Oliver Naesen (Topsport Vlaanderen) confirmed that he is destined for a great future in the world of cycling when he claimed his first pro win in the Coupe de France race La Polynormande. The Belgian joined a strong 5-rider group that bridged the gap to a lead trio and made the selection to be part of the 6-rider group that decided the race in a sprint in which he beat Fabrice Jeandesboz and Antoine Duchesne (both Europcar) into the minor positions.

 

Until last year, Oliver Naesen was largely unknown in the professional cycling world but he made many aware of his big talent when he rode strongly for Lotto Belisol as a stagiaire in the final part of the 2014 season. His exploits earned him his first professional contract with the Topsport Vlaanderen team and this year he has continued to prove his worth at the highest level.

 

Until now the elusive first pro win has always eluded him but today he broke the drought when he came out on top in La Polynormande which is the first race of the Coupe de France race series since the end of May. By going on the attack in the finale, the Belgian denied pre-race favourite Nacer Bouhanni his second victory in three days after the Cofidis rider won the Circuito de Getxo two days ago.

 

Unsurprisingly, Cofidis were working hard for their captain when Naesen made his move. The Belgian followed a strong move by Coupe de France leader Pierrick Fedrigo (Bretagne) as the peloton went up the main climb during the penultimate lap of the 12.2km finishing circuit.

 

Fedrigo and Naesen were joined by Fabrice Jeandesboz (Europcar), Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne) and Maxime Daniel (Ag2r) to form a quintet that bridged the gap to the lead trio of Antoine Duchesne (Europcar), Frederik Brun (Bretagne) and Romain Combaud (Armee). The fast pace had made the peloton split to pieces and Bouhanni found himself in a second group that while Rusvelo led the first peloton.

 

Daniel and Brun were quickly distanced and as they hit the climb for the final time, Naesen, Jeandesboz and Delaplace rode away. Even though the peloton had regrouped, it was clear that the winner would be one of the six leaders as the two trios battled against each other inside the final 5km.

 

The game of cat and mouse started and this made it possible for the three chasers to make it back to the front inside the final kilometre. Hence, it came down to a six-rider sprint on the uphill finishing straight and here Naesen proved his speed to hold off Jeandesboz and Duchesne who completed the podium. Brun and late attacker Baptiste Planckaert (Roubaix) both held off the peloton and so the expected sprint victory for Bouhanni was only good enough for ninth.

 

With a fifth place, Fedrigo extended his lead in the Coupe de France classification before they head into the next round on September 6, the GP Fourmies. However, the next big race in France is a stage race as the mountainous Tour de l’Ain takes place from August 11 to 15.

 

A hilly course

The 36th edition of La Polynormande was held on a 169km circuit that brought the riders from Avranches to Saint-Martin-de-Landelles and could be split into two parts. First they covered a moderately hilly 31km section between the start and finishing city before they ended the race by doing 11 laps of a 12.2km finishing circuit that included two smaller climbs. The final two kilometres were uphill, meaning that it was a day for strong sprinters or attackers.

 

The riders had perfect weather conditions when they gathered for the start as there was barely a single cloud on the sky and no wind. Eliot Lietaer (Topsport Vlaanderen) was the only non-starter as the peloton rolled out for their neutral ride.

 

Lots of attacks

As expected, the race got off to a very fast start and it was a 10-rider group that formed right from the gun. They were quickly brought back though and as the attacking continued, Marc Fournier (FDJ) and Julien El Fares (Marseille) got an advantage. A Roubaix rider tried to bridge the gap but it was all in vain and moments later it was all back together.

 

Marco Minnaard (Wanty), Nico Denz (Ag2r), Thibault Ferasse, (France) Kirill Pozdnyakov (Rusvelo) and Kevin Lebreton (Armee) were the next riders to get a small advantage after Jerome Cousin (Europcar) and Felix Pouilly (Roubaix) had bridged the gap, a 7-rider group had a 15-second advantage. Denz managed to beat Ferasse and Pouilly in the first intermediate sprint before it all came back together.

 

The break takes off

Adrien Legros (France) tried his hand and managed to get a 20-second advantage before he was reeled in too. That meant that it was still all together when the riders hot the finishing circuit and after a two-rider break had been brought back, Francois Bidard beat Nans Peters and Guillaume Martin in the first KOM sprint.

