National Championships 2021 – France – Road Race [FULL RACE]

June 20, 2021

National Championships 2021 – France – Épinal – Épinal : 242,9 km

The French National Championships are one of the biggest targets of the year for home riders, win here and they’ll earn the right to wear the coveted French tricolore for an entire year. This iconic red, white and blue jersey is one of the most recognisable jerseys in the sport of cycling and has seen several of the sport’s most legendary riders carry it on their shoulders.The championships were first held in 1899 and exclusively welcomed amateur riders. In 1907 the organisers added a professional men’s race and attracted many riders.

Rémi Cavagna delivered Deceuninck-Quick Step’s second French national road race title 10 years after Sylvain Chavanel and three days after a big disillusionment due to mechanical problems in the individual time trial for which he was the defending champion.

The 25-year-old won by 58 seconds after a lone attack from 14 kilometres out in poor conditions on the hilly course. Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) and Damien Touze (AG2R Citroen) rounded out the podium after winning the sprint from a reduced chase group.

“I don’t realize what’s happening,” said Cavagna, interviewed by French national team manager Thomas Voeckler. “My goal was the time trial. I was the favourite and I came for winning. I was very disappointed. It was a slam in my face. I know there were circumstances and problems…

“However, today we were a team of only three riders with Julian [Alaphilippe] and Florian [Sénéchal] but a super team anyway. Our tactic was for me to be ahead if a numerous group was formed at the front. When I heard that Julian was coming across, I could take it easy for a while after I rode a lot in the breakaway. At the last feeding, I heard some encouragement so I took my chance and it worked out.”

Cavagna took place in the leading after 30km of racing, along with Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM), Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic), Jérémy Leveau (Xelliss-Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Rémy Rochas and Victor Lafay (Cofidis), Matthieu Ladagnous, Simon Guglielmi and Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Geoffrey Bouchard and Touzé (AG2R-Citroën), Alexis Guérin (Vorarlberg), Jérémy Cabot and Fabien Doubey (TotalEnergies).

They got a maximum time gap of five minutes at half way. With 35km to go, Sénéchal put the hammer down, launching a strong attack for Alaphilippe. Only David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R-Citroën) managed to follow the world champion. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) reacted with a slight delay. Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) made it across.

The 7-man chasing group missed being reunited with the 14 leaders by a mere thirty seconds due to the presence of Alaphilippe. After they got reeled in by the remaining of the peloton on the rain soaked demanding circuit of Epinal, Madouas and Cosnefroy attacked. Martin reacted, again with a slight delay.

Once the trio bridged the gap, Cavagna was gone solo at the beginning of the last lap with 14km to go. He could power on his favourite time trial mode to collect the white, red and blue jersey that will not be featured on the roads of the Tour de France as the ‘TGV of Clermont-Ferrand’ – his nickname – pursues further goals after having ridden the Giro d’Italia and missed out on the last stage victory due to a crash in the last curve in Milan. The time trial of the Tokyo Olympics is one of them.

In between Chavanel and Cavagna, Groupama-FDJ settles for seven French titles for road racing out of nine.

“We outnumbered the other teams in the front group”, Molard said. “I knew the team would put faith in me but Rémi was too strong. He attacked at the right place in the feed zone. We never managed to bring him back.

“We came to defend our jersey. We rode well, tactically speaking with giving Gaudu and Madouas the possibility to play their cards in case of a regrouping. It’s a pity to come second. But we’ll come back for another jersey in the team.”

Results :
1 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 6:06:10
2 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:58
3 Damien Touze (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
4 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
5 Jeremy Cabot (Fra) Total Direct Energie
6 Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis 0:01:02
7 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:04
8 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
9 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:01:05
10 Alexis Guerin (Fra) Team Vorarlberg 0:01:33
11 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:14
12 Pierre Rolland (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
13 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:02:18
14 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:02:19
15 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:02:21
16 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis 0:03:18
17 Clément Berthet (Fra) Delko 0:03:43
18 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:04:15
19 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:04:22
20 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
21 Alexandre Delettre (Fra) Delko
22 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
23 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
24 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
25 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:26
26 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:04:28
27 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:45
28 Julien El Fares (Fra) EF Education-Nippo
29 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
30 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
31 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
32 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
33 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
34 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
35 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
36 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
37 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:04:48
38 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
39 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:05:16
40 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:08:31
41 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
42 Maxime Urruty (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:09:05
43 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
44 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
45 Romain Combaud (Fra) Team DSM
46 Eddy Fine (Fra) Cofidis
47 Romain Cardis (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
48 Maxime Chevalier (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
49 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
50 Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie
51 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
52 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Delko
53 Jeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
54 Matis Louvel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
55 Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
56 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation 0:12:13
57 Antoine Huby (Fra)
58 Hugo Page (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
59 Aloïs Charrin (Fra) Swiss Racing Academy
60 Lucas De Rossi (Fra) Delko
61 Clément Carisey (Fra) Delko 0:13:24
62 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:15:44
63 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
64 Pierre-Luc Périchon (Fra) Cofidis
65 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
66 Robin Meyer (Fra) Nippo-Provence-PTS Conti
67 Jonathan Couanon (Fra) Nippo-Provence-PTS Conti
68 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
69 Clément Davy (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
70 Pierre Latour (Fra) Total Direct Energie
71 Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
72 Clément Russo (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
73 Matthieu Jeannes (Fra) Team Illuminate
74 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
75 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis
76 Alexys Brunel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
77 Franck Bonnamour (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
78 Thibault Ferasse (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
79 Thomas Champion (Fra) Cofidis
80 Antoine Raugel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
81 Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
82 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
83 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
84 Enzo Paleni (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
85 Paul Penhoet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
86 Alexis Renard (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation
87 Mickaël Crispin (Fra)
88 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie
89 Rémi Lelandais (Fra)
90 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Delko
91 Louis Louvet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
92 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) Total Direct Energie
93 Maxime Cam (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
94 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis
95 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
96 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
97 Romain Hardy (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
98 Donavan Grondin (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
99 Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
100 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Total Direct Energie
101 Adrien Guillonnet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
102 Julien Morice (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
103 David Menut (Fra)
104 Samuel Leroux (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
105 Jordan Levasseur (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
106 Marlon Gaillard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
107 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie
108 Alan Riou (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
109 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
110 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
111 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
112 Nathan Vandepitte (Fra) Bingoal WB
113 Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
114 Alan Boileau (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
115 Thomas Denis (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
116 Valentin Ferron (Fra) Total Direct Energie
117 Marc Sarreau (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
118 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
119 Louis Coqueret (Fra) Leopard Pro Cycling
120 Lorenzo Serres (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
121 Sacha Bietry (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
122 Nils Marin (Fra)
123 Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
124 Ugo Ananie (Fra)
125 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
126 Christopher Lamaille (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
127 Thomas Peyroton Dartet (Fra) Eurocyclingtrips-CMI Pro Cycling
128 Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
129 Vincent Louiche (Fra) Ferei-CCN
130 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
131 Lilian Schneider (Fra)
132 Jason Tesson (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
133 Noé Castille (Fra)
134 Kevin Reza (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
135 Florian Maitre (Fra) Total Direct Energie
136 Baptiste Bleier (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
137 Damien Gaudin (Fra) Total Direct Energie