After disappointing performances in his recent races, Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix9 was back at his best level with a fifth place in the Tour du Doubs.

"I am reassured as I felt good today," he told Directvelo. "The circuit was hard. Initially, we focused on Baptiste Planckaert as part of the Coupe de France. There were lots of breakaways early in the race. At one point, Baptiste told me to take my chance. Initially, I was not working as I had to protect him. Then when we had more than three minutes, I took my turns because I had no reason to stay in the wheels. 

"I have not been very good in August, at the Tour du Limousin and Tour du Poitou-Charentes. So I was a bit in the unknown. Now I want to finish the year well. I will do the Grand Prix de Wallonie, which I already did as a stagiaire. At the end of the season, I will do Paris-Tours. We always say that it is a race for sprinters, but there are still some climbs in the finale. Moreover, it is a very long race, which does not displease me."