Since Thursday, the riders of the Groupama-FDJ’s Juniors Program have been participating in one of the key events on their calendar. On the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour, Jimmy Turgis’s protégés are battling against some of the best riders of the international peloton, and they have so far secured three top-15 finishes. They’re now looking for more.
It was with high ambitions that the squad formed by Johan Blanc, Clément Bouyssou, Clément Le Fur, Augustin Fahy, Gabriel Genter, and Timéo Louison took the start of the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour in Torcieu on Thursday afternoon. “We came with the goal of a stage win, and a good general classification with Johan,” Jimmy explained. On the first day of racing, across the 97 kilometres on the menu, no breakaway really formed until the descent of the day’s main climb, located thirty kilometres from the finish. Five men then broke away and were able to go all the way. Johan Blanc crossed the line twenty-eight seconds later, in eleventh position. “We wanted Johan to stay in the mix overall, which he did, even though he missed this small group of five,” Jimmy said. “He had carte blanche to attack at the top of the climb, but he didn’t really get the chance. Then, the descent created a few gaps, and the peloton wasn’t able to get back to the front group, where Team Grenke-Auto Eder was well represented. We were still in the running for the overall, but we also felt that our riders were a bit below what we could have hoped for. They showed good commitment, but we came up a bit short physically compared to the competition.”
“Johan’s crash compromised our chances for the GC,” Jimmy Turgis
On Friday, the Col de Porte (8.3 km at 6.4%) was the main difficulty on the table for the riders, with about forty kilometers to go. “Our goal was to maintain or even improve Johan’s general classification,” Jimmy added. “The strategy was to attack on the final climb and take advantage of the slightly winding downhill to create gaps, which was the strategy of many of the leaders. Unfortunately, Johan was hit by another rider on that descent, and our hopes for the general classification were dashed because it took him a while to get going again.” The young Frenchman couldn’t continue with the first chasing group, but Clément Bouyssou remained at the front of the race. “Clément stayed in contact with the best and fought for the win until five kilometres from the finish,” Jimmy said. “It was a great stage for him. He’s a first-year Junior, so he’s still learning how to handle the final stages of races, and he is gaining experience. It was a very hard stage, and he supported Johan really well all day before taking a nice result in the end. On the other hand, we were obviously frustrated by Johan’s crash, which unfortunately compromised our chances for the GC.” Clément Bouyssou took 15th place on the day, while Johan Blanc lost more than four minutes.The team therefore had to change tack at the start of the third stage on Saturday, over the hilly 100 kilometres leading to the summit of the Col de la Biche (10 km at 8.4%). “We refocused on two goals,” Jimmy added. “We first wanted to fight for the intermediate sprints classification in order to keep our other riders focused, after they had shown very good commitment since the start of the race. Clément Le Fur, Timéo Louison, Gabriel Genter and Augustin Fahy did a great job in that regard, and it allowed Gabriel to make a nice comeback in this classification. Then, we aimed for the stage victory with Johan. He couldn’t get away before the final, but he still gave his best with Clément [Bouyssou] on the last climb.” At the summit of the Col de la Biche, the young man took fourteenth place, 1’40 behind the winner. “His legs were not so bad after the crash,” concluded Jimmy. “We now have two more chances to get a victory!”