Demare wins stage 2 of Tour de Picardie

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After narrowly losing to Bryan Coquard (Europcar) on stage 1, Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr) bounced back to win stage 2 of the Tour de Picardie in Beaurieux-Chemin des Dames and move into the yellow jersey

The win was Démare’s first win in his "home race" as he beat Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant-Shimano) in an uphill sprint, with the Dutchman moving into second place overall.

Coquard dropped off the pace at the end of stage to finish 52nd place, 10 seconds Démare, falling to fifth in the general classification.

"It was an uphill sprint that I really liked," Démare told L'Equipe. "I was a bit tired after the Four Days of Dunkirk but that's part of the game to work on fatigue to prepare for the Tour de France which is the main objective of my second part of the season.

"When I race, I try to win. I came here with the ambition of winning a stage. When I see Nacer ]Bouhanni] win in the Giro, I think it's doable. "

The start of stage begun with a tribute by Marie-Laure to her late-husband Arnaud Coyot, who died in a car accident in November.

The average speed of racing in the first hour of racing was 44.6 km/h with a headwind that caused a few splits and falls. Among those to fall was Yellow jersey Bryan Coquard but he emerged unscathed.

44km in the stage, the day’s break was established which included William Bonnet, Tom Dumoulin, Danilo Napolitano, Gert Steegmans, Björn Leukemans and Julien Duval. Europcar on the front of the peloton ensured that the gap hovered around the 3:00 minute mark

The main field was thinned to just 22 men as a sprint finish loomed with 15 kilometres to go. Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-La Mondale) tried his hand with a solo attack but he was caught 5km before the finish line.

FDJ.fr took control of the race to deliver Démare to the win and in the final kilometre, they dropped off the fast man to finish the job and he duly delivered by taking the win and moving into the overall lead with one stage left to race.

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