Antoine Duchesne was surprised by his teammate’s Giro d’Italia lead

During the Giro d’Italia’s first rest day, after 10 stages of racing and three helping Attila Valter defend the pink jersey, Antoine Duchesne really took a break. He went out for an easy spin on his bike, then took a walk and had a nap in the woods near his hotel.

On Thursday’s Stage 6, Valter, the team’s young Hungarian rider, slipped into the race lead and the maglia rosa. That came as a surprise to Duchesne and company. “We were actually thinking he might not keep the white jersey on that stage,” Duchesne said. “We weren’t going at all for GC with Attila. We were going for stages for the whole Grand Tour. It was quite a surprise.”

“A lot of us, we pretty much all got surprised at the top of that climb, when Ineos hit the crosswinds on that plateau. It was pissing rain. There was a super long, technical and cold downhill,” he said of the action that took place at about three quarters of the way into Stage 6. “It was really a hard stage. Attila played it well. He had a good day, and he did a super good climb at the end. But that wasn’t the plan at all.”

During the following stages, a lot of responsibilities fell to Duchesne and his fellow Groupama – FDJ teammates to manage the breakaways. At the start of each stage, they had to make sure no one who could be a threat to Valter’s GC lead got away. When it takes a long time for the break to form, the team has a stressful time. “It’s kind of bing, bing, bang for quite a while,” Duchense said. It’s a job with which Duchesne has had some previous experience. At the Vuelta a España in 2018, he helped to manage teammate Rudy Molard’s lead in the red jersey for four stages.

While Duchesne is in the midst of his fourth season on Groupama-FDJ and eighth as a pro, the 22-year-old Valter started racing with French squad this year. The Hungarian is riding his second Giro. His days at the top of the general classification marked the first time he had led a Grand Tour. “He was really calm for a young guy being in his position,” Duchesne said. “It could have been quite stressful. But he was following us and being confident. Yeah, he was riding really well for a young guy with the pink jersey on his shoulders.”

Will the team try to put Valter—who is now in fifth overall, 0:44 seconds behind Egan Bernal—back in the lead? “Thursday stage is really hard,” Duchesne said. “It’s a mountain stage so we’ll see from there. It’s not really that we will try to put him back in pink. It’s his legs that are going to have to do the talking. Sure, we’re going to protect him. But if he loses 10 minutes on that day, the GC is going to be over. We’ll see. Wednesday, we’ll be careful and try to not lose time.” Thursday, however, will be the big test.

For Duchesne, he’s already passed the challenge he had for himself: get into shape to play his support role at this Grand Tour. In 2019, he underwent surgery for endofibrosis of an iliac artery. In 2020, he contracted mononucleosis, which kept him from racing the Tour de France. The route back to peak fitness has been long. He felt he was a bit behind during February and March, but now seems to be in good form.

What’s ahead for him after the Giro? “Rest,” he said without hesitation. There will be no Tour de France for Duchesne. He’ll likely return to racing in late August or September. “Maybe if road nationals and the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec et de Montréal run in September,” he said, “maybe I’ll be back in Canada for them.”