National Championships 2020 – France – Road Race – [FULL RACE]

August 23, 2020

National Championships 2020 – France – Grand-Champ – Grand-Champ : 237,9 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 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.

Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) claimed the third national road race title of his career on Sunday, delivering on his favourite status at the French Championships but not in the way many expected.

Groupama-FDJ looked to control proceedings with no fewer than 17 riders in their squad, but it was left to Demare alone in the finale as Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) attacked on the undulating circuit’s steepest incline with 4km to go. By that point his teammate Florian Senechal had already created a selection of nine riders, from which only Demare and Coquard could stay in contention with Alaphilippe.

The pair of sprinters chased him down and a three-up sprint ensued. Demare, who had won Milano-Torino and the Tour de Wallonie since the season re-start, showcased his form and confidence by first closing down another late Alaphilippe acceleration before leading out the sprint and holding off Coquard for a convincing victory.

Alaphilippe, who’d looked to anticipate with a long sprint, had to settle for the bronze medal.

“It’s the most beautiful of the three,” said Demare, who won the title in 2017 and 2014. “From a collective and individual perspective, it’s the most beautiful.

“Senechal did a huge turn and even before Julian attacked there were guys everywhere. I knew it was going to be hard there and my teammate Anthony Roux had said ‘if Julian attacks, you follow’. In the finale it was strange. It’s not that I don’t like situations like that – I’m just not used to them. With Bryan there, an excellent track rider with his turn of speed, into a headwind, I was worried, but in the end I had legs way above my expectations, and I launched my sprint and held on.”

It was a thrilling climax to a chaotic race that never really settled down over the 13 laps of the gently rolling 18.3-kilometre circuit in Brittany. AG2R La Mondiale and Total Direct Energie consistently looked to apply pressure to Demare’s troops, who seemed happy not to place any of their riders in the moves and instead try and control the race from behind.

They dealt with a number of breakaway attempts to bring the race back together with 54km and three laps remaining, but then what turned out to be a dangerous move went away. At first there were 10, but after another lap it grew to 16, containing riders from all the other major teams, including Cofidis’ Guillame Martin.

They still had 30 seconds in hand as they took the bell, and there was panic in the Groupama-FDJ ranks as the cooperation up front was unwavering. When Senechal and Romain Bardet (AG2R) attacked to bridge across, it looked even more dangerous, but the lead group started attacking each other and Groupama were able to bring things back together with 7km to go.

Nevertheless, they were scrambling once more when Alaphilippe ordered Senechal to light it up on the only sustained incline on the course. That vicious acceleration created a nine-rider selection and the perfect platform for an Alaphilippe attack on the steepest gradients. The puncheur surged clear but Demare reacted quickly and set about hunting Alaphilippe down with Coquard. The pair worked together to bring Alaphilippe back with 1.4km to go and the trio headed towards the finishing staright with a slim lead over a chasing group.

Realising he was up against two pure sprinters, Alaphilippe tried to attack under the flamme rouge, but Demare calmly brought it back, with Coquard glued to the wheel and in the perfect position. Alaphilippe, in a last roll of the dice, looked to sprint from range, but Demare soon opened up and had plenty of power left to not even allow Coquard out of his slipstream.

While it wasn’t the mass FDJ lead-out many envisaged, it was nevertheless a big show of strength from one of the peloton’s in-form riders, who won’t be able to show off his tricolour jersey at this year’s Tour de France, given he’s down to target the Giro d’Italia instead.

Results :
1 Arnaud Démare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 5:38:27
2 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
3 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep
4 Clément Venturini (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:05:00
5 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
6 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis
8 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
9 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
10 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
11 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
12 Pierre Rolland (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
13 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:00:08
14 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
15 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:00:11
16 Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Natura4Ever – Roubaix Lille Métropole 0:00:16
17 Romain Cardis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
18 Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel – Auber93
19 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
20 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
21 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
22 Kévin Reza (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
23 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis
24 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:00:23
25 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:00:30
26 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:00:58
27 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
28 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
29 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:15
30 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:01:17
31 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Total Direct Energie
32 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
33 Matis Louvel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
34 Samuel Leroux (Fra) Natura4Ever – Roubaix Lille Métropole
35 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis
36 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
37 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
38 Thibault Ferasse (Fra) Natura4Ever – Roubaix Lille Métropole
39 Theo Delacroix (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
40 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) Total Direct Energie
41 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
42 Franck Bonnamour (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
43 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis
44 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
45 Lucas De Rossi (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
46 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
47 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
48 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis
49 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie
50 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
51 Clément Russo (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
52 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
53 Mikaël Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
54 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Natura4Ever – Roubaix Lille Métropole
55 Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel – Auber93
56 Adrien Guillonnet (Fra) St Michel – Auber93
57 Alexis Guerin (Fra) Team Vorarlberg Santic 0:02:27
58 Julien El Fares (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
59 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:50
60 Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Deceuninck – Quick Step
61 Alan Riou (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
62 Benoît Jarrier (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
63 Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
64 Kévin Ledanois (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
65 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
66 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:01
67 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
68 Matthieu Jeannès (Fra) Team Illuminate
69 Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel – Auber93
70 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:03:14
71 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis
72 Pierre-Luc Périchon (Fra) Cofidis
73 Eddy Finé (Fra) Cofidis
74 Simon Sellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie
75 Romain Sicard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
76 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie
77 Jérôme Cousin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
78 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:04:25
79 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:06:08
80 Antoine Benoist (Fra) Alpecin-Fenix 0:06:37
81 Alexys Brunel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
82 Baptiste Bleier (Fra) St Michel – Auber93 0:08:34
83 Adrien Garel (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
84 Justin Mottier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
85 Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
86 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
87 Jordan Levasseur (Fra) Natura4Ever – Roubaix Lille Métropole 0:09:00
88 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:10:17
89 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
90 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis
91 Maxime Chevalier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:10:26
92 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie
93 Miguel Martinez (Fra) Amore & Vita – Prodir 0:12:31
DNF Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Theo Nonnez (Fra) Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ
DNF Gabriel Muller (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
DNF Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
DNF Pierre Barbier (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
DNF Marlon Gaillard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Baptiste Constantin (Fra) St Michel – Auber93
DNF Arnaud Courteille (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Maxime Cam (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Hugo Page (Fra) Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ
DNF Paul Penhoet (Fra) Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ
DNF Joffrey Degeurce (Fra) EuroCyclingTrips – CMI Pro Cycling Team
DNF Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
DNF Florian Maitre (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Donavan Grondin (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Rudy Fiefvez (Fra) EvoPro Racing
DNF Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Alexis Renard (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
DNF Samy Aurignac (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
DNF Guillaume Soula (Fra) EuroCyclingTrips – CMI Pro Cycling Team
DNF Jeremy Bellicaud (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Florian Vachon (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Julien Morice (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis
DNF Damien Gaudin (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Pierre Idjouadiene (Fra) Natura4Ever – Roubaix Lille Métropole
DNF Pascal Bousquet (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
DNF Romain Hardy (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Thomas Peyroton-Dartet (Fra) EuroCyclingTrips – CMI Pro Cycling Team
DNF Clément Davy (Fra) Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ
DNF Louis Louvet (Fra) St Michel – Auber93
DNF Valentin Ferron (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Johan Le Bon (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Romain Le Roux (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Jérémy Cabot (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Bryan Alaphilippe (Fra) St Michel – Auber93
DNF Remi Capron (Fra) Akros – Excelsior – Thömus