Arnaud Demare went into the Vattenfall Cyclassics with the goal of repeating his win from the 2012 edition of the race and his FDJ team took control of the race in the finale. In the end, however, it all came to nothing due to an untimely mechanical.

Two years ago Arnaud Demare took the biggest win of his career when he won the Vattenfall Cyclassics in his neo-pro season. This week he was intent on reclaiming his title in the German race and his FDJ team set out with a mission of controlling the race.

Going into the final kilometres, things were looking good for the Frenchmen but it unravelled 3km from the line when the French champion suffered a mechanical.

"Everything went as we had hoped for," sports director Martial Gayant said. "Yoann Offredo and Mickael Delage were about to lead Arnaud Demare out when he suffered a mechanical three kilometers from the finish. Immediately he took Mika's bike and managed to rejoin the peloton but he didn't make it back to the front. This is super frustrating since we absolutely wanted to win or at least get some points."