For his seventh race with the professionals, Célestin Guillon has already made it to the podium this Friday, on the occasion of the first stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne (see ranking). The member of Van Rysel-Roubaix Lille Métropole, who played not far from his training routes, returns for DirectBike on his day at the forefront and delivers on this top performance.
DirectVelo: Did you plan to take the breakaway on this first stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne?
Célestin Guillon: I wanted to be in front. Arnaud (Molmy, the sports director, Editor’s note) gave me carte blanche. I was in the first shot, we got caught in a small village after 5-6 terminals. Then I managed to stay in front and it got to the leg. At first I wanted to play the climbers, but I saw that I had come across stronger (Jacob Hindsgaul Madsen, editor’s note). Arnaud (Molmy) told me: “You never know, it could go all the way”. So I counted my pedal strokes a bit.
Oier Lazkano (Movistar) came back to your leading group. When he returned, the gap was only one minute on the peloton, then he climbed back to 3’45“…
When he made the jump, I said to myself that it was screwed. But Arnaud told me in my earpiece that it was a machine. I saw it directly, we were riding a scooter behind. He was strong. I saw that we took over time. When it went back up to more than 3′, I said to myself that we might go all the way. I ran with my head. We knew he (Oier Lazkano) was going to attack. I was the only one to resist. I exploded in the bump, I didn’t miss much to stay in his wheel.
“A PARTICULAR FLAVOR”
You still finish 2nd. In a ProSeries stage race, it’s no small thing when you’re a neo-pro!
I had no hope of winning because as a neo-pro, I lack self-confidence. To make 2nd, it is unexpected, I do not realize. I would have signed for such a result at the start of the race. When it goes down a little bit, it’s going to be very funny to me. I hope I have scored points. It’s even more beautiful and it has a special flavor since it’s almost on my training routes. I climbed the Avaloirs last week.
You hadn’t raced with the pros since Paris-Camembert on April 11!
The efforts made on the National Elites pay off, it’s better than training. I made almost a dozen. The wheel spins. Everything went well today, I had success. We will try to surf on it.
