Arnaud Demare (FDJ) took his first victory of the season by holding off Bryan Coquard (Europcar) and his teammate Nacer Bouhanni in the final bunch kick of today's French sprint classic GP de Denain. After the first battle of the year between the talented crop of young French sprinters, the former U23 world champion was happy to see several young fast men from his country develop into world class bunch kick experts.

After several years of struggles, France is back at cycling's top with a number of young talented riders coming through the ranks. While climbers Pierre Rolland and Thibaut Pinot have both shown their potential with stage wins and overall top 10 results in the Tour de France, Arnaud Demare, Bryan Coquard and Nacer Bouhanni have been able to challenge the best sprinters in the world.

Bouhanni and Coquard had gone head to head in last week's Circuit de la Sarthe and the one-day race Val d'Ille Classic but for the first time this year all three of the country's young sprint talents were gathered on the same start line in today's GP de Denain. The race ended up in the expected battle between the three fast men and they did not disappoint by making a clean sweep of the podium.

In the end, former U23 world champion Demare beat his two rivals to take his first victory of the season after a number of near-misses.

"FDJ did a good race by controlling the breakaway," Demare explained. "Europcar set a hard tempo in the final kilometres. We found ourselves in a bad situation for the sprint and the prospects were not good but William Bonnet brought me into a perfect position. Bryan (Coquard, ed.) started really fast but I was able to pass him on the line. It is a great satsifaction."

Demare only sees the rivalry between the crop of young French sprinters as a means to further improvement of their capabilities.

"There has always been good sprinters in France, but it is true that we are a young and beautiful generation. It is better for us. Our high level and internal rivalry will move us forward. It has a positive effect which should benefir Bryan, Nacer and me when we rub shoulders with the best in the world."

No designated leader

Demare and Bouhanni are teammates and today's race was the first in which they lined up together. To avoid any dissatisfaction in the camp, the team chose not appoint a designated leader. Instead, Demare could do his own sprint with the help from his usual lead-out men Mickael Delage and William Bonnet while Geoffrey Soupe was on hand to help Bouhanni.

"We have not favoured one over the other," sports director Frank Pineau said halfway through the race. "It would not be correct. Both have their usual lead-out men in the race. I have no doubt that it will be alright!"

Arnaud Courteille and Dominique Rollin took care of the early pace-setting to catch the day's break but in the end the sprinters did not get the expected help from their lead-out men. Delage was taken out of contention by a crash while Soupe was boxed in and not able to provide any assistance for Bouhanni.

Hard classics campaign

Demare has just finished his first big cobbled classics campaign and he made a very strong impression. He was only beaten by Andre Greipel in the sprint for 11th in Gent-Wevelgem and he was just meters from cresting the summit of the Paterberg with the group sprinting for fourth in the Tour of Flanders. Last Sunday, he managed to finish his first Paris-Roubaix after chasing all day to get back after an early puncture.

Even though he failed to produce a top result, he exceeded his own expectations in the biggest classics and he hopes to be able to be a main protagonist in the years to come.

" I had a program with a lot of difficult races in which it was not easy to win," he said. "And when I was in a position to win, I did not have any luck. Today I still felt the fatigue of Paris-Roubaix and this victory makes me really happy.  I am only in my second year as a professional and I did the Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-San Remo, the Flemish races and Roubaix while I only participated in Gent-Wevelgem last year. It was a necessary experience for the future and I expect to get results in two or three years.  I think the cobbled classics really suit me. I learned a lot during this campaign but it is important to keep both feet on the ground. In Denain, I did my fourth sprint of the season and until now I have not been successful. This is why I am very happy to have won.

With a hard classics campaign now behind him, it is time for a well-deserved rest.

"Now I won't touch my bike for six days and then I will return to competition in the 4 Jours de Dunkerque which is a nice race to rediscover the race rhythm. Then I will race the Tour de Picardie on roads I know very well."

Demare's victory was the 4th for FDJ in a very successful month of April for the French team.