Young neo-pro Alexis Gougeard has become the next Ag2r rider to take a win in what has been a fantastic season start for the French team. The Frenchman made an impressive solo effort when he attacked from a 12-rider escape 7km from the finish and managed to hold off his nearest chasers Kenneth Vanbilsen (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Wesley Kreder (Wanty) to win the Classique Loire Atlantique, the second round of the Coupe de France.

 

With wins for Carlos Betancur, Jean-Christophe Peraud, and Romain Bardet, Ag2r-La Mondiale have had a fantastic start to their season and today they added another victory to their already long list of successes. This time the triumph was not taken by one of their major stars, however, as it was young neo-pro ALexis Gougeard who became a surprise winner of the second round of the Coupe de France, the Classique Loire Atlantique.

 

Gougeard and his teammate Julien Berard were part of a 19-rider breakaway that escaped after a very fast start to the race and never managed to build up a gap of more than a minute. When the group was almost caught, 7 riders fell back to the peloton but as 12 of the escapees insisted, the gap suddenly reopened.

 

For the first time in the race, the group was given some leeway and their advantage reached a maximum of a bit more than 3 minutes. The peloton resumed their chase effort too late and when the gap was still a minute inside the final kilometre, it seemed likely that the winner would be one of the escapees.

 

Being a strong rouleur, Gougeard took his chance from afar when he attacked at the 7km to go mark. Behind, sprinter Kenneth Vanbilsen and Wesley Kreder took off in pursuit and from there the race was a dramatic chase.

 

Gougeard managed to build a 15-second gap at the 5km to go banner but 2km further up the road, he had almost lost it all as he was only 5 seconds ahead. However, the young Frenchman refused to give up on what could be a breakthrough victory and he did an impressive effort to stay away to the finish for a fantastic solo win.

 

Behind, Vanbilsen beat Kreder in the sprint for 2nd while Berard made it a perfect day for Ag2r when he was the fastest of the rest. To make things even more complete, team sprinter Yauheni Hutarovich won the bunch sprint for 14th to finalize another great showing from Ag2r.

 

Most of today's riders will be back in action tomorrow when the second leg of the French double-header, the Cholet-Pays de Loire, takes place.

 

A circuit race

The Classique Loire Atlantique was the second round of the Coupe de France which had been put on hold since the opening race, the GP La Marseillaise, at the beginning of February. The race started and finished in La Haye Fouassiere and consisted of 11 laps of a hilly 16.8km circuit that contained two smaller climbs but was a rolling affair. A sprint from a reduced peloton was expected but escapees have also prevailed in this uncontrollable terrain.

 

The race took off in mixed weather conditions where sunshine and rain showers were both part of the day's order. As is usual for a race that has often been one by a breakaway, the race was off to a very fast start as several riders were keen to be part of the early action.

 

A big group goes clear

The first riders to get a significant gap were Quentin Jauregui (Roubaix - Lille Métropole) and Dimitri Le Boulch (Bigmat - Auber 93) who took off after 7km of racing. However, the attacking contained in the main group that was very nervous and the front duo were joined by several riders from behind to form a 30-rider group.

 

La Pomme Marseille sprinter Justin Jules crashed in this very hectic part of the race while up ahead, the front group gradually opened their gap. After 15km, the gap was 35 seconds but the group was too big to have any kind of cohesion.

 

19 riders are kept under control

The break split into two when 19 riders took off and the rest were swallowed up by the peloton. The move was made up of Julien Fouchard, Romain Zingle (Cofidis), Arnaud Courteille, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier (FDJ.fr), Romain Guillemois, Kevin Reza (Europcar), Arnaud Gérard, Christophe Laborie, Benjamin Le Montagner (Bretagne - Séché), Julien Bérard, Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Sander Helven, Kenneth Vanbilsen (Topsport Vlaanderen), Wesley Kreder (Wanty - Gr. Gobert), Julien Duval, Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix - LM), Flavien Dassonville, Dmitri Le Boulch (Bigmat - Auber 93), Jose Gonçalves (La Pomme Marseille), Tom Dernies, and Laurent Evrard (Wallonie - Bruxelles) but the peloton was reluctant to let such a big group get away and for a long time, the gap hovered around the 30-second mark.

 

In the peloton, Caja Rural and Itera-Katusha who had both missed the move, took responsibility for the chase and this forced the escapees to ride hard. This was too much for Guillemois and Le Boulch who fell off the pace and were quickly back in the pack.

 

The gap comes down

With 139km to go, the peloton seemed to lose the battle when the gap had come up to 1.10 and this prompted more teams to react. On the climbs, Wanty and Lokosphinx rode hard and they brought the gap down to 35 seconds while their tempo was enough to send several riders out the back door.

 

Wanty stopped their effort after the climbs and instead the three Russian teams Rusvelo, Lokosphinx and Itera-Katusha combined forces to keep the gap at around 30-40 seconds. The gap briefly reached 55 seconds but with 98km to go, it was down to 25 seconds as Caja Rural had now taken the responsibility in the peloton.

 

Several riders fall back

Luis Mas (Caja Rural) and Angelo Tulik (Europcar) made an unsuccessful attempt to bridge across but there try was in vain as the peloton was now riding so hard that it split in several pieces. When the first group was about to rejoin the escapees, 12 riders refused to give up and they managed to reopen a gap that had been down to just 5 seconds.

 

Fouchard, Lecuisinier, Laborie, Le Montagner, Kowalski, Evrard, and Goncalves had fallen back to the peloton which decided to slow down after a very hectic phase. This allowed to gap to grow rapidly and with 79km to go, it had reached 2.10. Igor Boev (Rusvelo) attacked on his own and for a long time, he dangled between one and two minutes behind the escapees until he finally gave up.

 

The gap reaches more than 3 minutes

The gap reached 3.05 when 4 laps still remained but the peloton now started to react. For several kilometres, the gap stayed between 2 and 3 kilometres while Gougeard scored enough points in the KOM sprints to be crowned best climber of the day.

 

Suddenly, the gap went out to 3.30 and as it was still 2.50 with 40km to go, the escapees could start to hope for some success. However, the chase had now kicked off in earnest but the peloton only slowly reduced their time deficit.

 

Gougeard takes of

With 27km to go, the gap dropped below the 2-minute mark but when the escapees started the final lap of the 16.8km circuit, they were still 1.15 ahead.

 

With 12km to go, the gap was 55 seconds but as it didn't drop any further, Gougeard decided to attack. The young Frenchman took off when 7km remained and he got a 20-metre gap on Vanbilsen and Kreder who took off in  pursuit.

 

A dramatic pursuit

With 5km to go, the peloton was still 1.05 behind and it was now clear that the winner would be one of the escapees. At this point, Gougeard had opened his gap to the chasers to 15 seconds, with the rest of the group being at 20 seconds.

 

It now started to hurt for Gougeard and with 3km to go, he was only 5 seconds ahead. However, the young Frenchman delivered a fantastic effort over the final 300m to keep his rivals at bay and he crossed the line to take an impressive solo win while Vanbilsen beat Kreder in the sprint for 2nd. Berard was the fastest of the rest and took fourth in another great Ag2r display while Yauheni Hutarovich completed the performance for the team by beating Francis Mourey (FDJ) and Timothy Dupont (Roubaix) in the sprint of the peloton.

 

1. Alexis Gougeard

2. Kenneth Vanbilsen

3. Wesley Kreder

4. Julien Berard

5. Julien Duval

6. Kevin Reza

7. Arnaud Gerard

8. Flavien Dassonville

9. Romain Zingle

10. Tom Dernies

 

More results to come