Arnaud Demare took his third win in two weeks when he won today's first stage of the Tour de l'Eurometropole. With three more sprint stages in the race, the Frenchman is now targeting the overall victory.

After a disappointing Tour de France, Arnaud Demare has done nothing to hide that he wants to win Paris-Tours where he finished third 12 months ago. In September, he has returned to form ahead of his big goal with wins in the one-day races Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen and GP d’Isbergues.

Today Demare again underlined his excellent condition when he emerged as the strongest in the uphill sprint on stage 1 of Tour de l’Eurometropole. After his FDJ team had helped control things in the finale, the Frenchman held off Adrien Petit and Jens Keukeleire in the final dash to the line.

"Of course it's good result," he told Directvelo. "Although I was not very confident at first, it went well for me. There was a beautiful false flat as I like it. I had the place to express myself. I lost my lead-out men in the final kilometre, but I did not panic. I stayed where I was. Later I had to be careful not to get boxed in and keep the momentum.

"It is pretty special. I had already done this finish in 2012 in the Three days of West Flanders so I knew how to do it. I launched from afar, but there was already a Lotto rider (Jonas Vangenechten, ed.) and Adrien Petit who were a few meters ahead. I got them back 50 meters from the line, and I knew that I had it. 

"I'm happy and little surprised. I had a little trouble recovering from my first Tour de France. I'm glad to win three times in three weeks. For sure it's good, it's a good end of season. My priority was to take a victory here. It's done, now everything else is a bonus. The goal now is to have fun. I will also try to win other stages, so obviously I'll go for the GC. I know that the last day will be very difficult so I prefer not to get carried away. I feel tired so every victory will make me happy. 

"Démare 1st and Petit 2nd. It is true that it brings back memories [from the 2011 U23 Worlds]. I just passed Adrien on the line. We remain opponents even if we are friends off the bike. Today, during the race, we chatted, but in the finale, we are rivals. It's part of the game."