Luxembourger Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), used to working for David Gaudu or for the newly retired Thibaut Pinot, won the 46th La Marseillaise cycling Grand Prix this Sunday, contested over 167.5 kilometers around Marseille.
The first success of this model teammate among the pros generated a scene of massive joy from part of the team who, gathered for training in the Canaries, followed the arrival on television.
In Tenerife, the volcano 🌋 has erupted!
pic.twitter.com/d8mORJPGxu
— Groupama-FDJ Cycling Team (@GroupamaFDJ) January 28, 2024
Geniets sprinted ahead of his breakaway companion, Frenchman Alex Baudin (Décathlon-Ag2R).
Another Frenchman, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B) completes the podium at 10 seconds.
The difference was made as expected between La Ciotat, Cassis and the Phocaean city, during the Route des Crêtes - Col de la Gineste sequence.
These two short climbs, unequal in percentage and interspersed with flat areas or winding passages, favored the attacks between km 136 and 157, before the descent to Marseille.
The first in the creeks was almost the right one.
It was the work of Rémy Rochas, quickly joined by his teammate Geniets and Baudin, but ultimately left behind.
The Geniets-Baudin duo then widened the gap on a small peloton of pursuers.
Vauquelin, who left this group 40 seconds late, was only able to make up 30 seconds.
And so it was ultimately Geniets who crossed the line as winner, and in tears.
“I was starting to say to myself, ‘Maybe I don’t know how to win,’” commented the 27-year-old Luxembourger, who has only won national championships since his professional debut.
“This season, the team has placed a lot of trust in me”, granting him more responsibilities, and a three-week training course at altitude on the Teide plateau, in Tenerife, from which he has only just returned.
This model teammate will resume his usual role on the Grand Tours, “and I don’t mind that at all”.
But he could shine again from Wednesday to Sunday on the Etoile de Bessèges, a race that he also completed.