Team Jayco AlUla leave the 2024 Tour de France satisfied after a fully committed and successful performance across a relentless three weeks of racing from Florence to Nice.
The Australian squad got back to winning ways at Le Tour with sprint star Dylan Groenewegen returning to the top step of the podium thanks a scintillating sprint victory on stage six.
The team continued to hunt for glory across all terrain, racking up further top-10 results throughout the three weeks, including two top-three finishes for British climber Simon Yates.
Sprint Success
After a brutal start to the race in Italy, the sprinters finally got their chance to do their thing on stage three, with Groenewegen showing he had the speed, but not the space as he sprinted to fifth place in Torino.
A frustrating stage five saw the powerful Dutchman out of contention for the win in a messy finish, but he bounced back in style on stage six as he finished off an impressive team performance to claim his sixth Tour de France stage win.
Aggressive Approach
An illness for Yates scuppered the team’s general classification ambitions, but it didn’t dent their drive to go on the offensive in their search for more victories. That determination was on show when former stage winner Michael Matthews put it all on the line on the much anticipated and feared ‘gravel’ stage at the start of the second week.
As the carnage ensued around him, Matthews was in and amongst the chaos as he battled to a strong top-10 result. The four-time Tour de France stage winner also made it into the break of the day on stage 18 as he once again negotiated a hectic and aggressive stage to secure his second top-10 finish of the race.
Won’t Back Down
The final week of racing saw Yates demonstrate his climbing prowess and his pure racing talents as he infiltrated three key breakaways on stages 15, 17 and 19. The former La Vuelta a España champion went closest to victory on stage 17 as he went head-to-head with Richard Carapaz after a daring solo attack on the summit finish to Superdévoluy.
Two days later the 31-year-old was back in breakaway action as he displayed his abilities in the high mountains once more with a hard-fought third place after attempting to hunt down Matteo Jorgensen in a thrilling finale to stage 19.
Simon Yates:
“Not getting sick would have helped, but to be honest I’m actually quite happy I finished, the last couple of Grand Tours I got sick, I didn’t finish because I was so sick. This time I was actually able to recover a little bit and at least try something in the final week and it was good to at least be involved in the race in the final week.
I think a lot of people are already forgetting that we’ve had a successful Tour, not many teams have actually won a stage, so we’ll celebrate tonight.”
Mat Hayman (Sport Director):
“If you win one stage of the Tour de France, you have to call that a success. We had a bit of a rollercoaster, we were up there on a number of stages, Michael having a good crack a few times, Simon coming very, very close and then Dylan winning and being up their in the sprints.
So it’s been a great three weeks and I need to thank all the staff and the riders, and everybody who has helped us along the way.”
Victories:
Stage 6 – 1st place – Dylan Groenewegen
Top-5 placings:
Stage 3 – 5th place – Dylan Groenewegen
Stage 17 – 2nd place – Simon Yates
Stage 19 – 3rd place – Simon Yates
Top-10 placings:
Stage 9 – 10th place – Michael Matthews
Stage 12 – 9th place – Dylan Groenewegen
Stage 18 – 10th place – Michael Matthews
Photos: Krisof Ramon
