Groupama-FDJ have defended their decision to pace after the crash at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday with "no regrets" after race winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) called out teams for their unsportsmanlike tactics.
Van der Poel finished the day angry at how the French team, among others, had worked to maintain a gap that was created in the first 10km of racing due to a mass crash that left the Dutchman and the main peloton close to three minutes behind.
"This is something we would never do as a team," said Van der Poel. "It's no fair play to go full gas after a crash where more than half of the bunch is blocked."
Groupama-FDJ found themselves with five riders in the 50-strong breakaway group ahead of the main peloton and didn't shy away from their tactical decision to push on, seeing it contrastingly as no issue compared to Van der Poel's opinion.
"It was a hell of a day," said Groupama-FDJ leader Stefan Küng, who finished the day sixth, on the team's website.
"It never eased off. This big crash after ten kilometres split the peloton in two. We had five guys in front, so we started to pull after a while to keep an advantage."
Ultimately, Alpecin-Deceuninck pulled back the advantage gained before the key Taaienberg climb, where Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) made the race-winning move with Van der Poel and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers). Groupama also noted how they believed this was always going to happen and that their actions were justified with no real threat of the group staying away.
"We didn’t expect this scenario but given that we had many riders in the first peloton, it wasn’t such an issue for us," said directeur sportif Frédéric Guesdon.
"Olivier [Le Gac] pulled first, then Visma-Lease a Bike and Q36.5 gave us a hand, but we gradually understood that it would come back together and that another race would start in the first bergs. Still, it changed the face of the race compared to usual.
"We have nothing to regret or feel bad about."
Despite missing the move on the Taaienberg, Küng still fought for a strong result at the "mini Tour of Flanders", getting into the key chase group alongside the likes of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jasper Stuyven (LIdl-Trek).
He then lost the sprint for fourth to Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep) and Stuyven, however, by scoring his third career top 10 at the E3 Saxo Classic, he looks in solid shape ahead of the Tour of Flanders next Sunday and Paris Roubaix the week after.
"I was a bit far back at the bottom of the Taaienberg, so I was just able to catch the second group, but we quickly realized that the collaboration wasn’t super," said Küng.
"Fortunately I was able to finish in the top 10 and I’m not coming home empty-handed. It’s certainly not a podium, but it’s still something in such a quality race."
