Stage Report - Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia - Stage 4
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia (2.1)
Stage 4/6, 153.1 km
Stage Favourites
C. Froome
N. Quintana
R. Bardet
R. Porte
Pre-Race Meeting:
Stage Four was the Queen Stage of the Ruta Del Sol 2017, with a big mountain top finish that would reshuffle the GC and put the big climbers back on top. After a great couple of days, Romain Sicard finds himself in 2nd place on GC and our aim for the day is to keep him firmly inside the top 10! We have some strong climbers on the team, with Gadret, Gaudu and Demuseau all capable of providing great support for Romain on the final climb!
--Race Review --
This stage was a shortish mountain stage which contained two very long climbs. As always, an early break went out and today it consisted of five riders. We didn't put anybody into the break, today our entire focus was on protecting Romain Sicard's high place on GC as best we could. Thomas Demuseau was asked to put in a big shift and protect Romain up the first two climbs, a job he did very well but which he paid for on the final climb as he fell away from the main group as we peaked over the second climb of the day.
The days break was reeled in before the peleton reached the final descent of the day. Taking heart from yesterdays successful move, Romain Sicard and John Gadret attacked the peleton as the race hit the descent. While they were not able to force a gap, they did manage to create a large split in the peleton and reduce the lead group to around 40 riders as the peleton approached the final climb.
Romain Sicard and John Gadret raise the pace on the final descent
We were in a great postion as the race hit the final climb, with three riders in the lead group: Romain Sicard, John Gadret and David Gaudu – who was putting in an excellent ride. Gadret was given the job of pacing Sicard up the final climb, but the pace of the race favourites was just too much and Sicard had to leave Gadret and Gaudu as he sought to protect his place in the top 10. Team Sky were very aggressive and it was an attack from Chris Froome (Team Sky) that finally broke the race apart, with only Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha) and Froome's team mate Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) able to follow the Brit. The three men stayed ahead of the main field and it was, somewhat surprisingly, Zakarin who was able to outmaneauveur the two Team Sky riders and claim the victory. Romain Sicard battled hard and was able to finish in a small group of 3 riders 44 seconds behind the winner, putting him in 7th place on GC at the end of the day.
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Race Results
1. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
4h35'47””
2. V. Kiryienka
Team Sky
s.t.
3. C. Froome
Team Sky
s.t.
4. T. De Gendt
Lotto Soudal
+14'
5. A. Yates
Orica-Bike Exchange
s.t.
Spoiler
12. R. Sicard
BPCE-Natixis
+44'
33. D. Gaudu
BPCE-Natixis
+1'45
35. J. Gadret
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
57. M. Le Turnier
BPCE-Natixis
+6'35
74. T. Demuseau
BPCE-Natixis
+6'50
80. D. Monier
BPCE-Natixis
+7'02
84. R. Di Gregorio
BPCE-Natixis
+7'09
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia General Classification
Spoiler
1. V. Kiryienka
Team Sky
11hr57'59'
2. C. Froome
Team Sky
+9'
3. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
+16'
4. A. Yates
Orica-Bike Exchange
+19'
5. T. De Gendt
Lotto Soudal
+35'
...
7. R. Sicard
BPCE-Natixis
+45'
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Points Classification
Spoiler
1. B. Coquard
Direct Energie
41 pts
2. M. Matthews
Orica-Bike Exchange
33 pts
3. V. Kiryienka
Team Sky
30 pts
4. C. Froome
Team Sky
30 pts
5. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
30 pts
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Mountains Classification
Spoiler
1. T. Wellens
Lotto Soudal
16 pts
2. P. Latour
AG2R Mondiale
12 pts
3. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
10 pts
4. V. Kiryienka
Team Sky
8 pts
5. H. Carthy
Caja Rural-Seguras
7 pts
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Young Riders Classification
@sutty68 - It would be great to get Sicard on the podium, but looking at the quality of the other riders in the race (Froome, Quintana, Bardet etc.) I think it will be a tough ask! If Sicard can keep himself in the top 10 come the end of the race, I would consider that a good result for us!
@Shonak - Thanks! Gaudu rode a really good stage last time out, but like you say competition for the Young Riders jersey is tough! I think we can expect to see a lot more from Gaudu as the story progresses!
Next up for the team is the final stage of the Tour du Haut Var! The sponsors need a top 5 finish, can we hold on to Julien El-Flares' 2nd place and secure our 1st sponsor objective of the year?
Pre-Race Meeting:
There were mixed feelings on the team bus after yesterdays stage. While Julien's 2nd place finish was an outstanding result and put us in a great position to achieve the sponsors objective, to miss out on a breakaway win in the final metres of the stage was heart-wrenching! Todays 2nd stage had a similar profile to stage 1, and gave us hope that we could go one better today! We went into the stage knowing that Julien finishing in the bunch would be good enough to secure him a top 5 on GC, so our main goal for the day was to keep the race together.
