The days when FDJ is a minor WorldTour team seem to be over after the team played a prominent role in today's big classic, Gent-Wevelgem. In the end they delivered their sprinter Arnaud Demare perfectly to second to cap an excellent showing from the blue-clad riders.

In the past, FDJ have often been found at the bottom of the WorldTour rankings and while they have often delivered fine results in the races, they have been a rather anonymous presence in the WorldTour races. With the emergence of rising stars like Arnaud Demare, Nacer Bouhanni, and Thibaut Pinot, those days are over and the team is now a factor in even the biggest races.

Today the team delivered an excellent showing in Gent-Wevelgem. With narrow roads and a heavy battle for position, the race was marred by several crashes and it was important to stay near the front. In most of the race, the peloton was led by the clover riders, with Matthieu Ladagnous, Anthony Geslin, Murilo Fischer, and David Boucher all doing an excellent job to make sure that their captain Demare avoided any mishaps.

Having used their energy to get to the finale, the team chose to play it cool when a dangerous trio attacked in the finale and they relied on the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team to close it down. In the end, Mickael Delage and Yoann Offredo delivered Demare solidly and he nearly finished it off as he was only narrowly beaten into second by John Degenkolb.

"Unfortunately, William [Bonnet] had a puncture 10km from the line and that certainly had an impact on the final result," manager Marc Madiot said."I think his presence would have been decisive but I'm happy with our collective performance.

"Of course Arnaud has really grown over the past year. He gained experience. It just lacks a bit of maturity, but he grows fast. He showed us that he is capable of being super competitive on special occasions and this morning on the bus, I can say he was really fired up. And I can also say that he motivates his team."

In general, Bonnet was an unfortunate man as he was brought down by Francisco Ventoso in an earlier crash but managed to return to the front.

"Yes, William did well at that point," said Madiot. "And again he led by example. We opted for this strategy, to take control far from the finish, because we knew the terrain well and we wanted to avoid mishaps and splits. Then we stayed a little behind for the rest of the race."

Demare and Degenkolb have had a fierce battle in recent years. Last year Degenkolb knocked Demare off the throne at the Vattenfall Cyclassics and the German beat Demare into third at Paris-Tours.

"I'm very happy because second place in Gent-Wevelgem isn't nothing," Démare told Cyclingnews. "I'm very satisfied even if there's also a little bit of frustration because you can never be happy when you finish second. Still, I'm happy with my form and I'm happy with the team, who did great work.

"We've got a very good team and they place a lot of confidence in me even though I'm still young. Having guys like William Bonnet show such trust in me makes me very happy.

"This result shows that I'm progressing. My form is there and I'm just going to try and keep it going until Roubaix now."