Aurélien Paret-Peintre
«A beautiful day»
«We had a traditional scenario. The headwind slowed the race down a bit, and I climbed the hills quickly. I felt good in La Redoute at the end of the race. But after that hill, I hit a pothole and got a flat tyre. I had to change bikes, but I didn't give up mentally. I did well because I got back into the group five kilometres from the finish. Then the team decided that we would all sprint as best we could. I took my chance 250-300 metres from the finish. I was neck and neck with Mathieu Van der Poel at the start and it was close at the line. In the end, I finished fifth. It was a great day.»
Julien Jurdie, sporting director
«A very satisfactory review of the Ardennes classics»
«After successful Flemish classics, we had an excellent Ardennes campaign with a victory at La Flèche Brabançonne, fifth place at the Amstel Gold Race, fourth at La Flèche Wallonne and fifth today, meaning we finished in the top five every time. We would have liked to add a podium finish in the last three races because we are greedy, but the overall result is very satisfactory, reflecting the team's performance since the start of the season.»
The information
Aubin Sparfel fifth in the Eroica Juniores
Aubin Sparfel finished fifth in the Eroica Juniores, a Junior Nations Cup event held in Italy, just ahead of Paul Seixas. In the final stage, Seixas finished ninth and Aubin Sparfel thirteenth. DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE U19 Team finished as the best team in the competition, while Paul Seixas was the best climber and Théophile Vassal the best young rider.
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The figure
Only the DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE team placed three riders in the top 20 of Liège-Bastogne-Liège: Aurélien Paret-Peintre finished fifth, Paul Lapeira eleventh and Benoît Cosnefroy sixteenth. All three were in the group for third place.