--Race Review --
Todays second stage of the Tour du Haut Var Matin started as expected, with a break of 7 men able to get away from the peleton and build a small lead over the early climbs. However, on the descent of the second category 3 climb of the day, our race plan was torn to shreds as three of our riders hit the tarmac in a 14 rider crash in the middle of the peleton. Designated team leader Yannick Martinez, Royane Bouhanni, and, most worryingly, 2nd placed Julien El-Flares were all caught up in the crash and left over a minute behind the peleton by the time they were back underway.
Yannick Martinez, Royane Bouhanni, and Julien El-Flares (wearing the green jersey) all hit the deck as 14 riders crash!
Royane Bouhanni put in a big shift at the front along with two domestiques from other teams to close down the gap and return El-Flares and Martinez to the main field. However the effects of the crash would show themselves on the second Category 2 climb of the day as first Bouhanni, and then almost our entire team dropped off the back of the peleton as Tinkoff raised the pace at the front of the peleton for race leader Michael Valgren (Tinkoff). As the race crested the final climb of the day, the lead group had been whittled down to 26 riders, with Team BPCE-Natixis' only representitives being Anthony Delaplace and his pace maker Aurelian Passerson, who was once again doing a great job protecting his leader.
With the break caught and the climbs over, the pace of the race eased off as the gradient became undulating. In a move very similar to El-Flares' attack on yesterdays stage, Passerson moved his leader to the front of the peleton and Delaplace attacked with around 10km left in the stage! Delaplace was able to get a gap, but could he go one better than Julien El-Flares and hold on for the win?
Anthony Delaplace launches his attack with 10km to go!
With so few domestiques left in the small leading group, nobody seemed willing to take up the chase! This lack of organisation allowed Delaplace to get his lead up to nearly a minute at one point, and he still held the lead with 1km to go! With his head down, Delaplace gave everything and was able to pick up an incredible solo victory and secure not only the stage win, but overall victory as well as he held off the group behind by 34 seconds! What an incredible result after what looked like could be a disastorous stage for the team!
Anthony Delaplace holds off the peleton to secure victory for Team BPCE-Natixis!
Tour du Haut Var Matin Race Results
1. A. Delaplace
BPCE-Natxis
4h51'44”
2. J. Simon
Cofidis
+34'
3. J. Herrada
Movistar
s.t.
4. A. Jeannesson
Cofidis
s.t.
5. A. Vichot
FDJ
s.t.
Spoiler
26. A. Passerson
BPCE-Natixis
+1'12
80. S. Georges
BPCE-Natixis
+7'48
83. Y. Martinez
BPCE-Natixis
s.t
84. J. El-Flares
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
86. G. Levarlet
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
98. R. Bacon
BPCE-Natixis
+9'29
130. R. Bouhanni
BPCE-Natixis
+15'17
Tour du Haut Var Matin General Classification
Spoiler
1. A. Delaplace
BPCE-Natixis
8hr52'57'
2. M. Valgren
Tinkoff
+34'
3. J. Simon
Cofidis
s.t.
4. A. Vichot
FDJ
s.t.
5. A. Vuillermoz
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
...
28. A. Passerson
BPCE-Natixis
+1'12
Tour du Haut Var Matin Points Classification
Spoiler
1. M. Valgren
Tinkoff
35 pts
2. J. Simon
Cofidis
28 pts
3. A. Delaplace
BPCE-Natxis
25 pts
4. A. Vuillermoz
AG2R Mondiale
22 pts
5. A. Vichot
FDJ
21 pts
Tour du Haut Var Matin Mountains Classification
Spoiler
1. P. Percichon
Fortuneo-Vital Concept
18 pts
2. M. Soler
Movistar
10 pts
3. M. Valgren
Gazprom-RusVelo
6 pts
4. D. Lopez
Team Sky
6 pts
5. R. Combaud
Delko Marseille
6 pts
Tour du Haut Var Matin Young Riders Classification
@Aquarius97 - Thanks so much! We've certainly had a good start to life on the Continental Pro Tour! Like you say, there's still a long way to go to complete our goal of winner le Tour! First things first is securing promotion to the World Tour this season!
@Shonak - Thank you! I will admit I was a little worried when El-Flares went down, but like you say it was a great performance from Delaplace! With the next Sponsor Goals being Paris-Nice it was great to get a sponsor goal in the bag before things get too tough!
