While most of the cycling world have their eyes on Belgium, the Coupe de France series will continue on Friday at the Route Adelie Vitré where most of the best French riders will battle for important points for the prestigious overall title. Held on a hilly course, the aggressive race has been won both by strong sprinters and puncheurs and those riders are again expected to dominate in the 2016 edition of the race.

 

At this time of the year, it is all about cobbles and Belgian hellingen but while the Belgian riders and the world stars have their focus on the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the first week of April is just as important for many of the French riders. The Coup de France race series may not get much attention outside of France but for the local riders, it is a big goal to do well in the races that are part of the prestigious calendar.

 

After the early start in January at the GP Marseillaise and the races in Cholet and Loire-Atlantique two weekends ago, the series is back with a busy schedule of two races in three days. On Friday, the riders will tackle the Route Adelie Vitré and on Tuesday it is time for the semi-classic Paris-Camembert.

 

While the latter race has a long history, Route Adelie Vitré is a relatively new race that was organized in 1996 to replace the Tour a’Armorique. It has been held as a 1.1 race since the current ranking system was introduced in 2005 and has always been held in early April. In 2008, the organizers decided to withdraw from the Coupe de France but since 2012 it has been back on the calendar of the prestigious series.

 

Route Adelie Vitré is always held on the Friday before the Ronde van Vlaanderen but was a standalone event for many years. With the decision to move Paris-Camembert to the Sunday of De Ronde, the two races now combine to form a solid alternative for the local riders. With their hilly courses that can suit both puncheurs and strong sprinters, there is a great synergy between the two events that can be used to prepare for the Ardennes classics.

 

Route Adelié Vitre has been decided in both reduced bunch sprints on the uphill finishing straight or by attackers. Since 2010, Cyril Gautier has taken a solo win, Renaud Dion has won from a small breakaway, Roberto Ferrari and Alessandro Malaguti have had success with late attacks from small groups and Bryan Coquard and Romain Feillu have won sprints from reduced pelotons. Last year it was a bigger field than usual sprinting for the win and it was Feillu who beat Nacer Bouhanni and Timothy Dupont to take his biggest win for Bretagne

 

The course

Like many Coupe de France races, Route Adelie Vitré is a circuit race that uses two different circuits and the course is exactly the same as the one that was used in 2015. First the riders around the city of Vitré. First the riders will do six laps of a big 21.1km circuit on the northern outskirts that includes early climb of Cote de la Cheneliere and the late climb of Cote de Perouse just 3.7km from the uphill finishing straight. However, there aren’t many flat roads in the undulating terrain

 

The final part of the race consists of a 8 laps of a smaller 8.9km circuit that again includes the Cote de la Chesneliere after 3.8km. From there, the terrain is rolling until the riders descend to the bottom of the 300m finishing straight that is slightly uphill. It’s a technical finish with a 3 turns between the 3km and 2km to go marks and then there is another three turns inside the final kilometre before the riders hit the finishing straight.

 

The overall distance is 197.8km.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather

It’s April 1 and the start of the new month will be marked by great weather. Friday will be a day with great sunshine and a maximum temperature of 13 degrees. There will barely be any wind, with just a light breeze blowing from a southwesterly direction. This means that it will be a tailwind in the first part of both cricuits and a headwind in the final parts. In the final few kilometres, it will mainly be a cross-tailwind.

 

The favourites

As said, Route Adelie Vitré has been won by both sprinters and attackers. The hilly circuits are definitely not easy to control as there aren’t many flat sections. However, the race is not overly difficult and it is usually impossible for a strong team to bring things together for an uphill sprint to the line.

 

The last two editions have both been decided in sprints and in recent years the fast riders have generally had the upper hand. Much will depend on the weather conditions as it usually requires quite a bit of wind to split things. Furthermore, it depends on whether teams are going into the race with an eye on a sprint finish or attacks.

 

This year the weather will be absolutely splendid and neither rain nor wind will do anything to make things harder. That will make it much less selective. Furthermore, Direct Energie are bringing one of the strongest teams that will go all in with Bryan Coquard. They will be riding all day to make it a bunch sprint and that makes it much more likely that we will get a sprint in the end. As almost every team brings a relatively fast finisher, it will be relatively easy to find allies from teams that have missed the break so we will be surprised if it doesn’t come down to a sprint. Nonetheless, we will have the usual fast start as it is the case in all Coupe de France races and it won’t be easy to keep things under control in the early part. Direct Energie will have to be on their toes to make sure that the early break is neither too strong and not too big and we feel confident that they will be able to handle the situation.

