National Championships 2017 – France – [Road Race – FULL RACE]

June 25, 2017

National Championships 2017 – France – Saint – Omer – Saint – Omer – 248 km

The French National Road Race Championship is a cycling race where the French cyclists decide who will become the champion for the year to come. The event was established in 1899, a professional championship was established in 1907 and the women’s championship was established in 1951. Several additional categories were added later. The record for victories is by one of the best female cyclists, Jeannie Longo, who has so far managed to win 20 road championships.
The winners of each event are awarded with a symbolic cycling jersey which is blue, white and red, just like the national flag, these colours can be worn by the rider at other road racing events in the country to show their status as national champion. The champion’s stripes can be combined into a sponsored rider’s team kit design for this purpose.

Top favourite Arnaud Démare (FDJ) won the French national championships road race in Saint-Omer (Nord-Pas-de-Calais) on Sunday afternoon. Démare won the sprint in a small peloton, holding off Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis). Jérémy Leveau (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) was third at long distance.

It’s the second time 25-year-old Démare gets to wear the blue-blanc-rouge, after winning in Futuroscope in 2014. He takes over the jersey from teammate Arthur Vichot.

“We have a super team. We went 100 per cent for me today. I was very good and the team was strong. I’m super happy. […] One doesn’t get used to wearing this jersey. It’ll be a different experience compared to the first time. I was very young in 2014,” Démare said in the post-race flash interview.

The man next to him – Nacer Bouhanni – was less excited, two months after his crash in the Tour of Yorkshire. Before crossing the line, Bouhanni was making gestures to point out that he didn’t like the way Démare sprinted.

“He moved twice. He didn’t hold his line in the final metres. I was relegated for a few centimetres in Hamburg. I’m disappointed. I’d loved to have won,” Bouhanni said in his post-race flash interview. Démare did move but the jury felt it wasn’t enough to relegate him.

The French peloton faced a battle of 248 kilometres on a 15.5 kilometres long course, with the wind and two climbs featuring on each of the sixteen laps. A large group of fourteen riders formed the breakaway of the day but the FDJ-led peloton didn’t offer them a lot of ground. Thomas Rostollan (Armée de Terre) and Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) were the strongest men in front, dropping them on the climb. Meanwhile, another chase group was formed. Eight riders from this group bridged up with the two leaders when passing the Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery. At 40 kilometres from the finish, the peloton was a minute down on the ten leaders.

Further attacks on the climbs in front and in the peloton created a further selection. A first selection left Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie), Pierre-Roger Latour (AG2R La Mondiale), Florian Vachon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) and Flavien Dassonville (HP BTP – Auber 93) in front. Later, Florian Vachon and Thomas Boudat were joined by Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) and Yoann Offredo (WB Veranclassic-Aqua Protect) on the last climb in the penultimate lap. The five leaders had a bonus of half a minute on the first peloton of 35 riders with all the best sprinters still there.

The final lap would decide if the peloton would get back on the leaders and which sprinters would survive the climbs. Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) made a big move. After the first climb, he closed the gap with the five leaders, battling the crosswinds. On the second climb, he continued his effort and dropped the others. In the peloton, the Fortuneo-riders tried to disturb the build-up for the sprint. A small peloton of only twenty riders survived the climb, without Direct Energie-sprinters Bryan Coquard and Adrien Petit, but with Démare and Bouhanni.

At three kilometres from the finish Antomarchi was caught back by the FDJ-train. Mickaël Delage led out the sprint for Démare, who started the tailwind sprint. Bouhanni was glued on his wheel but failed to get out it. Jérémy Leveau (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) was best of the rest at two seconds, joining the two top sprinters on the podium.

