Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r) continued what has been one of the best seasons of his long career by claiming a fantastic win in the mountainous Tour du Doubs. He made it into a 7-rider group on the final climb and after strong support from Domenico Pozzovivo he beat Baptiste Planckaert (Wallonie) and Thibault Ferasse (Armee) in the sprint to take the win and increase his lead in the Coupe de France series.

At the start of the 2016 season, Samuel Dumoulin planned to make it his final year in the pro peloton. An illness-marred start to the year did not enhance his desire to continue but when he finally started to show some form in early April, things changed in dramatic fashion.

After three top 4 results in Coupe de France races, Dumoulin took his first win at La Roue Tourangelle in April, another race in the French series. One month later, he took a memorable double in the Breton weekend with the GP de Plumelec and Boucles de l’Aulne to firmly take the lead in the series and after a fantastic ride at Nationals, he was even selected for another Tour de France.

His fantastic summer made him change his mind and he signed a new two-year contract with Ag2r. Today he proved that there is no reason to stop his career as he took his fourth Coupe de France win at the mountainous Tour de Doubs, a race which many would have regarded as being too hard for the crafty Frenchman.

The 30th edition of the Tour du Doubs was held on a 182.8km course between Les Fins and Portarlier. After a relatively flat start, the riders hit the first climb after 40km of racing before they went up the steeper La Montagne de la Chaux at the 79km mark. A long descent then led to the third climb which came at the 116km mark before a long gradual uphill section ked to the first passage of the line. The race ended with one lap of a 46km circuit on the southern outskirts of Portalier. It was mostly flat but it has a nasty sting in its tail as there was a category 1 climb in the finale. The top came with just 7.5km to go and then it was a downhill run all the way to the line.

It was a fantastic sunny day in Southern France when the peloton gathered for the start of the hilly Coupe de France race. Colin Stüssi (Roth) was the only non-starter as they rolled through the neutral zone.

Surprisingly, the start was quiet but after 1km, Dorian Godon (France) launched the first attack. He never got more of an advantage though and things were still together at the 6km mark.

Benedict Cosnefroy (France), Marc Fournier (FDJ); Dylan Kowalski (Roubaix Lille Métropole) and Tristan Marguet (Team Roth) managed to get an advantage of 40 seconds but as Delko had missed the move, they started to chase hard. For a long time, the gap stayed at around 30 seconds while they tackled a long descending section. Fournier beat Kowalski and Cosnefroy in the first intermediate sprint but before they hit the first climb, the gap started to come down.

Ag2r took control and when the gap was sufficiently small, they sent Guillaume Bonnafond across to the group. However, the gap was very small and as they tackled the first climb after 34km of racing, the hard pace forced Marguet to surrender. Fournier was also left behind and suddenly only Cosnefroy was left.

One kilometre from the top, everything was back together and so Nicolas Baldo (Roth) could make a small attack to win the KOM sprint ahead of Sebastien Reichenbach (FDJ) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r). Only around 30 riders had made the selection but at the 47km mark, a big second back made it back to the main group.

Pozzovivo and Julien Duval (Armee) made a failed attack after a fast first hour during which 45.6km had been covered. The attacking continued but as they reached the intermediate sprint at the 63km mark, no one had gone clear. Remy Rochas (Ag2r) beat Mikel Bizkarra (Euskadi) and Romain Combaud (Delko) in the battle for the points.

The attacking continued and it was 26-rider group that managed to build a 10-second advantage just before they hit the second climb after 75km of racing. However, FDJ soon brought them back and then set a furious pace on the climb. Their work created a big selection and only 27 riders were left as they crested the summit with a 30-second advantage over a second bunch.

Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortunéo - Vital Concept), Elie Gesbert (Fortunéo - Vital Concept), Anthony Delaplace (Fortunéo - Vital Concept), Hubert Dupont (Ag2r La Mondiale), Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r La Mondiale), Guillaume Levarlet (HP BTP-Auber 93), Theo Vimpère (HP BTP-Auber 93), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Arnold Jeannesson (Cofidis), Delio Fernandez (Delko-marseille-Provence), Rémy Di Gregorio (Delko-Marseille-Provence), Julien El Fares (Delko-Marseille-Provence), Quentin Pacher (Delko-Marseille-Provence), Sofiane Merignat (Delko-Marseille-Provence), Benedict Cosnefroy (France), David Gaudu (FDJ), Sébastien Reichenbach (Fdj), Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix Lille Metropole), Pablo Torres Muino (Burgos), David Belda Garcia (Team Roth), Roland Thalmann (Team Roth), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskadi Basque Country-murias), Thomas Deruette (WalloniE), Tom Dernies (Wallonie), Baptiste Planckaert (Walloni - Brussels), Thibault Ferasse (Armee), Benjamin Thomas (Armee) and Julien Duval (Army) had made the selection. A strong descent allowed Jonathan Hivert (Fortuneo), Alo Jakin (Auber 93), Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r), Mathias Le Turnier (Cofidis) and Thomas Baubourzeix (Delko) to bridge the gap to make it 33 riders in the lead.

Francis Mourey (Fortunéo - Vital Concept), Romain Feillu (HP BTP-Auber 93), Flavien Dassonville (HP BTP-Auber 93), Rayane Bouhanni (Cofidis), Julien Simon (Cofidis), Romain Combaud (Delko), Thomas BOUDAT (Direct Energie), Valentin Madouas (France), Damien Touze (France) and Jimmy Raibaud (Armee) also tried to make it across when the gap had gone out to a minute. They got to within 35 seconds when they hit the next climb where Feillu was dropped. At this point, the peloton was at 1.50.

Simon, Dassonville and Madouas droped their companions before Le Turnier dropped back from the front group to wait for the former. The stagiiaire did a fantastic job to set the pace and when he swung off, the trio bridged the final bit of the gap. Belda, Di Gregorio had been dropped but the Spaniard latched onto the trio and so made it back. The rest of the chasers were caught by the peloton which was now 3 minutes behind.

With 45km to go, Jakin and Duval attacked and they soon got an advantage of 20 seconds while FDJ and Delko led the chase. Nonetheless, they managed to push the gap out to 55 seconds as they hit the final 30km where the peloton was 2.30 behind.

When the gap had gone out to a minute, Dassonville took off in pursuit before Jakin dropped Duval. Dassonville was joined by Gesbert, Levarlet, El Fares and Reichenbach and they were just 40 seconds behind the lone Estonian when they hit the final 15km.

The chasers and Duval were all caught as they approached the final climb. Thomas then made a move and at the bottom of the ascent, he was just 10 seconds behind while the big group was at 25 seconds and the peloton at 2.25.

Thomas passed Jakin the lower slopes while Gaudu and Reichenbach attacked from the peloton. Pozzovivo followed and together with Reichenbach, he left Gaudu behind. The duo sprinted past Thomas and approached the top with a 10-second advantage. In the peloton , Sepulveda was chasing hard and only Dumoulin, Edet, Planckaert and Ferasse could follow.

The chasers made the junction just before the top and the Ferasse made a move to crest the summit with a small advantage. However, he was brought back on the descent where the seven leaders had an advantage of 20 seconds.

Pozzovivo sacrificed himself for Dumoulin and that made the difference. At the flamme rouge, the gap was still 11 seconds and that was enough for the seven riders to decide the race in a sprint. Here Dumoulin beat Planckaert and Ferasse before Thalmann led the chasers to the finish 29 seconds later.

With the win, Dumoulin also extended his lead over Planckaert in the Coupe de France. The pair will go for more points in the next round, the GP d’Isbergues which takes place next Sunday.