Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) is making a habit of placing himself in elite company at some of the hardest races on the calendar. At Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne last month, he found himself in the decisive break with Wout van Aert. At Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday, the New Zealander matched Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) until the steepest portion of the final ascent of the Kemmelberg.
Like at Kuurne, the results sheet here does scant justice to the quality of Pithie’s performance. A 26th place finish in the peloton that came in 16 seconds down on the winner Pedersen doesn’t even begin to tell the story of Pithie’s assured Gent-Wevelgem debut.
The New Zealander was present and correct when the peloton first split in the crosswinds at De Moeren with 150km still to race, and he had the strength to track Van der Poel when he started running through his repertoire on the first time up the Kemmel.
Pithie remained in the front group of seven when Van der Poel forced the issue again on the dirt roads of the Plugstreets, and he was the only man still able to follow the world champion and Pedersen on the second haul up the Kemmelberg.
The 21-year-old applied the lessons of Kuurne thereafter by dosing his efforts carefully ahead of the final assault on the climb. It’s testimony to his burgeoning reputation that Pedersen and Van der Poel had essentially struck a tacit agreement to do what they could to distance him on the final ascent.
“I think I played my cards right today,” Pithie said. “I worked when I had to with Mads and Van der Poel. I was able to follow Van der Poel when he went on the Plugstreets between the first and second Kemmel. I don’t think I’ve ever gone so deep in my life. That was a killer race.
“I knew I had to gamble a little bit by sitting on and trying to save my legs in the final, because when those two go, they’re so hard to follow. I wasn’t working as much with them as I could have been, but that was a tactical decision.
“I found at Kuurne that I got dropped when I worked with Wout van Aert and the other guys, so I tried to play it a little bit differently today. I still got dropped, but I can be happy with how I rode.”
Finisher
Pithies’ rapid finish has already carried him to the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and a spell in the overall lead at Paris-Nice this year. Small wonder that Pedersen and Van der Poel were of no mind to risk bringing him with them to the finish in Wevelgem
“I was trying to play it tactically and I gambled a little bit to try to make it over the Kemmel the last time. If I’d made it over with them, I would have started riding but in the end, I didn’t have the legs to follow,” he admitted. “Still, I’m proud of how I rode today, being with the world champion and the ex-world champion. It’s good company and a good thing for the future.”
Nothing about Pithie’s ride here came about by chance. When the peloton first split at De Moeren, for instance, he had to pick his way past dropped riders to ensure he was where he needed to be. “I was quite far behind actually, I just had to ride around a lot of guys to get into the echelon,” he said.
Easier said than done, but nothing seems like a burden to Pithie. When a press officer tried to cut short his exchange with the written press and usher him towards the Groupama-FDJ bus at the finish, Pithie politely shrugged off the idea. “No, it’s OK,” he said. “I’m not cold.”
For the umpteenth time this season, Pithie also patiently entertained the thorny old question about precisely what kind of rider he is. “I’m not too sure – Classics guy, versatile sprinter – I’ll try to do it all,” he said.
The Christchurch native is pencilled in for his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia, but he has two more immediately pressing appointments on his agenda in Belgium. “We’ll keep going here – I’ll try again at Dwars door Vlaanderen and then I’ll give it a nudge at Flanders next week,” he said.
Pithie already did plenty here, of course. He had the strength to make the front group and the nous to let Van der Poel take on the lion’s share of the pace-making when Lidl-Trek had attacked him turn. “He got worked over a little bit by Trek,” said Pithie, who stayed in the hunt for victory all the way up to that final wall of cobbles on the Kemmel.
“It’s hell on a bike,” he smiled when asked to recall the sensation of trying to follow Pedersen and Van der Poel. “My legs were completely blowing. I tried to stand up and almost went backwards. I was lucky to get over the top. I really pushed hard on the descent to try to make it back, but the gap was just too big.
“But it’s a massive performance. To be able to follow them for that long is a huge step forward again.”
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Spring Classics- including reporting, breaking news and analysis from the Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, Strade Bianchi and more. Find out more.
