The 2024 edition of the Youngster Coast Challenge didn’t go as expected for the young men of “La Conti” this Friday between Bredene and Koksijde. In a race where the team previously achieved the 1-2 (2022, editor’s note), the crosswinds put an end to their hopes early on. Ronan Augé still stayed up front until forty kilometres to go before he was also distanced from the leading group.
After Le Samyn, the Tour des 100 communes and Grand Prix de Lillers, Jérôme Gannat’s men again travelled north, slightly beyond the Belgian border, to compete in the Youngster Coast Challenge on Friday. As its name suggests, the race linked two coastal cities, Bredene and Koksijde, over 172 kilometres. This naturally had an impact on the race’s scenario, and perhaps even sooner than expected. “We knew that it would explode because there was quite a bit of wind,” explained Jérôme Gannat. “The first part, from Bredene to the Kemmelberg, is very exposed. Even though it was often ¾ headwind, the few times it came from the side proved enough to shatter the peloton into pieces.” After around fifty kilometres, a first echelon clearly established and the race situation more or less stabilised. “The situation before and after the Kemmelberg was almost the same,” said Jérôme. “We had Ronan in front in a group of around thirty guys, then Maxime in a second bunch, then Lewis and Ben a little further away. Given his profile, Max Bock suffered much more.”
“We knew it was going to be hard”, Jérôme Gannat
Once the mid-race hills were done, Ronan Augé then tried to hang on as long as possible at the front. “However, there was a sidewind or a ¾ tailwind on the entire way to Koksijde, so it was perfect for echelons,” explained Jérôme. “The group stretched out, Ronan struggled a first time, then was distanced from the group with nine other riders with forty kilometres to go”. Ultimately, sixteen men fought for victory on the local circuits in Koksijde. Niklas Behrens managed to break away to win solo. Ronan Augé (42nd) joined the line 1’14 later within the “bunch”, and Maxime Decomble just behind him. “We knew it was going to be hard, because not all our riders had the right profile for this typical Belgian race with crosswinds,” Jérôme concluded. “We perhaps expected a little better from Lewis and Ben who knew the race having done it last year. Ronan did well, and Maxime was a good surprise. We knew from the start that we were not really on our favourite ground. Furthermore, we had only five riders while others had seven. It made things even more complicated.”
Due to the support provided to the WorldTour team, “La Conti” will resume racing next month, on the Circuit des Ardennes.
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