Most countries largely put their racing calendars on hold during the Giro d’Italia but France is a notable exception as May is a very busy month in the country. After the stage races in Dunkirk and Picardie, this Sunday offers the sprinters and attackers another chance to go for glory in the Grand Prix de la Somme which is a relatively new race still trying to find it best position on the calendar.

With the Giro d’Italia going on, it is hard for other races to get much attention but that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening in other parts of the world. This week another group of riders are active at either the Tour of Norway or the Tour of California and next week the Tour of Belgium is on the menu.

However, no other country is as busy as France and the month of May is a real festival for sprinters and aggressive riders who can do well in lumpy terrain. Two weeks ago, the fast riders had lots of opportunities in the Four Days of Dunkirk and last weekend the Tur de Picardie was one of the few stage races that the sprinters could realistically target.

This week there is no stage race on the menu and riders are now gearing up for the resumption of the Coupe de France in the final weekend of May when the puncheurs and sprinters will go for glory in the hilly Breton races GP Plumelec and Boucles de l’Aulne. This week offers the one-day race GP de la Somme to keep the legs going in between the bigger races.

The race was created in 1986 as a stage race for amateurs but it became a professional one-day race in 1999. It returned to the stage race format in 2002 and a fter the introduction of the current UCI system in 2005, it was a 2.2 event on the Europe Tour. For the 2007 season, the race again became a one-day event and moved up in the hierarchy as it became a 1.1 event. In 2013, it was even included in the Coupe de France calendar but now it is one of the major one-day races that is not part of the national series.

The GP de la Somme was held in September for most of the current century but for the 2014 season it was moved to the spring. In the last two years, it has been held in the opening weekend of the Giro d’Italia but now it has been pushed two weeks backwards and now comes in between the race in Picardie and the Coupe de France races in Brittany.

The race is held in a lumpy part of the country that doesn’t have any major climbs and so one would expect it to suit the sprinters. However, the race has traditionally been very hard to control and since the race got its 1.1 status, only two editions have been decided in sprints from bigger groups, with Yauheni Hutarovich winning on both occasions. Most of the time big breakaways have decided the races, either in a sprint or with groups of 1-5 riders getting clear in the finale.

That’s exactly what happened 12 months ago when the race was ripped to pieces.  In the end, three riders escaped from a big breakaway and it was Quentin Jauregui who took his first pro win by beating Anthony Delaplace and Alo Jakin in the sprint.

The course

The 2016 edition of the race will be held on a 195.8km course that will bring the riders from Dury to Albert. The first 90.3km are not overly difficult as they only include two categorized climbs and bring the riders from the start to the finish. Having crossed the line for the first time, the riders will do two laps of a 25.8km circuit that includes a small climb.

The final part of the race is made up of a bigger 26.9km circuit that includes another small ascent with 18.6km to go. However, there are several uncategorized ascents throughout the circuit, with the final two rises coming between the 3km to go mark and the flamme rouge. The final turn comes just as the peloton enters the final kilometre and from there it is a flat, straight run to the line.

The weather

Sunday will be an extremely rainy day. Rain is forecasted for the entire day, with a total amount of 29mm expected at the finish. The maximum temperature will be 14 degrees.

It won’t be very windy as there will be a moderate wind from a westerly direction. This means that the riders will have a tailwind in the beginning and then a long crosswind section. On the circuits, the wind will come from all directions but it will be a headwind in the finale.

The favourites

On paper, the course is not very difficult but for some reason, the race has rarely been decided in a sprint. However, we expect things to be different for the 2016 edition as three teams go into the race with in-form sprinters who believe that they can win the race.

After his two stage wins and overall victory in the Tour de Picardie, Nacer Bouhanni aims to continue his momentum in this race. Kenny Dehaes has won two races recently and Dan McLay almost beat Bouhanni in Picardie so those two riders will feel confident that they have a chance in a bunch kick. This means that Cofidis, Wanty-Groupe Gobert and Fortuneo-Vital Concept will try to control the race and make sure that it comes down to a battle between the fast riders.

