IN PICTURES: GP LA MARSEILLAISE

Photographer Thomas Maheux spends a day on the French season-opening race which tours the Marseille hinterland

This was my first time at GP La Marseillaise. Among the riders, there’s a saying that victory here brings good luck for the rest of the year. It was true for Frank Vandenbroucke – but that was back in 1999…

I did not know what to expect but the race certainly has an old school charm. There was a small coffee on arrival to stave off the chill of a cold front moving over France’s second biggest city. There was a real sense of brotherhood among the small band of organisers. Down there, everyone knows everyone.

At the start, the crowd was not large and fans were a sporadic roadside presence. Many, though, were the hardcore type and they tried to see the race several times by cutting across the rugged country. A key destination: the beautiful slopes of the Col de l’Espigoulier on the border between the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Var. The fans who made the effort were treated to the riders climbing in sharp winter sunshine. Getting between points was complicated: the roads are few and steep in those low mountains. It pays to know the local geography.

I managed three spots on the route. And three times Julien Duval, Ag2r La Mondiale’s rouleur, was controlling the front of the peloton. The final straight was more than a kilometre long and ended in front of the Stade Orange Velodrome in Marseille. The crowd was a little thicker than at the start, but only just. A much bigger crowd would attend the football game in the stadium that night.

In the end, the work of Duval paid off as it was an Ag2r La Mondiale rider who prevailed: Alexandre Geniez. It remains to be seen whether the riders’ old belief will hold true for the man from Rodez.