Breakaway wins on flat stages in the first week of a Grand Tour are becoming increasingly rare in modern cycling, but Benjamin Thomas' success on stage 5 in the Giro d’Italia not only proved the exception to the rule but also simultaneously netted Cofidis their long-sought first victory of 2024.
With his own most recent victory, a time trial stage in the 4 Days of Dunkirk back in 2023, Thomas said afterwards that even he was having a hard time believing that he had managed to both fend off his three breakaway companions and keep the peloton at bay.
But if stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia is Thomas' first-ever win at WorldTour level, for Cofidis as a team, finally claiming their first victory in any racing category in 2024 was arguably just as significant.
“We’ve had lots of seconds places, but not wins, and we needed one really badly,” Thomas told reporters afterwards, “so we’re very happy to be able to get it. The staff were so overjoyed, they were almost happier than me, although maybe that’s because I’m very tired after this victory, too!”
Thomas admitted that he had had a hard time believing that he could win. But before getting in the break, he had talked things over a little with Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) about trying to make a move, and then together with Andrea Pietrobon (Polti-Kometa) and Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), the winning move finally formed.
With the sprinters' teams keen to impact in Lucca, given the next three stages are all GC days, a breakaway on flat terrain over 90 kilometres seemed more than unlikely to go the distance. However, a lack of sufficient collaboration in the pack after some sprinters were dropped on the midway ascent of Passo del Bracco, a strong tailwind and some rock-solid cooperation in the quartet ahead all contributed to making the mission impossible to succeed.
“Having four of us ahead made it like a Team Pursuit,” Thomas, a key member of the French national track squad as well as doing road racing, told reporters. “Just like on the Team Pursuit, timing our effort was very important, and with ten kilometres to go, we still had nearly a minute on the bunch.
“Michael Valgren was very strong, too, but we all knew that if we wanted to stay away, we couldn’t muck about. Finally, with three kilometres to go, when we hit a cobbled section, I thought this one was going to stay away.”
While Thomas' long-sought victory for Cofidis was finally secured in arguably the most unfavourable of circumstances, Thomas pointed out that in the opening phase of this year’s Giro, he is far from the only experienced track rider to be in the thick of the action.
“Track racing is always a huge help when it comes to road racing,” he insisted. “I’ve been watching a guy like [stage 4 winner Jonathan] Milan (Lidl-Trek) win since he was very young on the track, then we’ve had [Hour Record holder] Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) on the attack, too. Simone Consonni, who’s a great track rider, did an amazing lead-out [for teammate Milan - ed.] the other day, too.
“I’m more lightly built than they are, so I prefer to get in breakaways, but like I said, the way we worked together today was very similar to track cycling.”
His own goals in Paris this summer reach from the Team Pursuit, he said, where he is hoping France can secure a podium finish, across to trying for gold in the Omnium and perhaps having a crack at the Madison.
For now, in any case, the Frenchman has taken a hugely important triumph in the Giro d’Italia, with added resonances given his personal life too. Speaking in fluent Italian, Thomas told reporters he had moved from France to northern Italy seven years ago, making this latest win both a very special victory on ‘home soil’ for Thomas - and a landmark 2024 triumph for his French sponsor and team, too.
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