The Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale have not won, but its runners find colors. First Paul Lapeira, victim of knee troubles which earned him two months of stopping, from the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes. “I am happy anyway, the condition is already good. Obviously I did not expect to be at my best level, it still takes adjustments. But I come back with a coherent level. If I can contribute to the collective on these days it makes me happy”he says this Thursday, on the occasion of the Aulne loops. The other element in search of benchmarks is Benoit Cosnefroy, who only resumed his season in the Tour de Romandie last week, after a broken collarbone which put a premature end to his year 2024, before being in delicacy with his knee at the start of the season.
And Benoit Cosnefroy did better than simply found sensations in Brittany, since he went on the podium, only beaten by Lewis Askey (see classification). “It’s almost unexpected, I resumed last week so it is not easy from the second week. But what a crazy race! I was quite active, and I had trouble collecting efforts”. The Norman went forward, taking in particular a beautiful group of escapes about 60 kilometers from the goal. “I thought there because it is very difficult on this circuit to restore a situation. It would have been necessary to dig 10-15 seconds more to get along well and to relay less strong. It was a beautiful blow, it is a shame. But at the same time by being in numerical inferiority, it was perhaps better than it comes into”.
A group could promote a sprint by Paul Lapeira, as was initially planned. But the Normandy duo has gotten lost. “We wanted to sprint for Paul, I heard that he was in my wheel, I went there. I made a 500 m sprint and I saw nothing behind, I just saw that Paul did not go up. The last meters were really horrible. Chateaulin is never easy”blows the 2nd of the day. Paul Lapeira finally finished far enough in the package, but it is only a delivery. “In the idea the objective was to be an actor. Noa (Isidore) was very strong. The idea is not to put it in all directions. It was necessary to dose, it was very well done. I could have been active rather in the final, but Benoit will do 2 so it is good”. At least, everyone has reassured a little when there is still a full weekend in Brittany.
