Gautherat : 'I told myself I would attack at the last kilometre'

May 5 ^th 2024 - 18:45

Pierre Gautherat (Décathlon AG2R La Mondiale): 'I made a first serious effort 60 km from the finish. I fell, trying to avoid a rider who went down in front of me. I went to the right, hit a small pile of gravel and slid. I wasn't hurt, but I scraped my side. Maybe I panicked a bit too soon. I saw a group of 30 ahead of me. I had to make up 15 seconds and finally caught up to them. Would I still have caught up if I hadn't made that effort? I don't know, but in any case, Arnaud, who was behind me, also came back. That's when I attacked. Stan Dewulf was with me, and Benoît [Cosnefroy] did an excellent job. On the first pass at the farm, I saw Arnaud attacking, but I chose to stay with the group. And on the last section, at 6 km, I had to put everything into it because I could see that Arnaud [De Lie] was really strong. I was one of the only riders capable of following him and catching up. After that, we rode well, but we all kept a bit in reserve. We were the three strongest riders. Unfortunately, there were teams like Arkéa and Uno-X behind us who were over-represented. They managed to catch us. The day before the race, I'd said to myself that I'd attack at the one-kilometre mark if I were in a small group, but I didn't do it because I wasn't exactly sure of myself. In the end, Arnaud was the strongest in the sprint, and I was passed by Clément [Venturini] 15-20 metres from the line. It was a strong sprint. I'm happy to be on the podium. But I would still have liked to win.'