 

With a sprint finish on the cards, Bryan Coquard is the obvious favourite. The Frenchman has just returned from injury but has surprised most by his excellent performances in both the Flemish races. He nearly won Dwars Door Vlaanderen and he was still there after the Taaienberg in E3 Harelbeke. He was up there again in Gent-Wevelgem even though the race became too hard in the end.

 

Tomorrow’s race will be a lot easier so there is no doubt that Coquard will be there in the end. He is by far the fastest rider here and he loves this kind of uphill finish. The main challenge will be the positioning as he doesn’t have his lead-out train here and this aspect has always been difficult for him. However, he has improved a lot and he can count on support from Tony Hurel and Angelo Tulik to set him up. It all comes down to whether he is in a reasonable position at the start of the sprint. If he is, no one is going to beat him.

 

His big rival will probably be Baptiste Planckaert. After a relatively slow start, the Belgian is finding his legs. He was second in both Paris-Troyes and Cholet-Pays de Loire, fourth in the uphill sprint at Nokere Koerse and last week he won the overall at the Tour de Normandie. He loves this kind of uphill sprint and is much better than Coquard when it comes to positioning. Of Coquard makes a few mistakes in the finale, Planckaert will be ready to strike.

 

Romain Feillu is the defending champion and goes into the race on the back of a third place in a similar uphill sprint on the opening stage of the Criterium International. The Frenchman is part of a strong Auber 93 team that has several fast riders who can put him into position. He is definitely not as fast as he once was but he is still one of the best French sprinters, especially in an uphill sprint like this. With Maxime Renault, Anthony Maldonado and David Menut to set him up, it’s not impossible for him to make it two in a row.

 

The sprint is also very good for Daniele Ratto. However, the Italian has had a slow start to his time at Androni and he has not been in great form until now. It remains to be seen whether he is getting better but on paper it’s a great race for him.

 

Lorrenzo Manzin is one of the best French sprinters and he will have full support from the FDJ team. They don’t have their best riders here but Manzin can count on the experience of Laurent Pichon and Sebastien Chavanel in the finale. After a difficult start, he found his legs at the end of the Volta a Catalunya where he sprinted to 10th in stage 6 and he has proved that he can win at this level.

 

Delko are here with Benjamin Giraud who is a perennial top 10 finisher in the French races. However, he is no longer sprinting with the same consistency as he once was. Yannis Yssaad is another solid candidate after he sprinted to third in Cholet but the uphill finish could be a bit too hard for him. The same goes for Brenton Jones who is very fast but much more of a pure sprinter.

 

Borut Bozic rarely gets a chance to sprint nowadays but he should be the protected Cofidis sprinter for this race. He likes this uphill finish but he probably lacks the speed to win. The same goes for Armindo Fonseca who will share sprinting duties with French champion Steven Tronet who excels in such sprints. However, he has been far from his best form. It’s also a great finish for Samuel Dumoulin but he is returning from illness and has shown no signs of form yet, meaning that Maxime Daniel could be the protected Ag2r sprinter.

 

For other fast riders, keep an eye on Maxime Renault, Anthony Maldonada, David Menut, Francesco Chicchi, Marco Benfatto, Yannick Martinez, Sebastian Molano and Alexis Bodiot.

 

Riders that have the potential to win from a breakaway include Cyril Gautier, Florian Vachon, Kevin Ledanois, Romain Hardy, Angelo Tulik and Loic Chetout.

 

***** Bryan Coquard

**** Baptiste Planckaert, Romain Feillu

*** Daniele Ratto, Lorrenzo Manzin, Benjamin Giraud

** Yanniss Yssaad, Brenton Jones, Borut Bozic, Armindo Fonseca, Steven Tronet, Samuel Dumoulin

* Maxime Daniel, Dylan Page, Cyril Gautier, Florian Vachon, Kevin Ledanois, Romain Hardy, Angelo Tulik, Loic Chetout