 

Thomas Rostollan (France) was the next to try and he was joined by Antoine Duchesne (Europcar), Quentin Jauregui (Ag2r), Frederik Brun (Bretagne), Ivan Balykin (Rusvelo) and Romain Combaud (Armee) to form a six-rider break that had a 25-second advantage at the end of the first lap where Rostollan beat Jauregui and Balykin in the second intermediate sprint.

 

Roubaix lead the chase

While Jimmy Turgis (Roubaix) took off in pursuit, the peloton slowed down and this meant that the gap quickly went out to more than 2 minutes. Turgis dangled at one minute for a while before he decided to drop back to the peloton. At this point, Sebastien Delfosse (Wallonie) abandoned the race.

 

Combaud beat Jauregui and Rostollan in the second KOM sprint at a point when the gap had gone out to 3.20. Roubaix had taken responsibility for the chase and it was Romain Pillon and Leo Vincent that led the peloton across the line at the end of the second lap with a deficit of 3.45.

 

Topsport Vlaanderen come to the fore

Duchesne had to spend some energy to get back to front group after a bike change when the gap was 4.45 and now Topsport Vlaanderen had started to work with the Roubaix riders. That had an effect on the gap as the gap started to come down. Jelle Wallays took some huge turns while Pillon ended his work.

 

11 riders, including Antoine Demoitie and Maxime Renault, attacked from the peloton and this forced Topsport Vlaanderen to react strongly. They brought the group back and reduced the gap to 2.10 before Hugo Hofstetter (Cofidis) abandoned the race.

 

Demoitie takes off

The gap stabilized at around 2.30 but Demoitie refused to give up. The Belgian attacked again and while the peloton started to lose ground, he fought hard to get closer to the escapees. Meanwhile, Rostollan beat Brun and Duchesne in the third intermediate sprint.

 

Demoitie realized that he got nowhere and so decided to sit up at a time when the gap was 3.35. Moments later, Rostollan beat Balykin and Brun in the third KOM sprint.

 

Cofidis take control

At the 7th passage of the finish line, the gap was still 3.20 and it was Pouilly who was leading the chase for Roubaix. However, the attacking continued and it was Wallays who made the next move as they went up the main climb.

 

The prompted the peloton to react and Christophe Laporte significantly upped the pace for Cofidis. The French team put five riders on the front to set up Bouhanni for the win

 

The front group split up

The gap was now down to 2 minutes which forced the escapees to up the pace. That was too much for Jauregui and Rostollan who were dropped from the break and moments later Balykin was distanced too.

 

Duchesne, Combaud and Brun continued to press on while Wallays was approaching the lead. The Belgian joined forces with Rostollan and Jauregui just before the riders started the 9th lap but the latter was quickly distanced and fell back to the peloton. Instead, they picked up Balykin.

 

FDJ come to the fore

At this point, the three chasers were 1.45 behind the leaders while the Cofidis-led peloton was at 3 minutes. As the gap was no longer coming down, FDJ started to work with Bouhanni’s team while Rostollan was dropped from the chase group.

 

Cofidis still did the main work and were unable to react when Cousin, Julien Guay (Auber) and Legros took off. Meanwhile, Yann Guyot (Armee), Adrien Petit (Cofidis) and Anthony Geslin (FDJ) left the race.

 

Fedrigo splits the peloton

Cofidis still had an extra gear and so they managed to bring both the three attackers and the two chasers back before they started the penultimate lap with a delay of 1.24. This was the signal for Ag2r to come to the fore and as they hit the front, the gap was melting away.

 

The leading trio worked hard to defend a one-minute lead for a while until Pierrick Fedrigo (Bretagne) made the peloton explode on the main climb. He was joined by Naesen, Maxime Daniel (Ag2r), Fabrice Jeandesmoz (Europcar) and his teammate Anthony Delaplace to form a strong quintet that started to ride away from the diminished peloton.

 

Naesen wins the race

Just after the start of the final lap, the five chasers made it across to the leaders and they now had a 50-second advantage over the peloton and a 30-second advantage over Baptiste Planckaert (Roubaix) who had taken off in pursuit. Sergey Firsanov was leading the chase for Rusvelo while Bouhanni found himself in the second group that was led by Wallonie.

 

Brun and Daniel were dropped from the front group, leaving just 6 riders to press on. Moments later, Fedrigo, Duchesne and Combaud fell behind and they had been distanced by 23 seconds with 3km to go.

 

Less than 1km from the finish, the two trios came back together when the game of cat and mouse started and Combaud had launched a failed solo attack. In the end, it came down to a sprint from the six-rider group and here Naesen came out on top.