont. He did try an attack in the final five kilometres before securing tenth place, setting the tone for the final three days of racing.
After the first two days of the Giro Next Gen, Jérôme Gannat had been clear: the third stage, with the summit finish on the Passo del Maniva (13 km at 7%), was going to define the future of the race for “La Conti.” Unfortunately, Tuesday’s events didn’t go as planned. The favourites’ teams controlled the race all day to provide a first battle among the top contenders, and although Rémi Daumas and Maxime Decomble were able to get over the day’s first climb within the bunch, they couldn’t make a significant impact in the final. The first one finished 31st at the summit, 4’19 behind the winner Jarno Widar, while the French U23 time trial champion finished nearly ten minutes behind the Belgian. “Maxime was sick,” explained Jérôme Gannat. “He had stomach problems, he was empty, and he lost a lot of time whereas he was our leader for the general classification. We were hoping for a top-five finish, I think it was possible, but when something like this happens, you pay for it. It obviously changed all our plans because we had built a team around him. From then on, we focused on the stages.”
“Rémi felt the right moment”, Jérôme Gannat
A first opportunity to bounce back came in Salsomaggiore Terme on Wednesday, on stage 4. However, the young men of “La Conti” didn’t manage to enter the strong move of a dozen riders who fought for the win, ultimately claimed by Irishman Seth Dunwoody. Lewis Bower, who was in the main peloton, took eleventh place in the sprint, which meant 25th of the stage. “The goal was to be in the breakaway, because we know that it often has a chance of making it to the end”, explained Jérôme. “With five riders per team, it’s difficult to control, and there aren’t many teams that are really interested in the sprint. On the other hand, these breakaways are difficult to take because the stage profile is often very flat at the beginning, and the first hour is covered at over 50 km/h. You need to feel the moments of pause coming to go to the front. It’s difficult, but it’s part of the learning process.” On Thursday, on a similar route to Gavi on stage 5, they had another chance to get it right.
While the first fifty kilometers proved once again extremely fast, it was ultimately the Passo del Penice (13 km at 6.5%) that was decisive. “Baptiste helped me to position at the bottom,” said Rémi. “It first went very fast on the climb, but then it calmed down, and I attacked with other guys to try and make the jump on the break. We were caught two kilometres from the summit by the front of the peloton, but I managed to hang on and there were just twenty of us left. On the next climb, it went fast again, eleven of us went clear, there was a split, and it was on!” “He felt the right moment to go into this breakaway, after the descent, but it was already great to be there at that point, after this long climb and the heat,” commented Jérôme Gannat. From then on, the breakaway group continued to increase its lead over the pink jersey peloton. “It was very good because the main teams were represented at the front,” added the sports director of La Conti. “Up front, the GC riders were obviously riding much more.” The gap approached three minutes, before some teams got some support in the bunch, but this was far from enough to catch the leaders.
“We’re mainly looking for a stage victory”, Rémi Daumas
After overcoming the last climb thirty kilometres from the finish line, Rémi Daumas was able to consider victory. “I tried to save myself for the final in order to go for the win,” he said. “He was patient,” Jérôme added. “We knew they wouldn’t look at him that much, and he had no chance in the sprint. So we had to try and seize every opportunity possible.” The proper fight began with about seven kilometres to go in the lead group, and the young man soon saw his chance. “Jérôme told me to try two kilometres from the finish, but they attacked before”, explained Rémi. “When it stopped a bit at the top of a hill, I went for it, but I wasn’t very fresh anymore. Adam Rafferty took my wheel, passed me with much more speed, and went on to the finish. I perhaps made a small mistake to wait for the group when I was in-between.” The Irishman won eight seconds ahead of the rest of the breakaway, while Rémi Daumas took tenth place on the day. “A top-10 is always good, even if we’re mainly looking for a stage victory,” he said. “It’s a very good tenth place because he was in a strong group,” confirmed Jérôme.Thanks to his day at the front, Rémi Daumas also gained ten places in the overall standings to move up to 22nd, 4’46 seconds behind the new leader, Luke Tuckwell. “There isn’t a full focus on the overall,” assured Rémi. “If we go for a stage win, we’ll definitely move up anyway. And if my legs are good until the weekend, I should be able to get back some positions.” “It will be difficult to enter the top-10, but Rémi is a first year U23, so that bodes well for the future,” concluded Jérôme. “The last three days are very different, and we’ll mainly be focusing on breakaways. The goal is to anticipate the fight between the favourites. There are two hard stages on Saturday and Sunday, especially Saturday, with a summit finish in Prato Nevoso.”
