Dorian Godon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) won the French national title, beating Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) in a sprint in Les Herbiers.
As a 10-rider group sped up to the finish line atop Mont des Alouettes climb, Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) opened the sprint first, but was reeled in by four riders accelerating for the line. Godon, Grégoire, Vauquelin and Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies) battled with Godon ultimately holding off his rivals.
The group battling for the win split out from a 19-rider lead group with one kilometre to go after defending champion Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was reeled in after a 22km solo flyer.
The lead group also included Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers), Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Paul Seixas (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step).
"I couldn't see very clearly, I was pushed by the crowd," said Godon who will not be racing at the Tour de France.
"Paul [Seixas] did a great job, he took his time well so that I could catch my breath before the sprint, then Nico [Prodhomme], I told him 'full gas', but he really went full gas. It's silly to say but I knew from the first lap that I was going to get a big result on the line, I was really having a good day. I'm going to go on holiday happy."
With 26 riders on the start list, the Groupama-FDJ squad was very active at the start of the 214.5km race, where the men tackled 13 laps of a 16.5km circuit with the ascent of Mont des Alouettes (1.9km at 4.7%). Due to the hot temperatures hovering around 36° C, the organisers removed one lap of the course, originally slated to be 14 laps.
Groupama-FDJ used their numbers to cause the major split with 16 riders breaking away with 52km to go. Three chasers would ultimately join the group inside of three laps to go.
Groupama had the biggest representation in the front group with nine riders: Cyril Barthe, Clément Braz Afonso, Valentin Madouas, Rudy Molard, Quentin Pacher, Paul Penhoet, Brieuc Rolland, Clément Russo and Grégoire. Decathlon had four with Paul Seixas, Lapeira, Prodhomme and Godon.
Inertia took hold at the front of the race, allowing the chasing peloton to close the gap from over a minute to just a few seconds with two laps remaining. Sensing the threat, several riders launched attacks until Lapeira broke clear with 22km to go.
The defending champion carved out a maximum lead of 17 seconds, but the combination of heat and the demanding Alouettes climb began to wear him down. Behind him, Vauquelin launched repeated accelerations that ultimately spelled the end of the solo move. Lapeira was caught by Barré on the final ascent.
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