Les Bleus in silver with Christophe Laporte but beaten by Remco Evenepoel after a lively race and errors

Thomas Voeckler has many facets. Frank, the coach is certainly. And if he often refuses to discuss his tactics in front of the media, reading between the lines provides clues to the plan envisaged. You did not have to be a great cleric to understand that once again, the Blues were going to fire all the woods this Sunday in Australia. “The course will be difficult if the race scenario is” he breathed in substance. So his men complied. “We wanted to harden fairly quickly“, admits a Romain Bardet present in a group with Armirail, Sivakov, Pacher and Madouas but also Van Aert and Pogacar more than… 200 kilometers from the finish.

Who could beat Evenepoel?

Cerberus appointed to the future world champion, Bardet tells Eurosport: “I tried to mark Remco as long as possible. I’ve been there three or four times but it surprised me on the flat. He took ten meters and I was never able to stop. It was just to try that it does not take too much field so that we can go behind“No one has ever seen the Belgian again. The coronation of the very recent winner of the Vuelta also seriously mitigates French regrets.”I think he was one leg above everyone else and second was probably the best place we could get“, breathes Bardet.

No regrets despite “one or two mistakes”

“Sometimes we make plans and it goes as planned, other times we make plans, it starts to go as planned and then it doesn’t.reacted Thomas Voeckler for his part at the microphone of Eurosport. Today, we can turn the race in all directions, Remco Evenepoel was the strongest, he was unplayable. Got my share, maybe we made a mistake or two.”

That of not having put a stronger rider on his tail and also, perhaps, of having rolled with him to widen the gap on the peloton, quickly relegated to two minutes. A chasm facing Evenepoel. “Everything was not perfect but even if we had had our best cards up front with Remco, it is not sure that we could have followednuance Christophe Laporte. I think he was really the strongest today. I don’t know if we can have regrets.”

Laporte’s unexpected money

Since this French team is writing the scenario for the Worlds, it has obviously reserved the ultimate surprise. No one believed in the return of the peloton to the podium, except perhaps the riders themselves. Voeckler: “The guys were admirable, they believed in it until the end while I thought it was screwed, that we weren’t even going to bring back a Top 8“. This abnegation allowed Christophe Laporte to settle the sprint of the peloton for silver, the fourth medal of the Blues in five editions after Bardet in 2018 (silver) then the two titles of Alaphilippe (2020 and 2021).

The fallen world champion had a smile when confiding in our microphone, proof that this team also shines with its state of mind, which Voeckler and Bardet welcomed. “When they told me I was second, everyone was very happy“, supports Christophe Laporte who dominated Matthews and Van Aert in the sprint. No, the French team has not brought back a third jersey in three years, a privilege still reserved for Belgians, Italians and Slovaks in history But she still managed her world championship, winning, perhaps, the race of the “humans” behind the extra-terrestrial Remco Evenepoel.