Results :
1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ 5:54:22
2 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
3 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Roubaix – Lille Metropole 0:00:02
4 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
5 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
6 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
7 Rudy Barbier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
10 Fabien Touze (Fra) HP BTP – Auber 93
11 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
12 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
13 Mickael Delage (Fra) FDJ
14 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:00:05
15 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
16 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:08
17 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
18 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
19 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:11
20 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Roubaix – Lille Metropole
21 David Menut (Fra) HP BTP – Auber 93 0:00:23
22 Erwann Corbel (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
23 Steven Tronet (Fra) Armee de Terre
24 Kevin Le Cunff (Fra) HP BTP – Auber 93
25 Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ
26 Brice Feillu (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
27 Jimmy Raibaud (Fra) Armee de Terre
28 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ
29 Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:00:28
30 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) HP BTP – Auber 93
31 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:29
32 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie
33 Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:38
34 Jeremy Bescond (Fra) HP BTP – Auber 93 0:01:05
35 Yannis Yssaad (Fra) Armee de Terre
36 Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:46
37 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:48
38 Alexandre Blain (Fra) Madison Genesis 0:01:51
39 Remy Di Gregorio (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
40 Pierre Moncorgé (Fra) MPC
41 Yannick Martinez (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
42 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Direct Energie
43 Félix Pouilly (Fra) Roubaix – Lille Metropole
44 Jimmy Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
45 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
46 Franck Bonnamour (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
47 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
48 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
49 Francis Mourey (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:01:58
50 Brian Nauleau (Fra) Direct Energie
51 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
52 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
53 Jérémy Maison (Fra) FDJ
54 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
55 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie 0:03:09
56 Nicolas Baldo (Fra) HP BTP – Auber 93 0:03:10
57 Justin Jules (Fra) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect 0:03:46
58 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:53
59 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie
60 Florian Vachon (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
61 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Direct Energie
62 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
63 Romain Hardy (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
64 Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ 0:04:18
65 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
66 Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ
67 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
68 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
69 Flavien Dassonville (Fra) HP BTP – Auber 93
70 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:04:40
71 Kevin Lebreton (Fra) Armee de Terre
72 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:07
73 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
74 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) FDJ
75 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:07:20
76 Pierre Gouault (Fra) HP BTP – Auber 93
77 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Direct Energie
78 Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
79 Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie
80 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
81 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Direct Energie
82 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
83 Romain Feillu (Fra) HP BTP – Auber 93 0:07:24
84 Clement Venturini (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
85 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
86 Fabien Canal (Fra) Armee de Terre
87 Morgan Kneisky (Fra) Armee de Terre
88 Armindo Fonseca (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
89 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
90 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie
91 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
92 Dorian Godon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
93 Julien El Fares (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
94 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) Armee de Terre
95 Jordan Levasseur (Fra) Armee de Terre 0:07:43
DNF William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ
DNF Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ
DNF Marc Fournier (Fra) FDJ
DNF David Gaudu (Fra) FDJ
DNF Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ
DNF Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ
DNF Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ
DNF Cedric Pineau (Fra) FDJ
DNF Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ
DNF Marc Sarreau (Fra) FDJ
DNF Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ
DNF Léo Vincent (Fra) FDJ
DNF Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Jeremy Cornu (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Romain Guillemois (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Tony Hurel (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Bryan Alaphilippe (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Romain Campistrous (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Thibault Ferasse (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Damien Gaudin (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Yann Guyot (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Romain Le Roux (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Julien Loubet (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Jerome Mainard (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Thomas Rostollan (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Armee de Terre
DNF Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Maxime Daniel (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
DNF Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
DNF Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) Fortuneo – Vital Concept
DNF Benjamin Giraud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
DNF Romain Lemarchand (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
DNF Jeremy Cabot (Fra) Roubaix – Lille Metropole
DNF Dylan Kowalski (Fra) Roubaix – Lille Metropole
DNF Quentin Valognes (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Corentin Cherhal (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Romain Gioux (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Julien Amadori (Fra) Interpro Cycling Academy
DNF Florian Hudry (Fra) Interpro Cycling Academy
DNF Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNF Maxime Gressier (Fra) Development Team Sunweb
DNF Corentin Ermenault (Fra) Team Wiggins