Several strong performances in 2013 earned Yannick Martinez a contract with the Europcar team but the Frenchman has had a slow start to his time at the WorldTour level. Today he started to show his promise when he got close to a big Coupe de France win at the Grand Prix de la Somme.

In 2013, Yannick Martinez upset the best sprinters on several occasions. While riding for the small La Pomme Marseille team, the Frenchman won a stage of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque, finished 3rd in the RideLondon Classic and had several top 10 performances.

Those results earned him a WorldTour contract with Europcar and after a slow start, Martinez is now starting to justify the decision to sign him. After finishing 5th at the Roue Tourangelle a week ago, he took third in today's Grand Prix de la Somme that is part of the prestigious Coupe de France series.

As expected the race came down to a bunch sprint and Martinez was only beaten by Yauheni Hutarovich and Tom Van Asbroeck in the final dash to the line.

"I was on the wrong side of the road," he told Directvelo. "It was too late to react when Yauheini Hutarovich launched his sprint. I'm only partly satisfied, I would have loved to win today as it is my birthday. It made me all the more motivated. 

"It was very fast at the end. Cofidis and FDJ.fr made ​​most of the work, there was no need for us to ride. I've just started to race again. I also did La Roue Tourangelle last Sunday. I only had a three-day break since the beginning of the season but I don't feel tired. 

"At the moment, the Coupe de France is not an objective. I'll do the Grand Prix Plumelec and Boucles de l'Aulne and then we'll see where I am ranked after those two races."

Martinez is 15th in the overall Coupe de France standings that is led by Julien Simon (Cofidis).