Mélodie Lesueur takes French title

20 year-old Mélodie Lesueur won the women's French national road race title with a solo attack that left surprised her rivals and stopped Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli taking another time trial and road race double.

Lesueur attacked mid-race with Nadia Triquet-Claude of the strong Vienne-Futuroscope team, blocking the chase behind. But Lesueur then dropped Triquet-Claude on the rolling hills and soloed to victory.

Amélie Rivat (Rhône-Alpes), also just 20, finished 1:55 behind Lesueur, with Longo-Ciprelli taking the bunch sprint for third. At 51, Longo-Ciprelli is older than the two young riders put together.

"At first I thought about waiting for Nadia but I decided to focus on my race. On the last two laps I had cramp everywhere," Lesueur told l'Equipe.fr.

"The opportunists won today," Longo-Ciprelli said, admitting that the bunch an big names of French cycling failed to organise their chase soon enough.

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Results
1Mélodie Lesueur (Esgl93-Gsdgestion)3:07:08
2Amélie Rivat (Rhonealpes)0:01:56
3Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (Rhonealpes)0:03:59
4Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (Viennefuturoscope)Row 3 - Cell 2
5Edwige Pitel (S.Cmichelafaninirecordrox)Row 4 - Cell 2
6Audrey Cordon (Viennefuturoscope)Row 5 - Cell 2
7Sophie Creux (Esgl93-Gsdgestion)Row 6 - Cell 2
8Eugénie Mermillod (Esgl93-Gsdgestion)Row 7 - Cell 2
9Béatrice Thomas (Esgl93-Gsdgestion)Row 8 - Cell 2
10Mélanie Bravard (Esgl93-Gsdgestion)Row 9 - Cell 2
11Emilie Blanquefort (Aquitaine)Row 10 - Cell 2
12Marion Azam (Midipyrenees)Row 11 - Cell 2
13Julie Krasniak ((Lorraine)Row 12 - Cell 2
14Aude Biannic (Bretagne)0:06:13
15Mélanie Ferrand (Rhonealpes)0:06:29
16Vicky Fournial (Lorraine)0:06:33
17Pascale Jeuland (Viennefuturoscope)Row 16 - Cell 2
18Nadia Triquetclaude (Viennefuturoscope)Row 17 - Cell 2
19Elodie Hegoburu (Esgl93-Gsdgestion)Row 18 - Cell 2
20Marielaure Cloarec (Iledefrance)Row 19 - Cell 2

 

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Stephen Farrand
Head of News

Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.

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