The bad weather means that there is a bigger chance that a break will make it. However, it won’t be windy so the peloton is unlikely to split up. The rain is of course a challenge but it should not make it impossible for the sprint teams to control things. As the list of attackers is not very long for this race and as three teams will be focusing on a sprint, we expect it to come down to a bunch kick. However, the hilly course means that you need pretty good climbing legs to be there.

A sprint scenario means that Nacer Bouhanni is the obvious favourite. The Frenchman was left frustrated in Dunkirk where he failed to win a stage but he got back on track in Picardie where he won two stage and the overall. His train has not been working perfectly but they did better in Picardie than they did in Dunkirk, most notably due to Christophe Laporte who is back after a small break from racing. In this race, Cofidis have the best train and Bouhanni is the fastest sprinter. He is a great climber so he should be able to survive. We expect Bouhanni to win the race.

His biggest rival will be Kenny Dehaes who is back on track after a difficult few months. The Belgian has beaten Bouhanni twice in recent weeks: in a flat sprint on the final stage in Dunkirk and in the uphill sprint on the final stage in Picardie. He has lots of confidence and he has a solid team to support him. He will miss Danilo Napolitano so he doesn’t have a real train but if Wanty can position him well, he has the experience, speed and form to win this kind of sprint. He is a solid climber so he should find the hilly course to his liking.

Daniel McLay impressed the entire world with his great sprint at the GP de Denain where he came from far back to take a marvelous win. Last week he was close to beating Bouhanni on stage 2 in Picardie where he felt that he had the legs to win. He is definitely fast enough to win but he is usually not that good at positioning himself which makes him very inconsistent. Furthermore, the hilly course may not be in his favour. He needs a bit of luck to be in position to go for the win but if he manages to be there, he will be a danger man.

Direct Energie will be riding for Thomas Boudat who was second behind McLay in Denain. Positioning also makes him pretty inconsistent but he was in the top 10 in every sprint in Picardie. His form is definitely good and the tough course is not a disadvantage. If he can do a sprint like he did in Denain, he can win the race.

Rudy Barbier was sprinting really well at the start of the season but then had a dip in form. Now he is back at his best and he was very strong in Picardie. He prefers an uphill finish but should find the hilly course to his liking.

FDJ are here with two sprint options: Lorrenzo Manzin and Kevin Reza. Manzin is the fastest of the pair but may suffer on this hilly course. Reza is showing some good form and did well by taking third in the tough uphill sprint on the final stage in Picardie. He needs a tough race to excel but is usually not fast enough to win a flat sprint against the best sprinters in this race,

Baptiste Planckaert is a very consistent sprinter who is enjoying a bit of a breakthrough season. He has been the best rider in France this year and is still in good form as he was in the top 7 in every stage in Picardie. He likes this kind of hilly course and hopes for a very selective race. He is almost guaranteed to finish in the top 10 but he is probably not fast enough to beat the fastest riders in a flat sprint.

If the race becomes aggressive, there are a number of riders to keep an eye on, most notably Samuel Dumoulin who escaped on a late climb on a similar course to win La Roue Tourangelle. Defending champion Quentin Jauregui has also shown some good form as has Yoann Offredo, Leonardo Duque, Lilian Calmejane, Frederik Backaert, Dimitri Claeys, Gatean Bille, Alo Jakin, Romain Combaud, Flavien Dassonville, Sebastien Delfosse and Julien Duval.

In a sprint finish, it is also worth keeping an eye on Romain Feillu, Yannis Yssaad, Duque, Dumoulin and Marcel Meisen

***** Nacer Bouhanni

**** Kenny Dehaes, Daniel McLay

*** Thomas Boudat, Rudy Barbier, Lorrenzo Manzin, Baptiste Planckaert

** Samuel Dumoulin, Kevin Reza,, Marcel Meisen, Romain Feillu, Yannis Yssaad

* Quentin Jauregui, Yoann Offredo, Leonardo Duque, Lilian Calmejane, Frederik Backaert, Dimitri Claeys, Gatean Bille, Alo Jakin, Romain Combaud, Flavien Dassonville, Sebastien Delfosse, Julien Duval