Vichot wins French national road race

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Arthur Vichot delivered FDJ’s fourth French national road race title in five years, and the second to his personal account after he pulled on the blue-white-red jersey three years ago between the reigns of Nacer Bouhanni and Arnaud Démare. On Sunday he succeeded Steven Tronet - who created an enormous surprise for Auber 93 last year - as he outsprinted breakaway companions Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale).

“[team manager] Marc Madiot told us at the pre race briefing that our favourite jersey had been borrowed for one year but we had to bring it back home”, Vichot said minutes after the finish in Vesoul.

“In the finale I played with the fact that I already won that race before at the difference of my two rivals. I didn’t look at them. I looked at the finishing line. It’s indescribable emotion after all the hiccups I faced since I last won the French championship.”

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FDJ outnumbered the other teams in the 34 men leading group that took shape after the first lap with another 220km to go. Nine of them, Olivier Le Gac, Arnaud Démare, Benoît Vaugrenard, Sébastien Chavanel, Lorrenzo Manzin, Kevin Reza, Matthieu Ladagnous, Jérémy Roy and Cédric Pineau were accompanied by Jérémy Cornu, Tony Hurel, Thomas Voeckler, Bryan Nauleau, Lilian Calmejane, Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie), Jean-Marc Bideau, Arnaud Gérard, Cédric Delaplace, Julien Loubet, Pierre-Luc Périchon (Fortunéo-Vital Concept), Florian Sénéchal, Anthony Perez, Christophe Laporte, Clément Venturini, Cyril Lemoine, Jérôme Cousin (Cofidis), Leonardo Duque, Christophe Laborie (Delko-Marseille Provence), Alexis Gougeard, Hubert Dupont, Sébatien Minard, Pierre Latour, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale).

All major teams were represented but not the continental squads who rode behind. Ladagnous, Périchon, Gougeard, Nauleau and Laporte forged on but most of the favourites came across. Vuillermoz, Gallopin and Vichot countered Julian Alaphilippe to ride away with 7km to go while Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet were marking each other. Alaphilippe didn’t manage to bridge the gap to the three escapees with Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Périchon on his wheel.

“For me it would have been the dream of my career to sprint for the win at a French championship”, said Dumoulin who was probably the fastest. “But all year long I campaign for team spirit so I wasn’t going to chase my team-mate and I couldn’t take the risk of bringing Alaphilippe to the line. I wasn’t 100% sure of beating him.”

“In an uphill sprint I could have challenged Vichot and Gallopin but a descending false flat like this wasn’t in my favor”, echoed Vuillermoz, “so I tried to take them by surprise at 300 metres but Tony saw me, Arthur also. I’m very disappointed to miss out on the title but after my crash at the Dauphiné I’m reassured about my condition ahead of the Tour de France.”

Probably the most disappointed of them all was Gallopin who was already second last year and third three years ago behind Vichot and Sylvain Chavanel. “I don’t think I’ve made any mistake”, said the Lotto-Soudal rider, who was once again isolated against well organized teams. “I’ve had a lot of disappointments in my career but this one tops the lot.”

“It had to be a tactical win especially against Alaphilippe who is impossible to follow on a short uphill, he’s really a Valverde type of rider”, commented Vichot who bounced back after a broken collarbone, a virus and a few tendonitis who hampered his career in the past two years.

“It might be egocentric to say that but after all the troubles I’ve experienced, I’m the rider who deserves this title the most. When I made the final top three at Paris-Nice with a stage win on the last day with my French champion jersey in 2014, I had reached a good level in the WorldTour but everything has gone wrong since. When I started this season, I said the most beautiful moment would be a win here at the French championship, it’s magic!”

Vichot hails from the Franche-Comté region where the race was held. So does Pinot who won the time trial on Thursday. “We couldn’t ask for more than these two titles this week on home soil”, Pinot declared. “We’ve got one jersey each. Everything is in place for the Tour.”

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