Alo Jakin (Auber 93) created a major surprise when he won the big Coupe de France race Boucles de l’Aulne with a powerful uphill sprint. Having bridged across to a lead group in the finale, he emerged as the fastest in the 11-rider sprint while his teammate Steven Tronet made it a memorable 1-2 for the small Auber 93 team.

Jaan Kirsipuu and Rein Taaramae have both made the Estonian champion’s jersey a prominent tunic in the professional peloton. However, in the 2015 season it has been a continental rider who has made the jersey visible in a very impressive fashion.

Riding for the small continental Auber 93 team, Alo Jakin has been mixing it up with the pros and has achieved several good results. In the beginning of this month, he was third in the GP de la Somme and he got a major breakthrough when he finished on the podium in the 4 Days of Dunkirk just one week later.

Today he finally made his name known for a larger audience when he took the biggest win of his career in the big and hilly Coupe de France race Boucles de l’Aulne. The lumpy circuit race suited the Estonian’s skills perfectly as he is strong on short climbs and has a fast sprint.

In a very aggressive race, Jakin decided not to wait for the sprint and instead he went on the attack. With two laps of the 8km finishing circuit left, he joined forces with Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r), Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Pierrick Fedrigo (Bretagne), Romain Guillemois (Europcar), David Arroyo (Caja Rural), Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural) and Baptiste Planckaert (Roubaix) to bridge across to a front group that was made up of Laurent Pichon (FDJ), Florian Vachon (Bretagne), Florian Senechal (Cofidis), Bryan Naulleau (Eruopcar), Steven Tronet (Auber 93), Julien El Fares (Cofidis) and Yann Guyot (Armee).

The front group started the final lap with a 30-seconds advantage but things weren’t looking promising as the cooperation wasn’t great. Pichon launched a first attack and when he was brought back, his teammate Le Bon took off.

With 5km to go, the peloton was only 15 seconds behind but the front group managed to hold them off. In fact, their biggest challenge was to catch Le Bon who passed the flamme rouge with a 13-second advantage.

In the end, the Frenchman was unable to hold off his chasers and 11 riders were left to sprint for the win. Here Jakin and Tronet made it a fantastic day for Auber 93 as they made it a 1-2 for the team while Pichon took the final spot on the podium. 10 seconds later Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) won the sprint for 12th.

The race is part of the Coupe de France series and with a fourth place, Fedrigo extended his overall lead. The series will now take a longer break as the next race if the Polynormande on August 2. The next major race in France is the Criterium du Dauphiné which start next Sunday.

A circuit race

The 2015 Boucles de l’Aulne was held in its traditional circuit format. The race was made up of 6 laps of a 17.2km circuit and 8 laps of an 8.1km circuit in Chateaulin for an overall distance of 168km. The big circuit included a big climb at the midpoint before the riders descended to the flamme rouge from where the road was uphill all the way to the finish. The small circuit didn’t include any major climbs but was a lumpy affair with no really flat roads.

It was an overcast day when the riders gathered for the start of the second day of racing in Bretagne this weekend. Ryan Wills (CTC) and Christoph Danner (Start-Massi) were the only non-starters as 104 riders took the start.

Lots of attacks

As expected, the race got off to a fast beginning with lots of attacks. Yoann Paillot (Marseille) was the first rider to build an advantage of 15 seconds. Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar) and Romain Le Roux (Armee) bridged the gap but as they approached the end of the first lap, they were brought back.

The peloton split into three groups but as they crossed the line for the first time, it was back together. Pierre-Roger Latour (Ag2r), Olivier Le Gac (FDJ), Florian Guillou (Bretagne) and Lluis Mas (Caja Rural) briefly got clear but they were quickly brought back.

A big group gets clear

Baptiste Planckaert (Roubaix) briefly got a 10-second advantage before Jeremy Roy (FDJ), Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Bryan Naulleau (Eruopcar), Heinier Parra (Caja Rural), Guillaume Levarlet (Auber 93), Maxime Vantomme (Roubaix) and Julien El Fares (Marseille) got clear at the start of the third lap. More riders got across and suddenly Samuel Dumoulin, Latour (Ag2r), Matthieu Ladagnous, Laurent Pichon, Roy (FDJ), Pierrick Fedrigo, Kevin Ledanois, Christophe Laborie (Bretagne), Navarro, Kenneth Vanbilsen (Cofidis), Jimmy Engoulvent, Yohann Gene, Romain Guillemois, Quemeneur, Naulleau (Europcar), Mas, Parra (Caja Rural), Julien Guay, Levarlet, David Menut (Auber 93), Julien Antomarchi, Vantomme (Roubaix), El Fares, Paillot (Marseille), Le Roux, Julien Duval (Armee) and Adrian Gonzalez made up a very strong 30-rider group with a 20-second advantage.

Cofidis brought it back together before Pichon, Navarro, Quemeneur, Parra, Cesar Bihel (Auber 93), Vantomme, Antomarchi, El Fares, Paillot, Latour and Aritz Bagues (Murias Taldea) got clear. At the end of the lap, they had an advantage of 15 seconds. Meanwhile, Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r), Ledanois, Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Duval took off in pursuit but again it all came back together.

The break is formed

After several attacks, Pierre Rolland (Europcar) made a solo move and he was joined by 2 riders before the trio were brought back at the end of the fourth lap. At this point, nearly 30 riders had already left the race.

Roy was the next rider to get a gap and he was first joined by Engoulvent before Maxime Daniel (Ag2r), Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne), Florian Senechal (Cofidis), Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural), Guay and Yann Guyot (Armee) also made it across. Cofidis started to chase but the gap still went out to a minute at the halfway point of the race.

Cofidis take control

Cofidis allowed the gap to go out to 1.30 before Rolland tried to bridge the gap. The Europcar climber did an impressive work to make it across with 65km to go as they started their 8 laps of the small circuit.

Cofidis had now brought the gap down to 1.15 and as they entered the final 50km, it was only 1.05. A few riders tried to attack from the front group but they again started to cooperate.

The gap comes down

Roubaix started to work with Cofidis and so the gap was only 35 seconds when they entered the final 40km. At this point, Roy and Jarrier were both dropped from the front group. The latter managed to get back but at this point Engoulvent and Guay had already attacked.

The duo were caught and as a reshuffling took play, Rolland, Roy, Senechal, Ferrari and Guyot suddently found themselves in the lead. However, they failed to cooperate and so the group came back together apart from Daniel who had been distanced.

A new front group

Engoulvent and Roy made the next attack and when they were brought back Guyot gave it a go. However, the group was back together as they entered the final 25km with a 20-second advantage over the peloton.

With the small gap, riders managed to bridge across and as they started the penultimate lap, it was a front group with Pichon, Florian Vachon (Bretagne), Senechal, Naulleau, Steven Tronet (Auber 93), El Fares and Guyot while Ferrari was a lone chaser. The peloton was at 35 seconds.

Chasers bridge the gap

Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r), Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Fedrigo, Guillemois, David Arroyo (Caja Rural), Alo Jakin (Auber 93) and Planckaert took off in pursuit and made it up to Ferrari. They made the junction as they started the final lap where the front group had a 30-second advantage.

While Pichon attacked, the peloton started to get closer. With 5km to go, the FDJ rider was brought back and instead his teammate Le Bon took off.

Le Bon passed the flamme rouge with an advantage of 13 seconds but he failed to hold off his chasers. Instead, it was Jakin and Tronet who made it a 1-2 for Auber 93.