Paris-Roubaix: Christophe Laporte and Florian Sénéchal frustrated to death, the disappointment of the French

Europe 1 with AFP 21:24 p.m., April 09, 2023

Christophe Laporte and Florian Sénéchal, who legitimately dreamed of a podium on Sunday at the start of Paris-Roubaix, lived hell, victims of punctures well before the final of a race on which they wanted to weigh, to finally finish 10th and 63rd. There were no more Frenchmen to accompany the leading men after the terrible Arenberg Gap. And for good reason: the two best French chances, out of only 13 Frenchmen registered at the start, had just been dragged into limbo. It will still be necessary to wait to find a successor to Frédéric Guesdon, winner in 1997. Twenty-six years ago.

Christophe Laporte's frustration was the most glaring. After cutting the line more than four minutes behind the winner, Mathieu van der Poel, the vice-world champion remained prostrate for long minutes on the artificial turf in the center of the Roubaix velodrome. Inconsolable. "We did everything well with Wout (Van Aert) but we were unlucky," said the Var, disgusted by the poisse who did not spare his leader and friend of the Jumbo-Visma, also victim of a fatal puncture in the final.

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Terrible puncture

Very much in legs when the race ignited as he approached Arenberg, the recent winner of Ghent-Wevelgem and A Travers la Flandre was accompanying the best in the formidable Trouée when he saw his rear wheel suddenly deflate at the exit of this terrible sector located a hundred kilometers from the goal. And troubleshooting seemed like an eternity.

This is the height of the six riders (in the Jumbo and DSM teams) to use a new tyre pressure adjustment system that is supposed to precisely reduce the risk of punctures while improving comfort on the cobblestones.

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"I didn't come for that"

"It works, otherwise we wouldn't use it. It's something interesting and it's not very complicated to use," he said on the eve of the event. Infuriating! Especially since the 30-year-old rider probably had the best legs of his career and the tactic of the Jumbo formation was to create the extra number to accompany Van Aert as far as possible. "Tenth, first Frenchman. I didn't come for that. I had the legs to do much better," he said.

The Northerner Florian Sénéchal was the first to get acquainted with the poisse by being victim of a puncture 148 kilometers from the line. "I was forced to ride on the front rim for long minutes before being repaired very late," explained the France champion. Back on the peloton at the cost of an effort of more than twenty kilometers, the rider of the Soudal-Quick Step, exhausted, could not follow the best when the Belgian Wout Van Aert placed a first banderille in the sector of Haveluy, 102 km from Roubaix.

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Former Junior Winner

Sixth in 2019, ninth two years later, the one who won the junior edition in 2011 quickly saw his podium dreams fly away before dying once again 65 kilometers from the Roubaix velodrome. The poisse that has pursued him since the beginning of the season did not want to let go of the rider of a Soudal-Quick Step team very pale at the beginning of the season. "The last few weeks have not been easy. I had crashes like at the E3 Classic, mechanical problems in (Ghent-)Wevelgem, mistakes like in Kuurne. Sunday, we will have to forget all that, "said the 29-year-old rider Thursday to AFP.

The race did not smile on him. And the beginning of spring of the native of Cambrais will be stored in the box of bad memories. "It's disappointing to be ruled out on a puncture when in principle we have a 'gear' to avoid these problems. We will have to talk about it again and again with the team because I think we all had problems today," he concluded.