Bryan Coquard (Europcar) finally brought his long victory drought to an end when he won today's round of the Coupe de France, the Route Adelié Vitré. The fast Frenchman survived the split that occurred on the tough finishing circuit and finally used his fast sprint to hold off Julien Simon (Cofidis) and Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne) in the final dash to the line.

Bryan Coquard got his season off to an excellent start when he used his great sprint and solid climbing skills to win two tough stages at the Etoile de Besseges in the beginning of February. Since then, however, it has been a case of near-misses for the fast Frenchman who failed to reach his goal of winning a Paris-Nice stage.

Today he finally found back to his winning ways when he won the hilly Route Adelié Vitré which is part of the season-long Coupe de France race series. The Frenchman again made use of a combination of climbing and sprinting skills to win the tough race.

His teammate Kevin Reza was one of a few riders to attack on the hilly finishing circuit and Coquard stayed aware when a big 20-rider group caught that move. Despite a hard chase from the La Pomme Marselle and Vini Fantini teams, the peloton never got back in contention and so it was all set to be decided among the leaders.

Being the fastest sprinter in the group, Coquard used his strong team to neutralize a dangerous attack from Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r) inside the final 2km and so it all came down to the scenario he had always been looking for: a sprint finish. With Manuel Belletti (Androni) being the other real sprinter in the group, Coquard was always the favourite to take the win and he didn't disappoint, holding off Julien Simon and Benoit Jarrier on the line.

The next round of the Coupe de France takes place on April 15 when the hilly Paris-Camembert is the 5th race in the series. Before that race, however, the French season continues with the short stage race Circuit Cycliste Sarthe which starts on Tuesday and runs for four days.

A hilly course

The 197.8km Route Adelié de Vitré started and finished in the city of Vitré and was a real circuit race. The race started with 6 laps of a hilly 21.2km circuit and ended with 8 laps of a shorter but equally hilly 8.9km circuit. The final one contained two smaller climbs that preceded the uphill finishing straight in Vitré.

In the past, the race had been won both from a sprint or from a breakaway and usually invites to aggressive and animated racing. Hence, it was no surprise that the start was very fast as several riders wanted to be part of the early aggression.

A first trio

The first riders to get a significant gap were Theo Vimpere (BigMat) and Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix) who managed to build up a 10-second advantage. Jonathan Dufrasne (Wallonie) bridged across to make it a three-rider group but at the 8km mark it was back together.

The next to give it a try were Sebastien Reichenbach (IAM), Nicolas Baldo (Vorarlberg) and Jimmy Turgis (Roubaix) and they were quickly joined by Alo Jakin (BigMat). At the 17km mark, however, it was over for the quartet, opening the door for Quentin Jauregui (Roubaix) and Morgan Kneisky (Raleigh) to give a go.

Cofidis are aggressive

The duo managed to build up a 12-second gap but Ag2r and BigMat had no intention of letting them get clear and so they were brought back. Guillaume Levarlet (Cofidis) made a short-lived attack before his teammate Christophe Laporte took off.

The young Frenchman was joined by Emanuelle Sella (Androni), Angelo Tulik (Europcar), and Jose Goncalves (La Pomme Marseille) and this looked like a promising move when they had built up a 30-second gap. Dufrasne took off in pursuit when the break seemed to be the rights one but again the peloton upped the speed and neutralized it all after 35km of racing.

The break is formed

Julien El Fares (La Pomme Marseille) was the next to try and as he made up a solo break, the peloton seemed to content with the situation. In just 4km, the gap grew to one minute and it seemed the right move had gone clear.

Johan Coenen (Differdange) took off in pursuit while the peloton took a natural break after the fast start to the race. When it became clear to El Fares that he had escaped the peloton's clutches, he decided to wait for his chasers and a front duo had formed after 58km of racing.

El Fares waits

The gap reached 3.30 minutes but when El Fares slowed down, it dropped to 2.35. However, the peloton was still not chasing and so the gap went back up to 3.30.

Ag2r started to control the situation with Maxime Daniel doing a lot of work. He kept the gap stable at around 3.30 for a long time.

The chase gets momentum

With 100km to go, Europcar started to show their intentions when Romain Guillemois joined Daniel on the front but it didn't have an awful lot of effect. In fact, the gap reached a maximum of 4 minutes with 71km to go when the peloton finally decided to up the pace as they had now started their 8 laps of the finishing circuit.

Under the impetus of the Bretagne team, the gap started to drop quickly. With 63km to go, it wasalready down to 1.25 and this prompted a few riders to try to bridge across.

The break is caught

They didn't any success as the peloton was now single file. An unfortunate crash brought down Gustav Larsson and Reto Hollenstein and a little later - 57km from the finish - the front duo were caught.

This opened the door for new attacks and the first to try was Antoine Lavieu (La Pomme Marseill) who opened a 15-second gap. In the peloton, Yoann Bagot was riding hard for Cofidis and despite a few attempt to bridge across, it was all neutralized a little later.

The decisive move

The decisive action happened 44km from the finish when Reza and Reichenbach attacked. They were joined by Bagot and Pierre Gouault (BigMat) and the quartet built up a 15-second gap over the peloton which was now splintering to pieces.

One of the next riders to get across was Coquard as an 8-rider group was formed and they were soon joined by another 21 riders to make it a very big 29-rider group. With 35km to go, they were 35 seconds ahead of the peloton that had not given up and brought it down to 15 seconds.

Dumoulin gets across

Dumoulin used the smaller distance to bridge across. The gap went back up to 24 seconds but La Pomme Marseille started to chase, bringing it down to just 10 seconds. Julie Simon (Cofidis) was the next to use the shorter distance to bridge across as the gap again started to open up, with La Pomme Marseille losing the battle.

The front group was made up of Anthony Geslin, Francis Mourey (FDJ.fr), Manuel Belletti (Androni), Julien Bérard, Samuel Dumoulin, Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Jonathan Fumeaux, Sébastien Reichenbach (Iam Cycling), Yukiya Arashiro, Bryan Coquard, Kevin Reza, Angelo Tulik, Perrig Quemeneur (Team Europcar), Christophe Laborie, Benoit Jarrier, Clément Koretzky, Pierre-Luc Périchon (Bretagne Séché Environnement), Yoann Bagot, Julien Simon, Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis), Nicolas Baldo (Team Vorarlberg), Stéphane Rossetto (BigMat-Auber 93), Lukasz Wisniowski (Etixx), Julien Duval, Jimmy Turgis (Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Matthieu Boulo (Team Raleigh), Julien Antomarchi (Team La Pomme Marseille 13) and Sébastien Delfosse (Wallonie Bruxelles) and it was a close battle between the two groups all the way to the line. When they started the final lap, however, the front group had built it up to 50 seconds and it seemed that the main group led by Vini Fantini was losing the battle.

Dumoulin with a dangerous move

Antomarchi was the first to attack from the front group but as he failed to get clear, it was instead Dumoulin who gave it a go. The reigning Coupe de France winner put in a promising move and was still clear when 2km remained.

With 5 Europcar riders in the group, however, the was up against too much power and he ended up losing the battle. Instead, it all came down to a sprint where Coquard paid back his teammates for their excellent work.