Here we go again! A few days after his successes in the Tour of Britain, Romain Grégoire did it again on Wednesday in the opening stage of the Tour de Luxembourg. And he did it with style. In the day’s uphill final kilometre, the Groupama-FDJ puncher clearly dominated the competition after launching his sprint 300 metres from the finish line. The 22-year-old Frenchman claimed his fifth victory of the year. Maybe his most impressive one.
It’s an understatement to say that the last 500 metres of the first stage in Luxembourg were to Romain Grégoire’s taste. “We came to recon the finish on Tuesday with my teammates, and I really liked it,” said the young man. “I knew it would suit me, and I was motivated to go for the victory today. I didn’t hesitate to ask the team to take control of the race, and that’s what we did.” In the opening 152-kilometre stage around the capital of the Grand Duchy, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team quickly made its mark. “There were six riders in the breakaway, and since the stage was quite short, we didn’t want to gamble too much, so we preferred to make Eddy pull,” said Benoît Vaugrenard. Alongside other teams, the man from Brittany set the pace all day, initially maintaining a gap of around two minutes, before the margin narrowed approaching the final and the Stafelter climb (2.2 km at 7.2%), located ten kilometers from the finish. The tempo picked up, the break was caught, a few attacks occurred, but Romain Grégoire, Tom Donnenwirth, and Enzo Paleni were attentive. “We had to be vigilant on the last climb, then we had a plan for the final, and everything went exactly as we planned,” Benoît added.
“Romain is at the top of his game,” Benoît Vaugrenard
Still surrounded by Enzo Paleni, Lorenzo Germani, and Tom Donnenwirth in a reduced bunch, Romain Grégoire then relied on his teammates. “We needed to be in the front with three kilometres to go, then Tom and Romain had to be in the top 5-6 at the bottom of the final climb, which they did thanks in particular to Lorenzo,” Benoît explained. “The team did a great job today, both controlling the breakaway and positioning me in the best possible way in the final kilometre”, confirmed Romain. “The whole team did an incredible job.” Thanks to the support of his teammates, he indeed tackled the final climb in the top five positions, just behind Tom Donnenwirth, who started his effort in the last 500 metres. “The goal was to push hard from the bottom with Tom to put the sprinters in trouble, especially Marijn van den Berg, who seemed to be the major rival,” Benoît said. “We wanted it to be as hard as possible so that Romain could play his cards. It was absolutely essential that we avoid any pause during the climb, and Tom fulfilled his mission very well.”
A few seconds later, Romain Grégoire didn’t hesitate to go for it. “I certainly attacked too far from the finish, but I didn’t really have a choice,” he said. “I felt that Tom was starting to slow down a little at 350 metres, and when he stopped at 300 meters, I found myself in front, and I couldn’t back-pedal.” The Frenchman therefore launched a powerful acceleration, which he had to maintain for more than thirty seconds! “I felt Marijn behind me, I saw his wheel in the sprint, and I thought he was going to overtake me at one point,” said Romain. “I managed to make another kick in the last 100 metres to prevent him from passing, and it was enough! I was scared, it was really painful, but that makes the victory even sweeter.” After a huge sprint, where no one was able to match him, Romain Grégoire triumphed with dominance. “He was very impressive, but we know he’s very strong in long, hard sprints like these,” Benoît added. “He’s at the top of his game, his confidence is at its peak, and this is a period that usually suits him quite well. He takes risks, and it works! We had to give it a go, even if it meant losing.” In the end, Romain Grégoire did indeed collect a victory, his fifth of the season.
“We really did a superb race as a team,” Romain Grégoire
He was quick to celebrate with all his teammates. “We really did a superb race as a team, we’re super happy to bring home the victory after this team effort,” he said. “We’ll logically talk about Romain, but I also want to highlight the team, which was truly exceptional,” Benoît insisted. “We felt through the radio that Romain was ready to take on the challenge, and we know that when he’s like that, he rarely fails. When things go the right way for a leader, his teammates go deeper, and we see the result.” Today’s winner, Romain Grégoire also took the first leader’s jersey, which he will first have to defend on Thursday in a stage that’s more likely to finish with a sprint in Mamer. “The general classification will be mostly decided by Saturday’s time trial,” Romain said. “We’ll think about it then. There are a lot of great stages in this Tour de Luxembourg. There was today’s, it’s done, now we’re going to think about Friday’s.” “With a stage victory, the week is already a success, but we don’t want to stop there,” concluded Benoît. “We’re going to remain cautious, humble and race as smart as possible, but obviously we want more.”
