Demare beats Bouhanni to French road race title

Top favourite Arnaud Démare (FDJ) won the French national championships road race in Saint-Omer (Nord-Pas-de-Calais) on Sunday afternoon. Démare won the sprint in a small peloton, holding off Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis). Jérémy Leveau (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) was third at long distance.

It's the second time 25-year-old Démare gets to wear the blue-blanc-rouge, after winning in Futuroscope in 2014. He takes over the jersey from teammate Arthur Vichot.

"We have a super team. We went 100 per cent for me today. I was very good and the team was strong. I'm super happy. [...] One doesn't get used to wearing this jersey. It'll be a different experience compared to the first time. I was very young in 2014," Démare said in the post-race flash interview.

The man next to him - Nacer Bouhanni - was less excited, two months after his crash in the Tour of Yorkshire. Before crossing the line, Bouhanni was making gestures to point out that he didn't like the way Démare sprinted.

"He moved twice. He didn't hold his line in the final metres. I was relegated for a few centimetres in Hamburg. I'm disappointed. I'd loved to have won," Bouhanni said in his post-race flash interview. Démare did move but the jury felt it wasn't enough to relegate him.

The French peloton faced a battle of 248 kilometres on a 15.5 kilometres long course, with the wind and two climbs featuring on each of the sixteen laps. A large group of fourteen riders formed the breakaway of the day but the FDJ-led peloton didn't offer them a lot of ground. Thomas Rostollan (Armée de Terre) and Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) were the strongest men in front, dropping them on the climb. Meanwhile, another chase group was formed. Eight riders from this group bridged up with the two leaders when passing the Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery. At 40 kilometres from the finish, the peloton was a minute down on the ten leaders.

Further attacks on the climbs in front and in the peloton created a further selection. A first selection left Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie), Pierre-Roger Latour (AG2R La Mondiale), Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) and Flavien Dassonville (HP BTP - Auber 93) in front. Later, Florian Vachon and Thomas Boudat were joined by Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) and Yoann Offredo (WB Veranclassic-Aqua Protect) on the last climb in the penultimate lap. The five leaders had a bonus of half a minute on the first peloton of 35 riders with all the best sprinters still there.

The final lap would decide if the peloton would get back on the leaders and which sprinters would survive the climbs. Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) made a big move. After the first climb, he closed the gap with the five leaders, battling the crosswinds. On the second climb, he continued his effort and dropped the others. In the peloton, the Fortuneo-riders tried to disturb the build-up for the sprint. A small peloton of only twenty riders survived the climb, without Direct Energie-sprinters Bryan Coquard and Adrien Petit, but with Démare and Bouhanni.

At three kilometres from the finish Antomarchi was caught back by the FDJ-train. Mickaël Delage led out the sprint for Démare, who started the tailwind sprint. Bouhanni was glued on his wheel but failed to get out it. Jérémy Leveau (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) was best of the rest at two seconds, joining the two top sprinters on the podium.

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