Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) surged from the reduced peloton and won the bunch sprint at Grand Prix Cycliste de Marseille La Marseillaise on Sunday.
Steffen De Schuyteneer (Lotto Intermarché) finished a bike length back for second, while Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) took third.
The Frenchman earned his first victory of the season with the effort, using a strong leadout from teammate Alexis Renard. The win kept the title with Cofidis, last year Valentin Ferron winning in a photo finish.
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It was the 54th career victory for Coquard, and his first since stage 4 at the 2025 Tour Down Under, where he had two additional podiums.
"It was difficult, especially since I fell last Saturday at the Castellon GP (Spain). However, I'm in good shape and I still love my job," Coquard said in a team statement.
"Today, the pace was fast right from the start. With Clément [Izquierdo], who was riding on home turf [too] and was very strong, and Alexis Renard, we were able to go for the sprint. Aiming for victory here was clearly the plan. I had never won here before and I'm very happy to add it to my list of achievements!"
The Grand Prix La Marseillaise was the opening UCI race in France for the season and brought 145.5 hilly kilometres, characterised by two categorised climbs in the first half of the route and a lumpy path to the finish in the southern coastal city for an unpredictable finish.
With 50km to go in the Grand Prix, approximately 35 riders remained in the main peloton, as a repetition of early attacks both failed to stick, but wore down many sets of legs. As the group approached the uncategorised 4km climb to Le Castellet (4.1%), a split began to form, led by a surge from Unibet Rose Rockets' Tomáš Kopecký, joined by his teammate Niklas Larsen.
The Unibet Rose Rockets duo was joined by Clément Izquierdo (Cofids), Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Axel Huens (Groupama-FDJ United), Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), and 21-year-old British rider Joseph Brookes (AVC Aix Provence Dole), as well as pairs of riders from Decathlon CMA CGM – Stan Dewulf and Paul Lampiera – and TotalEnergies – Alexandre Delettre and Valentin Retailleau.
The gap reached nearly 45 seconds with 27km to go. Across a small rise, the front group lost momentum on the 5km tree-lined descent, only Lapeira accelerating to stay away.
With just under 17km to go, Lapeira carried a 13-second advantage on the Col de la Gineste (1.3km at 4.3%), but once on the ascent, a swarm from the reduced peloton swallowed his effort.
Andrea Mifsud (Polti-VisitMalta), who attacked on the climb, accelerated for a second time on the descent, and the rider from Malta was joined by a pair of French riders, Louis Hardouin (Van Rysel-Roubaix) and Axel Mariault (CIC Pro Cycling Academy), creating a gap with 7km to the finish.
The trio never gained more than 10 seconds, and in the final 2km the reduced peloton had them in their sights, and the breakaway ended in the final 800 metres, with Cofidis' Coquard winning the bunch sprint.
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