2023 Cholet - Pays de Loire (1.1), France

44th edition: Sunday, March 19, 2023

Cholet-Pays de Loire podium history | 2022 edition | Map & profile

Cholet - Cholet, 205 km. Cholet is a town in northwest France, about 50km southeast of Nantes.

Laurence Pithie is the winner.

Les Woodland's book Cycling's 50 Triumphs and Tragedies: The rise and fall of bicycle racing's champions is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the start/finish city of Cholet 12:55 PM, local time: 11C (52F), cloudy, with the wind from the west at 16 km/hr (10 mph). There is just a 1% chance of rain.

The race: Here's the report from winner Laurence Pithie's Team Groupama-FDJ.

Laurence Pithie will not soon forget this week of racing. After getting his first top-10 at the highest level on Wednesday, then his very first podium on Saturday, the New Zealander completed this sequence in the best possible way on Sunday. On Cholet-Pays de la Loire, the 20-year-old young man confirmed his momentum as he went on to snatch, after a breath-taking effort and a fine offensive with Lewis Askey, a memorable first win among the pros. Doing so, he also brought the second victory of the season to the Groupama-FDJ cycling team.

Had he barely achieved his first podium among the “big boys” on Saturday, Laurence Pithie was already thinking of the next step. “Now I hope that we can do one place better tomorrow in Cholet-Pays de Loire,” he said shortly after the ceremony. As throughout the week on the Nokere Koerse, the Grand Prix de Denain and the Classic Loire Atlantique, the Groupama-FDJ team was very young but also really ambitious at the start of Cholet. “I told them that we absolutely had to come away from this weekend with a win”, recalled Thierry Bricaud. “We had the team strength to do it. At the briefing, we said we were going to do everything to win, no matter with whom.”

The plan was clear on Sunday morning. “The goal was to give everything for Paul if a sprint was possible on the last lap, but Lewis and Laurence had the opportunity to follow the moves 2-3 laps from the finish”, added Thierry. “We knew there would be action and that the sprinters’ teams would struggle controlling it”. The day’s breakaway was able to lead the race until reaching the circuit of Cholet, with about fifty kilometres remaining. However, the bunch proved dynamic from the first lap and therefore caught the leaders quite early on. “The first part of the race was not very hard, but when the start is easy, the final is obviously harder,” explained Lewis Askey. “It was better for us. The course changed a bit compared to last year. The hills were a little less difficult, but we still had to be careful. In the first lap, I went with fifteen riders, but everything came together and then we covered a few laps without much happening”.

The big fight eventually started with a bit less than three laps to go, in the two hills of the circuit. “We planned to be offensive in the final laps, and we really executed the plan”, explained Laurence Pithie. “I know Lewis very well from the Conti, and we knew that if we attacked together with a couple of other strong riders, we could have a good chance of staying away. So that’s what we did. We were working well with the Cofidis riders, we managed to stay away for two laps, but then some people rode across to us from the peloton, which changed things a bit”.

“At first, we were ten in the lead, then the strongest remained in front,” said Lewis. “There were only five of us left, but we never had a big gap on the peloton”. With the pack on their heels at the start of the last eight-kilometre lap, a decision had to be made. “I spoke with Laurence to know how he was feeling,” Lewis said. “He told me that he felt very good, so I went full-gas on the last climb so that the bunch would not come back”. “Lewis did an amazing job. He did a “suicide” pull to give me a chance to go for the win”, greeted the Kiwi. “It was perfect. His pull was very long and strong but not too much so that I wouldn’t be dead. This allowed the group to keep a small gap over the rest of the peloton. He was the best teammate anyone could ask for today.” Three kilometres from the finish, Laurence Pithie then found himself with all the responsibility on his shoulders, but he did not panic despite a slightly larger leading group. “They had to race smart to hope for the win, and that’s what they did,” said Thierry. “It makes up for all the times they were overly generous.”

