After a slow start to his defence of the overall win in the Coupe de France series, Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r) took an important result when he finished second behind Bryan Coquard in today's hilly Paris-Camembert. The Frenchman openly admitted that Coquard had been the fastest rider in the sprint and now hopes to score points in the hard races over the weekend.

With no less than four races out of the total of 16 held in less than 7 days, this weeks is a very important one for the season-long Coupe de France race series. Hence, it plays a significant role for defending champion Samuel Dumoulin in his quest to defend his title.

Dumoulin got his campaign off to a solid start with 3rd place in the GP d'Ouverture la Marseillaise but skipped the next two rounds. He returned at the hilly Route Adelie Vitre less than two weeks ago where he made a late solo move but after getting caught he rolled across the line in 24th.

Dumoulin is a fast rider but no pure sprinter and he especially excels in hard races that are decided in a sprint from a small group. With today's hilly Paris-Camembert, Saturday's equally difficult Tour du Finistere and Sunday's difficult Tro-Bro Leon held on gravel roads, the week offers a lot of opportunities for Dumoulin to add to his tally.

Today he took an important result when he finished second in the sprint from a small group that decided Paris-Camembert. As sprinter Bryan Coquard had made the selection and took the win, Dumoulin openly admitted that his result was the maximu achievable and he will now skip Thursday's sprint race GP de Denain to focus on the hard races in the weekend.