Stage Report - Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia - Stage 5
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia (2.1)
Stage 5/6, 200.7 km
Stage Favourites
A. Valverde
C. Froome
I. Zakarin
R. Bardet
Pre-Race Meeting:
After surviving yesterdays Queen Stage, stage 5 offered another tough day for the riders with another mountain top finish. We would be looking for another performance like yesterday from Romain Sicard to secure his place in the top 10 on GC, with todays stage representing the last chance for climbers to make up lost time. Everyone would be working for Romain today, as protecting his top 10 position was our best chance of ensuring our first race outside of France would end a successful one! Encouraged by the success of Anothony Delaplace back in France, the boys went into this stage believing we could pull it off!
--Race Review --
This stage was over 200 km in length, but didn't kick to life until the final few kilometres when the riders reached the final climb of the race. A four man breakaway was away from most of the day but Team Sky, who have the top 2 riders on GC, were always in control of the time gap and the breakaway never looked like succeeding.
When the race hit the final climb, Team Sky lifted the pace and riders began dropping off the back of the peleton. We had Remy Di Gregorio protecting Romain, with John Gadret, David Gaudu and Thomas Demuseau all still in the lead group ready to help. Team Sky continued their high pace trying to prevent any attacks from their GC rivals and continuing to drop riders off the back of the group. David Gaudu was our first rider to be dropped, with Thomas Demuseau falling off the back shortly afterwards. Impressively Remy Di Gregorio was still keeping pace with the leaders, riding alongside John Gadret and Romain Sicard in the leading group of only 20 riders.
With only 3 km to go, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) launched his attack as he looked to make up some of his lost time. The Spaniard was successful in dropping the yellow jersey of Visal Kiryienka (Team Sky), although he couldn't shake Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha) who were 2nd and 3rd on GC respectively. In all 5 riders were able to ride clear, and as the group behind split in half all three of our riders found themselves the right side of the split!
Valverde launched the sprint with 1 km to go and won it with such ease that he managed to gain an 8 second lead over the rest of the lead group! The next group of 7 riders, including Sicard, Gadret and Di Gregorio, rolled in 11 seconds later in an unbelievable effort from our 3 riders! While the time gaps were less than in yesterdays stage due to the shorter final climb, Romain Sicard's ride had still been enough to move him up into the top 5 on GC! A fantastic effort from Romain and the team, and with only tomorrows flat stage left to ride Romain should finish a very impressive Ruta Del Sol in 5th place overall!
Alejandro Valverde launches the stage winning attack on the final climb
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Race Results
1. A. Valverde
Movistar
5h02'11””
2. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
+8'
3. C. Froome
Team Sky
s.t.
4. P. Rolland
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
5. P. Latour
AG2R
s.t.
Spoiler
8. R. Sicard
BPCE-Natixis
+19'
9. J. Gadret
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
12. R. Di Gregorio
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
26. T. Demuseau
BPCE-Natixis
+41'
42. D. Gaudu
BPCE-Natixis
+1'01
77. M. Le Turnier
BPCE-Natixis
+3'30
101. D. Monier
BPCE-Natixis
+4'10
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia General Classification
Spoiler
1. C. Froome
Team Sky
17hr00'27'
2. V. Kiryienka
Team Sky
+2'
3. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
+7'
4. A. Yates
Orica-Bike Exchange
+43'
5. R. Sicard
BPCE-Natixis
+47'
...
17. J. Gadret
BPCE-Natixis
+2'07
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Points Classification
Spoiler
1. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
50 pts
2. C. Froome
Team Sky
46 pts
3. B. Coquard
Direct Energie
45 pts
4. V. Kiryienka
Team Sky
35 pts
5. M. Matthews
Orica-Bike Exchanfe
33 pts
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Mountains Classification
Spoiler
1. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
18 pts
2. T. Wellens
Lotto Soudal
16 pts
3. P. Latour
AG2R Mondiale
12 pts
4. C. Froome
Team Sky
12 pts
5. D. Formolo
Cannondale
10 pts
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Young Riders Classification
Stage Report - Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia - Stage 6
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia (2.1)
Stage 6/6, 176.0 km
Stage Favourites
N. Bouhanni
M. Matthews
B. Coquard
B. Swift
Pre-Race Meeting:
After securing Romain Sicard's spot in the top 5 on GC yesterday, our work for this race was done with only todays flat stage left to complete the race. On paper this looks like one for the fast men, and as we are without a sprinter for this race our only aim for the day was to get Romain round safely.
--Race Review --
After the usual flurry of early attacks, a ten man breakaway group eventually formed after 25km. We tried to get Thomas Damuseau into the breakaway today, but unfortunately he missed the succesful move. The ten riders who did manage to follow the right move included Michael Rogers (Tinkoff), Jack Bauer (Cannondale), Chad Haga (Team Giant-Alpecin), and Jesse Sergeant (AG2R).
