In Galicia, Clément Braz Afonso came very close to his day of glory on Tuesday. In a breakaway of 17 riders, which also included Rudy Molard and Brieuc Rolland, the young Frenchman was the only one to follow Egan Bernal and Mikel Landa up until the final of the stage. On his way to fight for victory against these two top-class riders, he unfortunately lost all his dreams due to a puncture seven kilometers from the new finish line. While Brieuc Rolland still achieved a superb podium finish, his second on this Vuelta, seven seconds behind the winner Bernal, Clément Braz Afonso had to settle for fifth place. Quite an intense day emotionally speaking.
The Vuelta a España entered its final stretch on Tuesday, but the third week started just like the second one ended. Therefore, a day with nearly 3,500 metres of elevation gain was on the menu of the riders for this 16th stage, following the second rest day. While a sequence of proper climbs made up the final part of the race, a slightly easier terrain was to be the scene of the fight for the breakaway during the sixty kilometers from Poio. “We know that if we want to win, we need to anticipate, so everyone had to try to be in front today,” said Frédéric Guesdon. “It was a fierce battle, it was very fast, and the break finally went after fifty kilometres.” Seventeen riders opened the decisive gap, including three men from the Groupama-FDJ cycling team! “It was very hard to get into the breakaway,” said Brieuc, who was one of them. “There were a lot of motivated riders at the start, but we found ourselves with numbers with Rudy and Clément! It was a very comfortable situation.” “I really wanted to be in front today,” said Clément. “I really think I had the legs on Sunday, and I blamed myself for being poorly placed and not having entered the group that fought for the victory. I mulled it over for two days and I wanted to capitalize on the good legs I have already today. The goal was to be in the breakaway, and we did it superbly with Rudy, our ‘daddy’ and master, and us rookies. We quickly realized that this breakaway would go far.”
“It was incredible to be with these champions,” Clément Braz Afonso
While the trio found themselves in the lead with riders such as Marc Soler, Egan Bernal, Mikel Landa, Bob Jungels, and Andrea Bagioli, the peloton however stabilized the gap at around four minutes for a long time. It wasn’t until about sixty kilometres from the finish, in the Alto de Groba (11.5 km at 5.5%), that the breakaway definitively made the difference. From then on, the fight started quite early in the leading group. “It was still far from the finish, but the cooperation in the group wasn’t great, so Landa went for it,” said Frédéric. “Then, Bernal reacted, and we decided to look a bit at Ineos.” “When things got lively, I remembered what the sports directors told me a while ago,” Clément added. “The first attack in a large group usually goes far, so when I saw Landa and Bernal go for it, I went for it too.” With a huge effort, the French puncher joined the Spaniard at the top together with the Colombian. Yet, he also met a familiar face soon after. “Brieuc made the jump at the top to get back to these three,” Frédéric said. “He didn’t have to move because he had Clément in front, but he saw that it was hard for everyone and that he had to go for it, so he did well. It came down to legs, the strongest were in front!” The quartet saw Nico Denz return on the descent, but they then tried hard not to see any other competitors come back from behind, while Rudy Molard covered the counterattacks.
“We had the numbers, the situation really suited us, and the cooperation was perfect,” Brieuc said. “When they realized that Soler, who was the real danger, wasn’t there, they pulled hard to prevent him from coming back,” said Frédéric. “We told them on the radio that they had to win this power struggle and force him to give in.” In a second group, the Spanish rider from UAE Team Emirates gave his all for about ten kilometres. Although the gap, initially of forty seconds, was brought back to barely ten seconds with thirty-five kilometres to go, he was unable to close the final metres, while the Alto de Prado (3.2 km at 8.9%), the final’ major difficulty, was looming. At the bottom, the leading group increased the gap again and definitively eliminated the chasers from the fight for victory. Nico Denz was also dropped in first slopes, and it was only on the ramps over 20%, one kilometre from the summit, that Brieuc Rolland was forced to let the others go. “It was a matter of legs,” the Breton said. “It was a bit too much for him on the very steep gradients, but let’s remember he was with Bernal and Landa,” Frédéric explained. Clément, however, kept up with the pace all the way to the summit. “I had good legs and I managed to follow Landa and Bernal,” he said. “It’s incredible to be with these guys, who are champions for me. I then realized I was having a great day.”
“Disappointment is stronger,” Clément Braz Afonso
At the summit, twenty-three miles from the finish, the trio had a twenty-five-second lead over Brieuc Rolland, who was alone. Shortly after, in the long and irregular descent, an official communication announced that the finish line had been moved to eight kilometres from the initial one, meaning at the foot of the final climb. “Everything was going well for me,” said Clément. “Brieuc was just behind us, so I was in the wheels, drafting. I thought that maybe it was my day, that there was a great opportunity. I really believed in it. And then, there was this puncture…” On a small climb seven kilometres from the new finish line, the young man was forced to stop his effort. “I felt my wheel deflate little by little, I felt that it was floating a little at the back, then I realized that I had a clear puncture,” added Clément. “My bike was flat, I had to stop… I saw Brieuc go by, then the rest of the group, and I tried to stay calm.” Initially rescued by neutral assistance, Clément Braz Afonso still had to wait for the team car to get going again. He resumed the race in a third group and therefore factually handed it over to Brieuc Rolland, who had closed the gap to just fifteen seconds on the leading duo in the final kilometres of descent. “We saw them look behind, and I think they were afraid of Brieuc with the finish line at the bottom,” Frédéric added. “In the last two kilometres, they looked at each other but not that much, because Bernal knew he was faster than Landa and had every reason to push on.”
On this improvised finish line, just before the eight-kilometre banner, Bernal and Landa did fight for victory, just seven seconds ahead of Brieuc Rolland, who had already been beaten by just thirteen seconds on stage 12. The 21-year-old still secured a second podium finish in this Vuelta. “I have no regrets,” he said, in opposition to his tangible emotion last week. “I’m very happy to confirm and prove to myself that it wasn’t a stroke of luck last time. It was a crazy day, but a very good day.” Clément Braz Afonso came a minute after Bernal, in fifth position, but with much more frustration. “It’s really disappointing,” he said in the evening. “Even if I proved to myself that I was capable of keeping up with Landa and Bernal on the climb, disappointment is stronger because I think I could have played for the victory. Fate decided it wasn’t my day, but luck will maybe smile on me in the future. We can still be satisfied with finishing third, fifth and tenth (for Rudy, editor’s note). We showed that we were strong in this stage and what I did today also opens up opportunities for me for the future.” “The day is still positive with three guys in the top ten, but we have a bit of a bitter taste thinking of Clément’s puncture,” concluded Frédéric. “We’ll never know what would have happened if it hadn’t happened, but with this finish before the climb, everything was possible… In any case Clément keeps on improving, and being able to fight at the front in the third week of his first Grand Tour is a good sign. It’s only a matter of time”.
