Capiot wins GP La Marseillaise

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Amaury Capiot (Arkéa-Samsic) took victory at the GP La Marseillaise, sprinting to his first career win outside the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille ahead of Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Francisco Galván (Kern Pharma).

The Belgian continued his strong start to the season, having finished second at last week's Clàssica Valenciana. He timed his surge to the line to perfection after TotalEnergies' lead out had taken control of the front of the peloton in the final kilometre.

Their man, Edvald Boasson Hagen, jumped a little too early, though, and was swamped before the line as first Pedersen and then – right at the death – Capiot swept past. Spaniard Galván rounded out the podium ahead of Boasson Hagen while the fast-finishing Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) took fifth.

Arkéa-Samsic has organised their own sprint train in the finale having earlier worked to chase down the break and late attacker Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), who was caught 6.5 kilometres out. However, TotalEnergies were massed on the front and so Capiot took the decision to instead jump onto Pedersen's wheel.

That proved a savvy choice, with the Danish former world champion making his way onto Boasson Hagen's wheel just in time for the sprint. When it launched in the last few hundred metres, Capiot was in exactly the right place to profit, and in the process step on the top of the podium for the first time in his career.

How it unfolded

The 43rd edition of the GP La Marseillaise kicked off the 2022 French road season, serving up 174.3 kilometres of riding over challenging hilly terrain for the peloton of 143 riders to tackle. With numerous climbs packed into the parcours, would be few flat kilometres during the race, with the Pas d'Ouillier (4.4km at 5.3 per cent) at 29 kilometres to go and the Col de la Gineste (7.6km at 3 per cent) 10 kilometres from the line the main late challenges.

It took under 15 kilometres for the breakaway to form after a number of attacks during the early stages of the race. Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) was the major name in the move, and the Frenchman was joined out from by Nicolas Debeamarché (St Michel-Auber93), Clément Carisey (Go Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole), Louis Blouwe (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces WB), Danny van der Tuuk (Kern Pharma), and Aaron Van Poucke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).

The sextet quickly built a gap of a minute before Jordan Jegat (Team U Nantes Atlantique), and Julien Amador (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur) countered and made it across in no short order while Van Poucke was distanced, leaving seven men out front with 150 kilometres to go.

They enjoyed a large lead of just over seven minutes at that point as Groupama-FDJ, Trek-Segafredo, and AG2R Citroën were among the teams setting the pace back in the peloton. After two hours of racing and with 70 kilometres covered, Amador was the next man to drop from the breakaway, leaving his five former companions with a five-minute advantage.

Over the hilly mid-section of the race, the break split up as Gougeard and Debeamarché outpaced the rest of the move, but things came back together fairly quickly, though the gap was only going down. At 70 kilometres to go, the pair made it away again, shedding Jegat in the process before the group came back together once again.

The remaining quintet ploughed on, but the climbing was taking its toll, and at the 50-kilometre mark, the EF Education- and UAE-led peloton was just 2:30 in arrears. Up front, Blouwe was detached on a tough climb as riders pushed on back in the peloton, leaving four men in the break.

Over the next 10km the break disintegrated for good, leaving just Gougeard and Debeamarché up front while Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) lead the attacking from the peloton with Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies) and Van der Tuuk in his wheel.

At the 30km to go, Ulissi's group had merged with the two up front, though the new lead group enjoyed a 40-second lead over the peloton, where Trek-Segafredo lead the chase. The next climb saw Ulissi move away for good, with Gougeard the last man to hang on, while 50 seconds back Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) launched a move,

The Frenchman brought Ulissi's teammate Alexys Brunel with him, while Debeamarché, Gougeard and Dujardin also joined them, with the group dragging back Ulissi at 21km to go. Four kilometres later, on the Col de la Gineste, Martin made his move once more, with only Brunel able to follow his acceleration immediately before dropping soon after. 

Brunel, Ulissi and Dujardin attempted a chase but with attacks from the peloton behind, they were brought back at 11.5km to go, with Martin left out front with a slim 20-second lead.

His adventure ended with six kilometres to go despite his best effort, leaving a reduced bunch to race to a sprint finish in Marseille, where it was 28-year-old Capiot who triumphed, giving the French ProTeam their first victory of the season.