Tour de Vendée - Donavan Grondin: "a tiring race"
Donavan Grondin, a long-time resident of the Vendée, will be competing in this event for the first time in his career. His opinion.
“I’ve never competed in the Tour de Vendée in four years as a professional. Sunday will be a first for me. I’m not very familiar with the roads the race will take, as they’re quite a long way from where I live, but I do know what to expect on Sunday. The organisers have also added some difficulties to the road race, and that’s bound to take its toll on our bodies before we get to the circuit. It’s going to be a pedal to the metal race. I think our strong card will be Arnaud Démare and our aim is to help him win his first race under our colours.”
“The Tour de Vendée is a gruelling race, one that is won “by the thigh” as we say in cycling jargon. But it has also often crowned sprinters in recent seasons. Our trump card will be Arnaud Démare in the Vendée, and he’ll be able to rely on the train we’ve put together alongside him since he joined our team, with Dan McLay, Donavan Grondin, Anthony Delaplace and Clément Russo. However, we’re not ruling out the option of a race on the move with riders in our team who have this kind of ability, and who are in excellent condition at the end of the season. This will give us plenty of room to manoeuvre tactically. This event will also be the last professional race contested by one of our road captains, Laurent Pichon, and the best way of thanking him for his superb career – would be for the Arkéa-Samsic team, which will no doubt be led and orchestrated by him – to win in Vendée”.