Gruel denies Cosnefroy the win in Boucles de la Mayenne prologue, Van den Berg finishes fifth

In addition to racing in Italy and Norway, the Boucles de la Mayenne also got underway in France on Thursday. The four-day stage race kicked off in the evening with a 5.4-kilometer prologue. Cosnefroy, who won the same prologue last year, was considered one of the top contenders for the first leader’s jersey. Another favorite was road and track cyclist Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), while Dutch sprinter Marijn van den Berg (EF Education–EasyPost) also came in with high expectations.

Clément Venturini (Arkéa–B&B Hotels), also known from cyclocross, set a strong early benchmark with a time of 7:03. It then became a waiting game to see who would be the first to go under seven minutes, and unsurprisingly, that turned out to be Thomas, who clocked a time of 6:57.

Despite being considered one of the top favorites beforehand, Benjamin Thomas's time turned out to be surprisingly insufficient for the win. A string of riders clocked faster times. One of them was Irishman Rory Townsend (Q36.5), who posted a 6:52. Luxembourg’s Arthur Kluckers and France’s Noa Isidore followed within a second of that mark.

With the final wave of starters still to come, things were looking good for Townsend. A few time trial specialists were still set to start, including Luke Durbridge (Jayco–AlUla). But it was 21-year-old Thibaud Gruel who delivered a stunning ride. With a time of 6:46, he was a full six seconds faster than Townsend.

Van den Berg couldn’t match Gruel’s time, finishing seven seconds slower, but it was still enough to earn a spot in the top five. And what about Cosnefroy? He couldn’t repeat last year’s winning performance. The punchy Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider finished three seconds behind his fellow Frenchman Gruel, taking second place. Still, Cosnefroy secured a solid position heading into the fight for the overall victory.