What does the lead-out train do when the team's star sprinter decides to race at home instead of heading to the Gulf to compete in the Tour of Oman for the first time in three years?

Groupama-FDJ faced this dilemma this week when Arnaud Demaret left the team to compete in the Tour de la Provence. The French team brought in Continental team sprinter Paul Penhoye to face this challenge.

The French team has been known in recent years for promoting young riders from its development program, taking advantage of UCI rules that allow Continental's development team riders to step up during the season and race with their WorldTour colleagues.

Penhoye, who hails from the southwestern suburbs of Paris, raced for several days last season with the WorldTour United, as did Jake Stewart, Lars Van Bemberg, and Louis Askey.

On Thursday, he finished fifth in the opening sprint stage in Oman, behind stage winner Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) and second-place finisher Mark Cavendish (Quick Step Alpha Vinyl). In the second stage, he did well to finish eighth behind Cavendish.

"Here we have 90 percent of the lead to use on Arnaud," Miles Scottson told Cycling News at the start of stage 2.

"He's 20 years old and now he wants to sit behind it and get results. So it's a good experience for him."

"It's a good experience for him.

Penhoe is accompanied in Oman by Scottson, Ramon Sinkeldam, and Ignatas Konovalovas.

"It was a last-minute adjustment. We usually start with Arnaud's group, but in the end he decided to start with Provence."

"We still have a good sprinter in Pole. He is still young and raced with us for the first time last year. So it's good to have a new target and he's young so there's no pressure."

Last year, Penhoye won a stage victory in the "Etoile d'Or" national cup race, a stage victory in the "Tour de l'Oeil et Loire," an overall victory, and the points and youth jerseys.

Sprinting with the pros is another matter, says Scottson, with top sprinters such as Demare earning respect in the peloton, but newcomers such as Penhoye having it tough.

"We had a good result yesterday and we tried to prepare the train, but Paul lost his wheels a bit. He's not as respected in the pack as Arnaud, so he might get pushed a bit this week, fifth place would be a good confidence booster for him, and I think he'll be able to get a good start in the next few races.

"Demare has won bigger races and is more respected. For Paul, I think that will be the key this week. Nobody knows him yet and he's not going to show respect.

The Groupama-FDJ leadout train, which will join Penhoe, Scottson, and Demare in the UAE Tour, will test themselves again along the coast on stage 2.

"It's a new challenge to race here," said DeMarre. But we have a good team here, so I don't think we'll have a problem."

"After this, there are two French Cup races [against World Tour teams].