Perhaps tired after two days in the mountains, the peleton allowed the breakaway to build a huge lead – at one point the lead stretched over 13 minutes! While Orica-Bike Exchange did eventually take charge of the chase, they had a lot of work to do to reel in the breakaways sizeable advantage for their leader Michael Matthews.
With 20 km to go, the breakaway still held a near 5 minute lead. With 10 km to go, the lead was down to 3 minutes. The peleton was really flying now, and the breakaway was breaking apart with attacks from first Michael Rogers and then Jack Bauer. With 1 km to go, the breakaway was in the peletons sights! Could they hold on? Bauer opened his sprint first, but he had gone too early and was overhauled by Haga 50 metres from the line! Behind them the sprinters had opened their sprint from the peleton, but there wasn't enough road left for them to make up the gap! Chad Haga held on for a surprise breakaway win, with the sprinters from the peleton overhauling the back few in the breakaway and credited the same finishing time as the winner. If the race had been a few metres longer, the breakaway would likely have been unsuccessful but on this occasion the peleton measured their chase slightly wrong!
Not that any of this affected us! Romain and the rest of the team rolled in safely in the peleton to complete a successful first overseas race for Team BPCE-Natixis!
Chad Haga holds off the peleton after a long break to win the final stage of the Ruta Del Sol
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Race Results
1. C. Haga
Team Giant-Alpecin
3h44'47””
2. J. Bauer
Cannondale
s.t.
3. M. Rogers
Tinkoff
s.t.
4. J. Hoogerland
Roompot-Oranje Peleton
s.t.
5. J. Sergent
AG2R Mondiale
s.t.
Spoiler
22. D. Gaudu
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
48. R. Sicard
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
67. J. Gadret
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
83. T. Damuseau
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
98. D. Monier
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
102. M. Le Turnier
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
117. R. Di Gregorio
BPCE-Natixis
s.t.
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia General Classification
Spoiler
1. C. Froome
Team Sky
20hr45'14”
2. V. Kiryienka
Team Sky
+2'
3. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
+7'
4. A. Yates
Orica-Bike Exchange
+43'
5. R. Sicard
BPCE-Natixis
+47'
...
17. J. Gadret
BPCE-Natixis
+2'07
30. D. Gaudu
BPCE-Natixis
+3'17
49. R. Di Gregorio
BPCE-Natixis
+7'45
51. T. Damuseau
BPCE-Natixis
+7'46
61. M. Le Turnier
BPCE-Natixis
+10'48
72. D. Monier
BPCE-Natixis
+11'54
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Points Classification
Spoiler
1. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
50 pts
2. B. Coquard
Direct Energie
48 pts
3. C. Froome
Team Sky
46 pts
4. M. Matthews
Orica-Bike Exchange
38 pts
5. V. Kiryienka
Team Sky
35 pts
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Mountains Classification
Spoiler
1. I. Zakarin
Team Katusha
18 pts
2. T. Wellens
Lotto Soudal
16 pts
3. P. Latour
AG2R Mondiale
14 pts
4. C. Froome
Team Sky
12 pts
5. D. Formolo
Cannondale
10 pts
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia Young Riders Classification
sutty68 wrote:
A top five on the GC for Sicard will go down as a pretty good performance
Thanks! A good debut race for Sicard for sure! I'm pretty happy with the results so far, and the team really seems to be building some momentum right now!
Shonak wrote:
Solid stuff by Sicard to get that 5th place, didn't expect him to do so well. Well done!
Thanks Shonak! I was surprised to see Sicard up in 5th as well! I did get lucky with his form (I believe he was +4 on the final mountain stage and +3 for the ITT for example), but to compete so well against some big names bodes well for the upcoming sponsor goal at Paris-Nice! It will be interesting to see how competitive the team is at our first WT event!
Domestiques R. Di Gregorio D. Monier M. Le Turnier Y. Paillot
Notes from the Directeur Sportif:
On the back of a successful trip to Spain for the Ruta Del Sol the team return home for the Tour de La Provence, the riders final warm up race before the teams next Sponsor Objective at the Paris-Nice. The riders are joined by Yoann Paillot for this race, who will be making his debut ride for Team BPCE-Natixis. Romain Sicard once again leads the team after his impressive 5th place at the Ruta Del Sol, and David Gaudu's performances in Spain have earned the youngster a 'free role' for this race!
Ruta Del Sol – Vuelta a Andalucia (2.1)
C. Froome
N. Quintana
R. Bardet
R. Porte
Gaudu in 4th in youth jersey is also nice but unlikely to advance further looking at those guys.
M. Valgren
I. Zakarin
op five on the GC for Sicard will go down as a pretty good performance
E. Theuns
G. Visconti
