Démare wins French national championships

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Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) claimed the third national road race title of his career on Sunday, delivering on his favourite status at the French Championships but not in the way many expected.

Groupama-FDJ looked to control proceedings with no fewer than 17 riders in their squad, but it was left to Demare alone in the finale as Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) attacked on the undulating circuit's steepest incline with 4km to go. By that point his teammate Florian Senechal had already created a selection of nine riders, from which only Demare and Coquard could stay in contention with Alaphilippe.

The pair of sprinters chased him down and a three-up sprint ensued. Demare, who had won Milano-Torino and the Tour de Wallonie since the season re-start, showcased his form and confidence by first closing down another late Alaphilippe acceleration before leading out the sprint and holding off Coquard for a convincing victory.

Alaphilippe, who'd looked to anticipate with a long sprint, had to settle for the bronze medal.

"It's the most beautiful of the three," said Demare, who won the title in 2017 and 2014. "From a collective and individual perspective, it's the most beautiful.

"Senechal did a huge turn and even before Julian attacked there were guys everywhere. I knew it was going to be hard there and my teammate Anthony Roux had said 'if Julian attacks, you follow'. In the finale it was strange. It's not that I don't like situations like that – I'm just not used to them. With Bryan there, an excellent track rider with his turn of speed, into a headwind, I was worried, but in the end I had legs way above my expectations, and I launched my sprint and held on."

It was a thrilling climax to a chaotic race that never really settled down over the 13 laps of the gently rolling 18.3-kilometre circuit in Brittany. AG2R La Mondiale and Total Direct Energie consistently looked to apply pressure to Demare's troops, who seemed happy not to place any of their riders in the moves and instead try and control the race from behind.

They dealt with a number of breakaway attempts to bring the race back together with 54km and three laps remaining, but then what turned out to be a dangerous move went away. At first there were 10, but after another lap it grew to 16, containing riders from all the other major teams, including Cofidis' Guillame Martin.

They still had 30 seconds in hand as they took the bell, and there was panic in the Groupama-FDJ ranks as the cooperation up front was unwavering. When Senechal and Romain Bardet (AG2R) attacked to bridge across, it looked even more dangerous, but the lead group started attacking each other and Groupama were able to bring things back together with 7km to go.

Nevertheless, they were scrambling once more when Alaphilippe ordered Senechal to light it up on the only sustained incline on the course. That vicious acceleration created a nine-rider selection and the perfect platform for an Alaphilippe attack on the steepest gradients. The puncheur surged clear but Demare reacted quickly and set about hunting Alaphilippe down with Coquard. The pair worked together to bring Alaphilippe back with 1.4km to go and the trio headed towards the finishing staright with a slim lead over a chasing group.

Realising he was up against two pure sprinters, Alaphilippe tried to attack under the flamme rouge, but Demare calmly brought it back, with Coquard glued to the wheel and in the perfect position. Alaphilippe, in a last roll of the dice, looked to sprint from range, but Demare soon opened up and had plenty of power left to not even allow Coquard out of his slipstream.

While it wasn't the mass FDJ lead-out many envisaged, it was nevertheless a big show of strength from one of the peloton's in-form riders, who won't be able to show off his tricolour jersey at this year's Tour de France, given he's down to target the Giro d'Italia instead.