Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) crowned French road champion before the Tour, Gaudu reassured, not Alaphilippe

A race of titans could only smile at a gladiator. On a terribly difficult course, made daunting by considerable heat (30° in the shade), Valentin Madaouas put the competition off. Already present in the breakaway at the start of the race, the Groupama-FDJ rider took advantage of a perfect team strategy to emerge, first with David Gaudu Gaudu and Rudy Molard, then all alone 21 kilometers from the ‘arrival.

The 4th in the Tour of Flanders 2022 was never seen again and won his first title of French road champion in Cassel, ahead of his teammate Rudy Molard (+ 1’49”) and Julien Bernard (Trek- Segafredo, + 1’57”). Big favourite, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) was let go, before giving up.

A Groupama-FDJ “masterclass”

It only took about thirty kilometers to understand that we were going to witness a crazy race and the toughest French Championship in recent years. The time for the peloton to be split in two from the second lap of the circuit, with no less than eight Groupama-FDJ at the front, including Madouas, Pinot, Gaudu and Grégoire. A huge blow. However, we were still far from suspecting the quality of the show to come and the almost unreal difficulty of this championship. On arrival in Cassel, they were only 23 to have finished. The others ended up exhausted, boiled, exhausted by this mixture of cobblestones, percentages, kilometers and heat. But also by the sumptuous work of Groupama-FDJ.

Always one step ahead, Marc Madiot’s team completed the perfect race, positioning themselves in the first breakaway of the day, then in all the others. By driving very hard from the start to wear down her opponents, by also trapping the vast majority of her major opponents, she imposed her tactics, making the job easier for a Valentin Madouas who is always well placed and who has never had to do violent efforts.

It was quite the opposite for Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) or Clément Champoussin (Arkéa Samsic), who all exploded after their efforts. Big favorite announced, Julian Alaphilippe has never been able to influence the race. Systematically at the back, the Soudal-Quick Step puncher was trapped for the first time, returned at the cost of a good effort, before exploding definitively, more than 95 kilometers from the finish. The situation was then perfect for Groupama-FDJ.

Huge gaps

The hard work of the AG2R Citroën in the peloton, a time pushed back more than two minutes from the race lead, allowed Cosnefroy, Gallopin, Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) and Gaudu to join Madouas, Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Le Berre and Gesbert (Arkéa Samsic). If we had ten men in the lead for a few kilometers, Groupama-FDJ quickly blew everything up again, at the instigation of David Gaudu.

The 4th in the 2022 Tour climbed the Porte d’Aire side (1km at 8%) two laps in a row, hurting Cosnefroy very badly at first, then leaving with his teammates Molard and Madouas then, at two laps from the finish. The hat-trick then seemed possible for Groupama-FDJ. But Gaudu quickly exploded, drained of his strength. Molard also gave in, leaving Valentin Madouas on his way to the best victory of his career and a first blue-white-red jersey, won with panache.

Impressive, he continued to widen the gap to win 1’49” ahead of Molard for a superb double for Groupama-FDJ, perfect this Sunday. The Trek-Segafredo also had two men up front but Tony Gallopin and Julien Bernard didn’t have the legs to compete with Marc Madiot’s team. The second will console himself with the bronze medal.

Behind, the gaps were abysmal: Peters (AG2R Citroën) finished 5th at 3’29”, Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) finished in 7th place at 4’45”, Perez (Cofidis) finished further , 9th, at 6’19”…. This French Championship was a building site, Groupama-FDJ made it legendary and insurmountable for the vast majority of the peloton. And only a heroic soldier like Valentin Madouas could emerge victorious. A modern day gladiator.