After Arnaud Demare and Nacer Bouhanni were selected to lead France at the Worlds, Direct Energie star Bryan Coquard has been left wondering what else he could have done to make the team.

“It’s a huge disappointment, but it is what it is,” Coquard told L’Equipe today .“Choices had to be made. He [selector Bernard Bourreau] called me and justified it with the fact that Cofidis and FDJ had, in his view, more experience than Direct Energie in the Classics and the Tour of Qatar. I’ve never ridden in Qatar and that certainly counted against me.”

Coquard has won 11 races in 2016, while Bouhanni has 9 and Demare 4. Once his GC successes in Dunkirk and Boucles de la Mayenne are counted, he has as many wins as the duo put together.

Coquard, who rode a good Tour de France, really wonders what he could have done to get selected.

“I did the whole start of the season at full gas, despite having broken my shoulder blade. I was solid in the Classics, I was in the first split at Gent-Wevelgem, I won lots of races – what more could I have done? I maybe should have got back out their sooner in order to win at the Tour du Poitou-Charentres but after the Tour de France I preferred to have a break to then reach the Worlds in top form. It’s a pain in the arse because it’s all I’ve been thinking about since the Tour.”