“I knew it was a fast final and that gaps would open up because everyone was very tired,” continued Laurence. “I didn’t want to give away the victory by letting a rider slip off the front. I knew I was strong, so I had to follow the moves. Sometimes you need to make this extra effort to win. That’s what I did, and it worked out”. Very much alert, Laurence Pithie was able to follow two men under the flamme rouge and take a small lead before the final stretch. “We had a little gap, but on the last corner, the AG2R-Citroën rider left a gap on the TotalEnergies rider”, added the Kiwi. “I knew then that I had to go full gas to close him down, and attack from there. I didn’t know who was behind, I just knew that I had a little gap, so I had to go now and give everything I had”.

After starting his acceleration with about 600 metres to go, Laurence Pithie took the lead alone at 400 metres and then continued the longest sprint of his young career. “I don’t think I’ve ever gone as hard as I did in this last kilometre,” he said. “I just had to put my head down and give it my all, hoping to hold on. I just looked at the big screen 100 metres from the line and I didn’t think I would make it. I saw that guys were coming with a lot more speed. I knew I just had to stand up and go all the way to the line. I couldn’t quite believe it when I crossed the line. I even did the bike throw just in case.”

After a thrilling final, and an impressive performance, the former “Conti” rider did manage to conquer and celebrate his first victory at the highest level. “It’s incredible, I can’t really describe how I feel”, he said. “It’s really great to get my first pro win with some of my best friends.” “Laurence showed he was the strongest,” added Lewis. “We are all really happy, because we all get on really well and we deserved to win. Laurence is one of my best friends, so being up front, working together and winning like this is really special. It’s great to end the week like this.”

Always up there in recent days, the young riders of the Groupama-FDJ team eventually did manage to “finish it off” on Sunday, which was quite a relief. “It’s been an excellent week, which fortunately ended with a victory”, said Thierry. “It would have been really frustrating if it did not happen. It’s a great reward for the whole group. It obviously bodes well for the future. Laurence surely gained confidence and this win will give him other ideas. Lewis is always up there, and we know he will be able to take a victory soon. The momentum is really great and that’s important. Our young guys have kept this carefree attitude they had with the Conti, this way of racing with confidence. That is essential”.

While Paul Penhoët took fourteenth place on Sunday, Laurence Pithie took the lead of both the overall and youth rankings of the French Cup, while Groupama-FDJ still leads the team classification. “The team showed a lot of faith bringing us all up into the WorldTour, and we are showing that we are good enough to be here”, concluded Laurence. “I’ll enjoy the win, but we’re always hungry for more…”

Complete Results:

205 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.967 km/hr.

