From almost being forced into retirement to a first win in nearly eight years: Clément Venturini’s emotional story

After many years with Cofidis from 2013 to 2017 and AG2R from 2018 to 2023, Venturini chose a new adventure with Arkéa–B&B Hotels for 2024. As is now well known, that team disappeared from the peloton, leaving the now 32-year-old Frenchman without a contract before Unibet Rose Rockets, the team led by Bas Tietema, offered him a lifeline.

That was exactly what Venturini was thinking about after his victory in La Roue Tourangelle on Sunday. “This winter I was close to a forced retirement, and Unibet gave me that chance.” He also thanked fellow Frenchman Bryan Coquard of Cofidis, who came to congratulate him after the finish. “He played a part in it, because we spent time together this winter, and he told me: ‘Clément, don’t give up.’”

That was, naturally, a difficult period. “Very hard,” in Venturini’s own words. “So in the final kilometres I could only think about that. I thought about two people, my son and my wife, who got through the whole winter with me, encouraged me to keep going and supported me, especially because it was anything but easy.”

Winning La Roue Tourangelle had not come easily either. “I spoke to the organiser during the podium ceremony and he told me he wanted to make the race harder, so that something would happen that had never happened before: a small group making it to the finish. We were often caught in the closing kilometres, and I was often part of that group. So this is a race that suits me perfectly.”

That was despite the fact that his team had appeared to be backing Dylan Groenewegen as their main card to play. “There was a strong team around Dylan, and I was able to benefit from those powerful riders for positioning, and then I tried to do the best I could. It’s true that I could hardly feel the pedals on the climbs. But I said to myself: no, today I cannot let this one slip away.”

It was his first win in almost eight years. His previous victory had come in stage two of La Route d’Occitanie in June 2018, which underlines just how long this wait had been. And all of that came after a winter spent without a contract. “I think it made me tougher. Honestly, I didn’t really understand what had happened to me this winter.”

“I do have a strong character, of course, but that is also what allows me to train when it’s 0 degrees Celsius, to put myself through all the so-called constraints that, for me as a professional, are not really constraints at all, and to live with all the seriousness that comes with that every day. Then Unibet Rose Rockets got in touch, and for that I’m hugely grateful,” a thankful Venturini concluded.