This weekend, part of our team was on the Spanish roads to take part in the Tour of Murcia and the Clasica Almeria. Our riders defended the team’s colors with bravery, with two top-10 results in all.
Last Saturday, the team competed in the demanding Tour of Murcia. On the agenda: almost 200km of race, and above all 3 classified climbs. Thomas Gachignard was quickly in the breakaway and spent over 175km at the head of the race, proving once again his ability to take risks and try his luck, as he did during stage 3 of the Etoile de Bessèges. In great form in a peloton which exploded halfway through the race, Steff Cras produced a fine performance in his first race of the season, finishing 8th, 1’45 behind winner Ben O’Connor.
The following day, a race with a very different profile awaits our riders in Almeria. Beginning on hilly ground, the course ends with a long flat section, which should be ideal for sprinters. Early in the race, Baptiste Vadic tried his luck in the breakaway, and did a great job in the lead group. The 21-year-old spent 175km in the lead before being caught. In the final kilometers, a nervous peloton approached the finish line, with several crashes. In this tense context, Dries Van Gestel did a great job of positioning for Jason Tesson in the final stretch, allowing our sprinter to take a fine 7th place.
This result rounds off a fine weekend of competition in southern Spain. Both at the Tour of Murcia and the Clasica Almeria, Team TotalEnergies demonstrated its strengths, firstly with sharp breakaways and then with convincing Top 10 results. Good news for the upcoming races!
