A day prior to the first suitable stage for Arnaud Démare on the 2020 Giro, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team took it easy on Monday towards Mount Etna, which hosted the first summit finish of the race. The French champion and his teammates will undoubtedly be much more active Tuesday towards Villafranco Tirrena.
As often when visiting Sicily, the Giro made a stop at Mount Etna today. Scheduled in day 3, the volcano climb was supposed to establish the first hierarchy among overall contenders. Since they did not bring one, the Groupama-FDJ therefore had a completely different approach to the stage, while Victor Campenaerts (NTT Pro Cycling), Matthew Holmes (Lotto Soudal), Lawson Craddock, Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling), Giovanni Visconti (Vini Zabù-Brado-KTM), Francesco Romano (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè), Josip Rumac (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Emirates) created the day’s breakaway. “Our objective was to take it easy today, in anticipation of Tuesday’s stage” explained Sébastien Joly. “From that point of view, it was a good thing that the breakaway went out very quickly, shortly after kilometer 0. Then, there was a regular pace during the whole race”.
“There was no reason to make unnecessary efforts”, Sébastien Joly
The eight leading riders took a five-minute gap at best, and that was still their advantage as they passed the first intermediate sprint, with 40 kilometers to go. “It could have been a small goal for us,” Sébastien added, “but with eight riders in front there were no more points left for the cyclamen jersey. After, the pace started to pick up on the two climbs before the Mount Etna. A first gruppetto got created and most of our riders slipped back and took it easy, as we had planned”. The Swiss climber Kilian Frankiny was the only one to remain in the bunch until the bottom of the Etna. “We stuck well together”, claimed Sébastien. “The time limit was quite big, so there was no reason to make unnecessary efforts. The guys managed their effort until the top without problem.” At the top, Ecuador’s Jonathan Caicedo, secured the victory after his day in the breakaway.
The Groupama-FDJ’s riders will try to take advantage of their calm Monday on stage 4, which will be 140 kilometers long between Catania and Villafranco Tirrena tomorrow. Although a long climb (12 km at 5%) is to be tackled at mid-race, the sprinters should still be able to fight for victory during this last day in Sicily. “This is the first opportunity for us,” concluded Sébastien. “We know it since we got here, and we will go for it”.
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