Groupama-FDJ’s strategy may have become clearer as early as the first stage of the Tour de France, this Saturday. Faced with the failures of David Gaudu, 4th in the 2022 Tour but affected by Covid 19 in June, and Lenny Martinez, a highly anticipated hope for his debut on the Grande Boucle, the quest for a stage victory that has eluded the team since 2019 takes on a little more credibility.
The two men were among the many riders who dropped out more than 70 kilometres from the finish, on the fourth of the day’s seven climbs, and reached the finish with a group of stragglers, 29’14” behind Romain Bardet, the day’s winner. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B & B Hôtels) was among them in this peloton of stragglers.
Cavendish suffered but held on, Gazzoli gave up
If several sprinters including Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) were also part of this group, Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) joined the line more than 39′ from Bardet, surrounded by four teammates, and in the company of some riders suffering, including Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-Firmenich).
Dropped at the very start of the stage, the British sprinter in search of a 35th stage success on the Tour, which would make him the record holder in this area, seemed to suffer from the heat. He drank a lot and watered himself heavily, without success. Also in the tough, his Italian teammate Michele Gazzoli was the first rider forced to retire on this Tour.
