Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) stamped his authority on the French sprinting scene when he won today's GP Denain with a very convincing sprint in the race known as the French sprint championships. The Frenchman was delivered perfectly to the line by lead-out man Sebastien Chavanel and had a gap of almost two bike lengths to Matteo Pelucchi (IAM) who narrowly held off Francesco Chicchi (Neri Sottoli) in the distant battle for 2nd.

 

One year ago Arnaud Demare won the GP Denain, the race known as the French sprint championships, while Nacer Bouhanni had to settle for third behind his teammate. With the internal rivalry between the two promising French sprinters growing, Bouhanni got a very important victory today when he added the 2014 edition of the French race to his palmares.

 

With the defending champion just having ended a hard classics season, Demare was absent from the race and so it was left to Bouhanni to defend FDJ's title at the race. The former French champion did so in a very convincing fashion by proving that he is just as fast as his teammate.

 

Bouhanni and FDJ played it wisely as they left most of the early chase work to the Europcar team of his biggest rival, Bryan Coquard, while they saved their energy from the final sprint. That proved to be a wise decision as several teams had plenty of horsepower in the end, making the final kilometres a big battle for position.

 

Geoffrey Soupe moved Sebastien Chavenel and Bouhanni into position on the right-hand side of the road and inside the final kilometre, Chavanel did a perfect lead-out. The 2007 winner of the race went head-to-head with Roger Kluge who tried to lead out his IAM teammate Matteo Pelucchi and two of the main favourites could start their sprint from the front positions.

 

When Bouhanni put down the hammer, the outcome was never in doubt though. Kenny Van Hummel (Androni) had been perfectly positioned on the wheel of the FDJ sprinter but he had no chance to just keep up with the fast Frenchman who took a very convincing win with a margin of two bike lengths.

 

Pelucchi did a strong sprint to take 2nd while Francesco Chicchi came fast from behind to pass Van Hummel and deny the Androni sprinter the final spot on the podium. For Coquard, it was a day to forget as he failed to pay back his teammates for a day of hard work when he lost the wheel of teammate Jimmy Engoulvent and finished outside the top 10.

 

With none of his major rivals scoring any points, however, Coquard had the consolation of defending his overall lead in the Coupe de France series. However, his lead may come under threat in the weekend when the next two rounds, the Tour du Finistere and Tro-Bro Leon, take place as Coquard will be absent due to his participation in the Ardennes classics.

 

A flat course

The GP Denain is often referred to as the unofficial French sprint championships and it is no wonder that the race often ends in a big bunch sprint. With a distance of 197.3km, the course consisted of three different circuits around the city of Denain. At 91.8km, the first one was the biggest and it contained four smaller climbs in the first half. The second circuit was 46.7km long and contained a single climb while the race ended with three laps of a flat 20.3km circuit.

 

The race took off in nice weather conditions but pre-race favourite Nacer Bouhanni was dealt a blow before it had even started. David Boucher had fallen ill overnight and was unable to take the start, leaving Bouhanni without a key domestique for the first part of the race.

 

The early group is caught

The race may be seen as one for the sprinters but Coupe de France races are always very aggressive and it was no surprise to see many of the continental teams try to animate the race. Early on a 3-rider group escaped when Loic Pestiaux (Wallonie), Yoann Paillot (Marseille), and Mirko Tedeschi (Neri Sottoli) took off and they stayed away for a quite a bit of time without getting a real gap.

 

Pestiaux beat Paillot and Tedeschi in the first KOM sprint at the 18km mark but shortly after, the trio was caught. On the next climb, Clement Saint Martin (Marseille) beat Franco Pellizotti (Androni) and Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) as the attacking continued but at this point no one managed to get clear.

 

The break is formed

A six-rider group opened a promising gap but before the riders could be identified, they were also brought back. After 22km of racing, things were still together but shortly after, the elastic snapped.

 

Frederik Beckaert (Wanty), Giorgio Checchinel (Neri Sottoli), Antonio Parinello (Androni), Jonahan Dufrasne (both Wallonie) and Pierre-Luc Perichon (Bretagne) managed to get a gap while Thomas Rostollan (Marseille) took off in pursuit. When Parinello beat Dufrasne and Perichon in the first sprint, the chaser was 15 seconds behind while the peloton was at 45 seconds.

 

Rostollan bridges across

Rostollan lost ground for little while and at one point he found himself 35 seconds back. However, he made a great effort to overcome his deficit and finally made the junction while the peloton was content to let the gap grow.

 

Roubaix set the early pace but the gap reached 7 minutes before Cofidis started to chase, bringing it down to around four minutes. They were joined by Europcar and FDJ and the three French teams kept the gap stable at around four minutes for some time while Clement Venturini, Louis Verhelst (both Cofidis), Morgan Lamoission (Europcar), and Arnaud Courteille (FDJ) swapped turns on the front.

 

Cofidis try to attack in the crosswinds

As the gap started to come further down with 90km to go, the escapees started to ride a bit harder to stabilize it around 3.30. However, things got interesting with 74km to go when the Cofidis team tried to the peloton in the crosswinds.

 

While four Cofidis riders and Steve Chainel (Ag2r) rode hard on the front - the latter even making a small unsuccessful attack - several riders fell off the pace. Bouhanni and FDJ had been placed far back in the group but they made the selection and started to move up.

 

The gap comes down

When Cofidis stopped their effort, Ag2r and Europcar continued for a short while. When the former also ended their attack, Cofidis went back to work to give it another try.

 

Bouhanni had now moved to front and he moved up alongside the Cofidis riders to show that he was still there.  As they reached the city of Denain to start their first lap of the finishing circuit, the French team again stopped their attack and instead Davide Malacarne hit the front to set a steady pace for Europcar.

 

MTN give it a go

At the passage of the line, the gap was 1.25 as Malacarne and Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis) were now leading the chase. Just as they exited the city, however, MTN-Qhubeka tried to attack in the crosswinds, with Linus Gerdemann and Ignatas Konovalovas riding hard on the front.

 

When the peloton took a turn into a headwind, the South Africans stopped their attack and instead Europcar took over the pace-setting with Lamoisson and Malacarne. The gap was now down to just 50 seconds and so the attacks had started in the front group which was split in two, with Cecchinel, Parrinello and Dufrasne taking off.

 

The chasers are caught

Cecchinel fell off the pace and rejoined the chasers while the slow riding in the peloton allowed the gap to get back up to two minutes. As they passed the line to start the second lap, all chasers except Backaert were caught and the Belgian was brought back just a few moments later.

 

Europcar continued their steady pace-setting as everybody had now realized that the wind was not strong enough to split things. They started to bring down the gap while Dufrasne beat Parrinello in the intermediate sprint 34km from the finish.

 

Europcar lead the chase

With 31km to go, Roubaix started to chase with two riders and they quickly brought the gap down to a minute. They started to get some assistance from Europcar and Katusha, with Ignatyev doing the work for the Russian team.

 

When the riders passed the finish line to start the final lap, the gap was down to just 20 seconds and all the work was now again left to Europcar. Yukiya Arashiro and Yohann Gene did a lot of work at this point and as they briefly got some assistance from an IAM rider, they caught the escapees 19km from the line.

 

IAM join Europcar

IAM and Europcar continued to set the pace until Jerome Gilbert took a big turn for Wanty. A he swung off, it was again an impressive Arashiro and an equally impressive Gene who led the peloton while the battle for position had now ramped up.

 

IAM and Europcar took turns at leading the peloton until FDJ finally showed their intentions 7km from the finish. While Bouhanni was well-placed a little further back Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier and Laurent Magel eld the peloton for a little while until Ag2r took over.

 

A fierce sprint

Just as it appeared as though Europcar had disappeared for good, Arashiro and Gene got back on the front to lead the peloton all the way to the three kilometres mark. That's when Sebastien Turgot took over with his Ag2r sprinter Yauheni Hutarovich on his wheel.

 

All seemed to be perfect for Europcar with 1.5km to go when Yannick Martinez hit the front with Jimmy Engooulvent on his wheel but the train had lost its third and most important link as Coquard was nowhere to be seen. Unaware of the position of their sprinter, the team led the peloton under the flamme rouge where Engoulvent did a huge effort.

 

Finally, he was passed by Chavanel and Kluge who went head-to-head, both producing a splendid lead-out. It came down to a battle between their sprinters Bouhanni and Pelucchi, with the former taking a very