After a very poor performance in Saturday's Classic Sud-Ardeche, Cofidis bounced back in the Drome Classic when they had two of their climbers in the group that battled for victory. In the end, Rudy Molard was 6th and Yoann Bagot took 11th.

"Fortunately, Romain Bardet sacrificed himself for Samuel Dumoulin so that we coul return to the group of five," Molard said. "At the bottom of the last climb, Dumoulin made an attack. He rejoined them immediately. I was suffering a bit and only gack at the top. Then I did the descent. Two guys missed a turn and I could never get back. I finished 6th, it's good for me and the team. If I had been placed in the wheel of Samuel Dumoulin, things might have been different. He  would have dropped me because he was the strongest, but I would have been better positioned at the top and I would have attacked the descent from a good place.

"The sensations are good. Yesterday, I was going well. I was a little late in my preparation, but I see that I am stronger than last year. Now I have three weeks without competition. I will try to rest well, understand the first block and then be good in the Tour of Catalonia. I finished second in a stage last year andif I can win this year, it would not be bad. 

"I have gained confidence on the bike as I had lost a bit of it after several crashes last year. We have good equipment. Even in the rain today, I felt at ease. I was part of the action. I have my mind on the Ardennes where I did well last year (18th in the Fleche Wallonne, 16th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège). I wll try to repeat that. It is a goal."

"Yesterday we did a bad race as a team," Bagot told Directvelo.  "We had no one in front and we were not able to attack at the right time. Today we wanted to do better. We were two in the final, with Rudy. I tried to do the best to put him in a position to win. He is sixth and didn't miss much. I finished 11th. We always want to do better. 

"I finished 10th in the Tour du Haut Var last week. It was not an exceptional performance but at least I'm there. I have not made ​​too many results in the early part of the season since I turned pro. It's better than usual. I'll do the Tour of Catalonia so I have 2-3 weeks to get ready."