After yesterday’s big disappointment, Bryan Coquard (Europcar) got an important confidence boost for the Tour de France when he powered clear to take a hugely dominant sprint win on the uphill finishing straight on stage 2 of the Route du Sud. The Frenchman easily passed Quentin Jauregui (Ag2r) who had hit out early, to take the victory while Steven Tronet (Auber 93) finished just outside the top 10 and so defended his overall lead.

On paper Bryan Coquard is the star sprinter in the Route du Sud whose parcours gives plenty of room for his type of riders. With a flat sprint on the final day and two uphill sprints in the first two stages, Coquard has a great chance to boost his confidence as he finalizes his preparations for his second Tour de France.

However, yesterday’s opening stage ended as a huge disappointment for Coquard. After his Europcar team had worked immensely hard all day, he came up short in the tough uphill sprint. With Leopnardo Duque (Colombia) hitting out early, he burnt his matches too early and rolled across the line in 16th while Steven Tronet powered clear to the win.

Today he was determined to make up for the disappointment and this time he made no mistake. Being well-positioned and staying calm in the hectic finale, he timed his acceleration perfectly on the uphill finishing straight and took a hugely dominant win that gave him plenty of time to celebrate the victory.

"I'm happy for my teammates," he told Directvelo. "It's been two very have days. They trusted me even though I missed out yesterday. They worked even harder today. We found our automation with Angelo Tulik and Yohan Gene who lead me out in a great way. I missed a win in the beginning of the season. It's always fun to raise the arms even though I know there are no big sprinters here. I had not won since the 4 Jours de Dunkerque. It's good for the confidence. The rest of the race will be a bonus. Tomorrow I will hang on as long as possible to try to do a big climb because I have not done so since the Tour of Catalonia. "