1	Laurence Pithie	Groupama-FDJ	4hr 46min 16sec
2	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	s.t.
3	Lorrenzo Manzin	TotalEnergies	s.t.
4	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
5	Lindsay De Vylder	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
6	Maikel Zijlaard	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
7	Axel Zingle	Cofidis	s.t.
8	Manuel Peñalver	Burgos-BH	s.t.
9	Pierre Gautherat	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
10	Cyril Barthe	Burgos-BH	s.t.
11	Gotzon Martín	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
12	Aaron Gate	Bolton Equities-Black Spoke	s.t.
13	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	s.t.
14	Paul Penhoët	Groupama-FDJ	@ 5sec
15	Paul Lapeira	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
16	Alexis Vuillermoz	TotalEnergies	s.t.
17	Pierre Barbier	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
18	Nacer Bouhanni	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
19	Jason Tesson	TotalEnergies	s.t.
20	Rudy Barbier	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
21	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
22	Frederik Jensen	BHS-PL Belton Bornholm	s.t.
23	André Carvalho	Cofidis	s.t.
24	Bram Welten	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
25	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
26	Xabier Berasategi	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
27	Timothy Dupont	Tarteletto-Isorex	s.t.
28	Vincent Van Hemelen	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
29	Hubert Grygowski	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
30	Eddy Finé	Cofidis	s.t.
31	Óscar Pelegrí	Burgos-BH	s.t.
32	Enekoitz Azparren	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
33	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
34	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	0:10
35	Arvid De Kleijn	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
36	Lewis Askey	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
37	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	0:14
38	Joris Delbove	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	0:26
39	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
40	Clément Alleno	Burgos-BH	s.t.
41	Victor De La Parte	TotalEnergies	s.t.
42	Sebastian Schönberger	Human Powered Health	s.t.
43	Ben Perry	Human Powered Health	s.t.
44	Xabier Isasa	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
45	Jacob Relaes	Tarteletto-Isorex	s.t.
46	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
47	Kamiel Bonneu	Team Flanders-Baloise	0:29
48	Angel Fuentes	Burgos-BH	0:30
49	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	s.t.
50	Donavan Grondin	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
51	Fabien Grellier	TotalEnergies	0:32
52	Maxime De Poorter	Tarteletto-Isorex	0:34
53	Sebastian Ryttersgaard	BHS-PL Belton Bornholm	s.t.
54	Rodrigo Álvarez	Burgos-BH	s.t.
55	Thibaud Gruel	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
56	Sebastian Andreasson	BHS-PL Belton Bornholm	s.t.
57	Maxime Urruty	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
58	Nils Brun	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
59	Ryan Christensen	Bolton Equities-Black Spoke	s.t.
60	Alekss Krasts	Tartu2024 Cycling Team	s.t.
61	Unai Iribar	Euskaltel-Euskadi	0:38
62	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
63	Alex Vandenbulcke	Tarteletto-Isorex	0:48
64	Kobe Vanoverschelde	Tarteletto-Isorex	s.t.
65	Mathis Le Berre	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
66	Markus Pajur	Tartu2024 Cycling Team	s.t.
67	Noah Hobbs	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
68	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
69	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	s.t.
70	Toon Clynhens	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
71	Nicolas Prodhomme	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
72	Philippe Jacob	Ecoflo Chronos	1:01
73	Kevin Ledanois	Arkéa-Samsic	1:22
74	Jean Goubert	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
75	Damien Girard	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
76	Luke Mudgway	Bolton Equities-Black Spoke	1:46
77	Rory Townsend	Bolton Equities-Black Spoke	s.t.
78	Brent Van Der Eycken	Materiel-Velo.com	s.t.
79	Jerome Gauthier	Ecoflo Chronos	1:49
80	Jacob Scott	Bolton Equities-Black Spoke	s.t.
81	Aaron Aus	Tartu2024 Cycling Team	2:21
82	Matisse Julien	Ecoflo Chronos	s.t.
83	Max Rushby	Materiel-Velo.com	2:23
84	Charles-Etienne Chrétien	Human Powered Health	2:28
85	Alan Banaszek	Human Powered Health	s.t.
86	Joonas Kurits	Tartu2024 Cycling Team	s.t.
87	Axel Narbonne-Zuccarelli	Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur	s.t.
88	Siim Kiskonen	Tartu2024 Cycling Team	s.t.
89	Jacob Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
90	Sebastian Kolze Changizi	Tudor Pro Cycling	2:43
91	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
92	Colin Joyce	Human Powered Health	3:01
93	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
94	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
95	Len De Pauw	Tarteletto-Isorex	3:03
96	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
97	Lauri Tamm	Tartu2024 Cycling Team	4:01
98	Jérémy Cabot	TotalEnergies	4:34
99	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
100	Jomantas Venckus	Tartu2024 Cycling Team	s.t.
101	Torsten Demeyere	Tarteletto-Isorex	s.t.
102	Mads-Emil Hougaard	BHS-PL Belton Bornholm	5:38
103	Nikolaj Mengel	BHS-PL Belton Bornholm	s.t.
104	Angel Madrazo	Burgos-BH	s.t.
105	Len Dejonghe	Materiel-Velo.com	s.t.
106	Nicolas Rivard	Ecoflo Chronos	s.t.
107	Stanislaw Aniolkowski	Human Powered Health	6:42
108	Elias Vanheel	Materiel-Velo.com	7:39
109	Robbe De Ryck	Materiel-Velo.com	8:24
110	Florian Carpentier	Ecoflo Chronos	9:45
111	Nicholas Thorøe-Hansen	BHS-PL Belton Bornholm	9:57
112	Enzo Boulet	CIC U Nantes Atlantique	13:32
113	Théo Bonnet	Materiel-Velo.com	s.t.
114	Andreas Brandt Aidel	BHS-PL Belton Bornholm	15:10
115	Edo Goldstein	Ecoflo Chronos	s.t.

 

Course map & profile: