Currently training with all of the FDJ team, Arnaud Démare has announced his program for the 2017 season

This time there will be no exotic race for the French sprinter who was accustomed to start at the Tour of Qatar. He already broke this habit in 2016 where he started at the Etoile de Bessèges as he will do in 2017. He will then replace La Méditerranéenne by the Volta ao Algarve which has a more mountainous course. This is the only significant change in the early season. He will then head to his first goals, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne, Paris-Nice and of course the defense of his title at Milan-San Remo.

The real noticeable difference in the classics season is the choice of Dwars door Vlaanderen instead of Grand Prix E3 Harelbeke, a classic that he had never done. In 2016, it was his debut in Harelbeke, having become accustomed to go directly to Gent-Wevelgem after Milan-San Remo. Dwars door Vlaanderen is on Wednesday while the E3 is ​​on Friday and it will give hime three days of recovery before Gent-Wevelgem. After the sprint race to Wevelgem, Démare will then go to the Tour of Flanders and then make a start at Scheldeprijs which he has not done since 2014 and where he has never really had any success. After that, he will naturally go to Paris-Roubaix. Maybe he will do Grand Prix de Denain and Tro Bro Léon in the following week.

He will take a break before making a return at the 4 Days of Dunkirk - Tour des Hauts de France, which is dear to him and which he won in 2013 and 2014. Then it is time to prepare for the Tour de France, where he will be back after a year during which he did the Giro.  Démare to go to Italy as the team was built around Thibaut Pinot in the Tour de France. In 2017 it will be the reverse: Pinot will focus on the GC at the Giro and stages at the Tour while Arnaud Démare will have a train to support him in July. 

Schedule:

- Etoile de Bessèges (February 1 to 5) 
- Volta ao Algarve (February 15 to 19) 
- Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (February 25) 
- Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (February 26)  
- Paris-Nice (March 5 to March 12) 
- Milan-San Remo (March 18)  
- Dwars Door Vlaanderen (March 22) 
- Gent Wevelgem (March 26) 
- Tour of Flander (April 2)  
- Scheldeprijs (April 5) 
- Paris-Roubaix (April 9) 
- Grand Prix de Denain (April 13) - TBC 
- Tro Bro Léon (April 17) - TBC
       - Break - 
- 4 Days of Dunkirk - Tour des Hauts of France (May 9-14) 
- Criterium du Dauphiné or Tour de Suisse  
- French Championships in Saint-Omer (June 25) 
- Tour de France (July 1-23)