National Championships 2019 – France – [Road Race – FULL RACE]

June 30, 2019

National Championships 2019 – France – La Haye-Fouassière : 252 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 won 20 road championships.

Warren Barguil delivered his first victory for Arkéa-Samsic and his first since he won stage 18 atop the Col d’Izoard in the polka dot jersey at the 2017 Tour de France. He took a seven-man sprint ahead of Julien Simon and Damien Touzé, both from Cofidis, after late attacks from Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

“This brings a lot of emotions after I almost quit cycling,” Barguil reacted. “I’ve gone through hard times, I’ve been affected by criticisms and I’m thankful to the people who supported me throughout these difficult days, not to the people who only cheered on me when I was at my best.”

Barguil was part of the group of 37 riders who rode away in the third of the 15 laps around La Haye-Fouassière in the Muscadet wine producing area near Nantes. WorldTour teams Groupama-FDJ and AG2R La Mondiale had six riders each, just like Arkéa-Samsic. The biggest names up the road were Madouas, David Gaudu and newly crowned French time trial champion Benjamin Thomas (both Groupama-FDJ), whereas AG2R La Mondiale had Alexis Gougeard and Pierre Latour. Pierre Rolland (Vital Concept-B&B Hôtels) was also in the mix.

Their advantage was 3:30 with 150km to go. Total Direct Energie was obviously not satisfied with the composition of the breakaway, having Perrig Quémeneur, Angelo Tulik, Paul Ourselin and Mathieu Burgaudeau in the front group but not Anthony Turgis, who was last year’s runner up. With 100km remaining, Groupama-FDJ relayed Total and suddenly brought the gap down to 1:55..

Arkéa-Samsic also chased at some stages but an attack by Gaudu with 80km to go made the breakaway alive again. The lead group was reduced to 23 riders and the gap went up again: 3:35 with 65km left to race.

“I always believed that we could stay away until the end if we kept three to four minutes lead before the last hour,” Barguil said. “All my team-mates at the front were committed to help me win. Our road captain Florian Vachon made me calm two or three times when I rode too generously and I was pissed off with some riders who didn’t cooperate.”

With 40km to go, four top riders attacked from the peloton: Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Elie Gesbert (Arkéa-Samsic) and Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale). After they were reined in due to a lack of cooperation, Pinot went again. Inside 20km to go, he was close to bridging the gap along with Rolland, who had been dropped from the front group, but it didn’t happen.

His teammate Madouas, who finished 13th overall in the Giro d’Italia, went by himself from the break with 7km to go. He stayed alone in the lead for 4km. Barguil and Martin were next to attack. “Martin made us lose the title,” Simon deplored. “I raised my hand up in the air to ask Damien [Touzé] to ride behind him and we launched our sprint too early.”

Barguil said that he “knew that a championship isn’t necessarily won by the fastest rider in the finale”, and duly claimed the spoils. He already had a French championship under his belt as he won solo in the junior ranks 10 years ago in Vendôme. In 2009, it was also the only other victory in the French Elite championship for Arkéa-Samsic that was then named Bretagne-Schuller and ranked a continental team, as Dimitri Champion outclassed the FDJ block. In 23 attempts since their inception in 1997, Cofidis are yet to bring the blue-white-red jersey home.

Results :
1 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 5:54:36
2 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
3 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
4 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Total Direct Energie
5 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
6 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
7 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team 0:00:02
8 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels 0:00:21
9 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
10 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:01:10
11 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:18
12 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
14 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
15 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
16 Kevin Le Cunff (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
17 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
18 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
19 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
20 Julien El Fares (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence 0:01:24
21 Samuel Leroux (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
22 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
23 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
24 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Total Direct Energie
25 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
26 Clément Russo (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
27 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
28 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
29 Franck Bonnamour (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
30 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
31 Fabien Schmidt (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
32 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
33 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
34 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
35 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck – Quick-Step
36 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
37 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie
38 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
39 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
40 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
41 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:32
42 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:01:34
43 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
44 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
45 Morgan Kneisky (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:16
46 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
47 Adrien Guillonnet (Fra) Interpro Cycling Academy
48 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
49 Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
50 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
51 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence 0:02:45
52 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
53 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
54 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
55 Camille Thominet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
56 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
57 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
58 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
59 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
60 Kevin Reza (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels 0:03:11
61 Romain Hardy (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:07:34
62 Brice Feillu (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
63 Julien Morice (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
64 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
65 Johan Le Bon (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels 0:09:19
66 Corentin Ermenault (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
67 Christophe Masson (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:09:32
68 Pierre Gouault (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
69 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
70 Corentin Navarro (Fra) Team Wiggins LeCol
71 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:11:26
72 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
73 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Cycling Academy 0:14:18
74 Théo Nonnez (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:15:22
75 Florian Hudry (Fra) Interpro Cycling Academy 0:15:23
76 Jimmy Turgis (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
77 Lucas De Rossi (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
78 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
79 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:17:16
80 Nicolas Baldo (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:17:17
81 Gauthier Navarro (Fra) Interpro Cycling Academy 0:21:17
DNF Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Jerome Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Jérémy Maison (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Pierre Barbier (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
DNF Maxime Daniel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Maxime Cam (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
DNF Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
DNF Yoann Offredo (Fra) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
DNF Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Thibault Ferasse (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
DNF Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
DNF Pierre Idjouadiene (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
DNF Adrien Garel (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
DNF Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Fabien Grellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Alan Riou (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Florian Vachon (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Alexis Guerin (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
DNF Romain Feillu (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Arnaud Courteille (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
DNF Clement Davy (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Romain Sicard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Romain Le Roux (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Amael Moinard (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Justin Mottier (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
DNF Damien Gaudin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Yohann Gene (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Romain Cardis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Bryan Nauleau (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
DNF Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Yoann Bagot (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
DNF Axel Journiaux (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Luis Javelly (Fra) Start Cycling Team
DNF Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Gabriel Muller (Fra) Team Differdange Geba
DNF Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits