CyclingQuotes.com Demare takes it all in Picardie

Two weeks after winning the Four Days of Dunkirk overall, Arnaud Demare (FDJ) continued his dominant showing in the French stages races when he took the overall win in the Tour de Picardie. The Frenchman capped the race in style by winning the hard uphill sprint on the final day ahead of Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant-Shimano) and Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), with Sinkeldam and Bryan Coquard (Europcar) completing the overall podium.

Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr) hedged his bets at the start of today's stage in Cap'Aisnethis morning: "My main goal is to defend the yellow jersey and win the Tour de Picardie." Nonetheless, for the 22-year-old rising sprint star it was a question of honour to grab another stage at the top of a 500 m climb in Bray-sur-Somme.Démare beat Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant) and Gianni Meersman (OPQS) quite easily. The rider from Picardy took the general classification with 15″ on Sinkeldam and 21″ on Coquard, succeeding John Degenkolb (2012) and Marcel Kittel (2013) as the winner of the race. Philippe Gilbert finished fourth today but took home the best climber's jersey as consolation prize.

Gilbert leapfrogs Dumoulin

The sun once again greeted the 114 riders left in the Tour de Picardie on the charmingCap'Aisne nautical base in Chamouille, where the start was given at 12:10 pm. Things got frantic from the moment the flag went down, but Philippe Gilbert's BMC kept a tight leash on the race. The team's work paid off when Gilbert beat Tom Dumoulin to the top of the Côte de Cessières (km 26), grabbing four points which propelled the Belgian rider a single second ahead of the Dutchman in the final mountains classification.

An early birthday celebration for Reza

It took until km 50 for today's breakaway to emerge. Six riders joined Belgian RobinStenuit (Wallonie-Bruxelles) when he attacked: Steve Chainel (Ag2r), Wesley Kreder(Wanty), Gert Jõeäär (Cofidis), Victor Campenaerts (Topsport), Evaldas Siskevicius (LaPomme) and Kevin Reza (Europcar), who celebrated his 26th birthday in style. The seven men's margin on the peloton peaked at 3′35″ after 60 kilometres. Back in the field, yellow jersey Arnaud Démare put his FDJ.fr teammates to work and the gap started to fall.

Jõeäär fights until the bitter end

Seven riders became five when Chainel and Stenuit decided to drop back shortly after theRosières-en-Santerre feeding zone (km 103.5). The escapees went over the finish line in Bray-sur-Somme for the first time (km 118) with just 1′20″ left. Campenaerts launched a solo attack with 30 kilometres to go but was finally joined by Kreder and Jõeäär 8 kilometres later. With the peloton snapping at their heels, gutsy Estonian Jõeäär tried his luck alone 17 km before the line. The Cofidis rider fought valiantly but eventually lost his tug of war with the sprinters' teams with 5 km to go.

Démare lights the afterburners

The BMC team brought down the hammer at the front of the bunch to put leader Philippe Gilbert in the best possible position at the foot of the final climb but it was Arnaud Démarewho prevailed at the end of the last half kilometre uphill, opening enough of a gap to be able to savour his victory. It was déjà-vu as Ramon Sinkeldam finished as runner-up in a repeat of the previous stage. Philippe Gilbert lost to Gianni Meersman in the battle for third but took home the best climber's jersey as consolation prize.

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