French National Championships: Romain Grégoire delivers emphatic victory in elite men's road race

A typically spirited French national road race saw a calm and controlled team performance pay off for Groupama-FDJ United, as Romain Grégoire took the title for the first time in his career. Part of the final selection of six who fought it out in the latter stages of the race, Paul Lapeira captured silver for Decathlon CMA CGM, while Joris Delbove (TotalEnergies) rounded out the podium.

A slightly shortened race route in La Tour-du-Pins, in the Isère region of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, did not diminish the magnitude of the task at hand for the French elite men.

Though the red alert for extreme heat had passed in the area, temperatures remained extremely high in the region, heading into the upper 30s Celsius, and the weather took its toll as the attacking racing style that always characterises French nationals began the whittling down process almost immediately.

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Eventually, a large lead group of 29 riders, including seven from Groupama-FDJ United and six from TotalEnergies’ massive 27-strong group, moved clear at the head of the race. The group contained a number of fast finishers including Soudal-QuickStep's Paul Magnier, but Groupama were merely following the moves, signalling early that they were confident in their leader.

With just under 70 kilometres to go, the group split on one of the circuit’s two climbs, and Decathlon-CMA CGM’s Jordan Labrosse moved clear at the head of the race. He led solo for ten kilometres, before a chasing group of three caught up with him. Behind, a large chasing group including the defending champion Dorian Godon (Netcompany-Ineos) tried to dig into the deficit, with the peloton another 40 seconds behind, being driven on by Groupama.

A group of four riders - Labrosse, Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ United) - became five as with 51km to go when Jordan Jegat attacked on the circuit's main climb for TotalEnergies to bridge to the lead group.

The chasing group blew up on the brutal gradient but were able to regroup on the descent and with four laps to go the peloton were biding their time at just over 40 seconds from the leading group of five. Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) tried to take matters into his own hands but the strong Groupama contingent remained fully in control and with 36.5 kilometres remaining they made contact with the lead group, and the race opened up once again.

The next rider to go clear was Decathlon’s Léo Bisiaux, and he was allowed to move away from the group, building his lead to 35 seconds at one point as a number of riders from Groupama continued to work on the front of the peloton, with plenty of strong riders still tucked away in the bunch.

Everything kicked off once again on the penultimate climb, and Groupama's hard work paid off as Grégoire was able to jump onto the attacking group which consisted of Baudin, Joris Delbove (TotalEnergies) and Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-CMA CGM), and Groupama sent support for Grégoire across to the group in the shape of Clément Berthet. Missing out were UAE Team Emirates, and Pavel Sivakov took over pace-setting on behalf of Benoît Cosnefroy.

Cosnefroy took matters into his own hands with 15km to go, and he worked into the gap, and five kilometres later a larger chasing group was able to bridge to the UAE rider, which included the likes of Godon and Magnier.

The group of six maintained a slender lead at the front of the race, but though at one point it came down as low as 12 seconds, they worked well together; by contrast, the chasing group suffered from a lack of cohesion, and with 8 kilometres to go, it looked to be all over for them.

At the front, the pair from Decathlon took turns to attack, but in the end it came down to the longest climb on the circuit, with Grégoire attacking around 500m from the top of the climb to move clear with 3 kilometres remaining in the race.

The 23-year-old was emphatic after that, charging for the finish line alone and unchallenged, and he even had time to celebrate as he approached the line, the emotions clear as he raised his arms in triumph, and brought the iconic bleu-blanc-rouge back to Groupama for the first time since Valentin Madouas won back in 2023.

"I don't know what to say," the newly crowned French champion told reporters.

"This is a dream that I've had for a long time and it's really a win for the team. We were at 2:30 and I doubted right then, but in the end the guys were just incredible and they did everything that they could possibly do, especially Clément Berthet, the job that he did do for me on that final climb.

"It was really nice to really celebrate that moment while I was alone, and I also thought about my teammates because they did an absolutely beautiful job and the win is for each and every one of them."

He also confirmed his place on the team's Tour de France roster, ahead of any official announcement, saying, "Yes, I am doing the Tour de France in this wonderful jersey. That is going to be my next goal."

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