Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr) continued his impressive run of success in 2013 when he won the inauguaral RideLondon Classic yesterday. Having had bad sensations all day, he asked his team to ride aggressively but when it all came down to a bunch sprint, he still had enough left in the tank to deny Sacha Modolo (Bardiani) and Yannick Martinez (La Pomme Marseille) on the line.

Arnaud Demare had an outstanding debut season as a professional last year when he his win in the Vattenfall Cyclassics was just one of 6 victories and this year he hasn't slowed down at all. Having already won a stage in the Tour de Suisse and completely dominated the 4 Jours de Dunkerque, he kicked off the second half of his season in perfect fashion with a win in yesterday's RideLondon Classic which was held on much of the course for last year's Olympic road race.

Demare had been marked out as one of the pre-race favourites but his team appeared to lack faith in their young sprinter when they launched numerous attacks during the race. Dominique Rollin was part of the day's early move while Yoann Offredo later bridged across before taking off with Zico Waeytens (Topsport Vlaanderen) in his wheel.

Offredo was caught with 5,7km to go and did an outstanding job to hold off the peloton for a very long time. However, the aggressive showing had been ordered by Demare himself who was not feeling good in the early part of the race.

"Yoann came to tell me that Arnaud Démare was not feeling well, sports director Martial Gayant said. "So he made �€‹�€‹his race. He attacked 50 kilometers from the finish. 35 kilometers from the line he accelerated again and only Waeytens could respond. Yoyo was impressive and has the legs to win in the near future!"

With Offredo off the front, Mickael Delage and Geoffrey Soupe were allowed to save themselves for the lead-out and when the peloton passed the flamme rouge, the two Frenchmen took control. They delivered Demare perfectly to the line and no one had the power to come around the fast Frenchman.

"The riders from team FDJ.fr were perfect," Gayant saud. "We are all very pleased with the result and a new winning performance from Arnaud."

Demare himself was equally delighted.

"We were not sure it would end in a sprint which is why we put riders in the break," he said. "Dominique (Rollin, ed.) and Yoann (Offredo, ed.) were brilliant and finally Micka (Michael Delage, ed.)  and Geoffrey (Soupe, ed.) have done an outstanding job to deliver me 200 meters from the line. It's beautiful!"

Demare will now target the Eneco Tour which starts August 12 and usually offers plenty of opportunities for the sprinters. He will be joined by Offredo, Delage and Matthieu Ladagnous in the race which should provide him with plenty of support in the bunch kicks.