Gautherat: “It feels like a victory.”

May 11 ^th 2025 - 18:16

Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale): “It feels like a victory.”

“It was honestly a wild, chaotic race. With the rain, I’ve never slid around so much in a race. At times, I couldn’t even see the road through my glasses. Riders were crashing everywhere—you really needed some luck out there. I think I rode a perfect race. I always made sure to keep my distance in the sectors when I saw someone who wasn’t too confident on the bike. I tried to ride as clean and smart as possible, and that helped me stay in the mix until the end.

At the farm section, I wanted to attack, but when I saw Bastien come back up, I told myself I had to hang on to him all the way. He was incredibly strong—I gave it everything to stay with him. Then we managed to catch the Uno-X Mobility rider [Fredrik Dversnes]. Unfortunately, he crashed in the roundabout, and I just barely avoided him—it was like a balancing act.

After that, Bastien rode an insane race. He had punctured several times and was still the strongest out there. He fully deserves the win. But for me, it really feels like a victory.

I was 3rd last year, 2nd today—it’s unreal. I didn’t have the start to the season I was hoping for, with a few physical issues. So getting back to this level feels amazing. The guys won yesterday and the day before, and today we said we wanted to win too—and we did. It’s incredible.”