Whether you're a regular viewer of cycling or not you surely have heard of the term 'Domestique', it's always one that pops up in those "Learn Cycling's Terminology" posts and even if you never read them you learn by watching the races that they are frequently the unsung heroes, who do the dirty work in the peloton like chasing breakaways all day long, constantly fetch bidons at the car, and regularly work their ass of for their teammates to achieve glory. Some do the role quite well, some can't handle it and always aspire more, and when it comes to contracts usually they're always the last part of the puzzle which is of building a quality roster.
Often enough you have heroic tales of riders getting their freedom in a particular race, or a single day for whichever reason, and getting a win that would never have achieved if the team hadn't "given permission". Hence domestique is almost subintended as a rider who's not good enough to win and so the only way to succeed is by going against team orders or just having a really lucky day.
What happens however is that these riders are sometimes just as good, and psychologically I find an endless amount of empathy for some of them who knowingly burn their chances in order to benefit the team, hence some become almost part of the furniture as reliable men who are as happy as the winner on a certain day as long as it's their leader. One of these men is Ignatas Konovalovas. The Lithuanian is a veteran in the peloton, riding at the highest level since 2008, and as over the last few years settled in a trustworthy role of guiding Arnaud Démare through the craziest and most dangerous sprint finales across the world. In fact, out of the 14 wins the French sprinter had in 2020 Ignatas was present in all but one (the national championships, where obviously he wasn't allowed).
In 2009 he's had the biggest result of his career with a win in the Giro's final time-trial, however you may recognize him more in every race Arnaud Démare finds himself in. Alongside Jacopo Guarnieri and Miles Scotson he does the work that the Groupama team need to get the wins that will keep the team running and the riders motivated, these 4 riders race almost the entire calendar together for several seasons already in what is an attempt to always be as efficient as possible in delivering the wins, and they actually succeed quite a lot.
In 2021 the goal was clear. After the 4 wins in 2020's Giro the leadout was set to target the Tour, filled with opportunities for bunch sprints where they could keep reaching glory. In the opening day however we had Ignatas on a different role, instead of assisting his regular leader he found himself on a protective role of French prodigy and local David Gaudu who had ambitions both for the race's overall and the stage win. Groupama was one of the blocks heading the peloton since 39 kilometers to go, on the dangerous roads positioning was incredibly important, as many riders soon got convinced of, and as David Gaudu knew very well hence requesting this job. Sure enough Gaudu benefited from it, finishing 7th in the stage and gaining time on several of his rivals in the GC fight, however behind him Ignatas, who had just finished his job, had his race terminated by a brutal crash...
He did the work he was asked until the very end though, leading Gaudu and Stefan Kung until around 10 kilometers to go.
Shortly after he lost his position and was last seen battling for position with Mathieu van der Poel, and this is what he did in his last kilometer of racing. In his wheel is B&B Hotels' Cyril Lemoine who shortly after touched wheels with a fellow rider and crashed hard. Ignatas happened to be on the wrong side of the road, and was sent into the ditch with a concussion and head traumatism as a result.
So his race finished. In a stage marked by crashes he was one of the unlucky few who couldn't go on to finish the opening day, after dedicating months of preparation in order to be here and deliver for his leaders. I had the luck to chat with him back in 2019 where he told me "my goal is to see my team leaders winning and knowing that I have played an important role in that".
Ignatas may not have gotten the ending to the race he deserved, but I aim to give him the respect he deserves, and share the incredible and honourable role he has as a domestique.
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