Adrien Petit (Cofidis) took the biggest win of his career when he won one of the most iconic races on the French calendar, Tro-Bro Leon which is known for its many sectors of gravel roads. The Frenchman made it into a 7-rider breakaway inside the final 50km, and when they were about to get caught, he took off with Flavien Dassonville (BigMat) before beating his companion in the final sprint.

Since he finished second behind Arnaud Demare at the 2011 U23 Worlds, Adrien Petit has carried a lot of expectations on his shoulders but the young Cofidis rider has failed to live up to the lofty promises. Apart from a win at the 2013 Tropicale Amissa Bongo, he has failed to take any major victories in his first years as a professional.

Today that changed when he won one of the most prestigious races on the French calendar as he triumphed in the Tro-Bro Leon. The Breton race is held over several sectors of gravel roads and is known as the Bretagne version of Paris-Roubaix.

In the big French classics one week ago, Petit had already shown that he was in splendid condition and today he made use of his skills on rough surfaces to take an impressive win in Bretagne. He made his first important actions when he responded to an attack from Johan Le Bon (FDJ) with around 40km to go.

The acceleration created a strong 7-rider group that managed to build up a gap of almost a minute but under the impetus of IAM, they started to lose ground. When they were about 20km from the line, Petit refused to give up and took off with Flavien Dassonville.

While their former companions were all caught, Petit and Dassonville reopened their advantage to 40 seconds by the time they started the first of their three laps of the 5km finishing circuit. Despite the chase efforts in the 40-rider peloton, they never caught the two leaders who worked well together to stay away to the finish.

Being a renowned sprinter, Petit was the big favourite to take the win and he had no trouble holding off his companion in the final dash to the line. Dassonville had to settle for second - still a major result for the small BigMat team.

Behind, Cedric Pineau (FDJ) and Pierre-Luc Perichon (Bretagne) had taken off in pursuit and the duo managed to stay away to battle it out for the final podium spot. Pineau emerged as the strongest to make sure that FDJ had a rider in the top 3 one year after winning the race with Francis Mourey. Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne) led the peloton across the line, 41 seconds too late.

The race was the fourth round of the Coupe de France race series held within a week and the results did little to threaten Julien Simon's overall lead. The next race in the competition will be held in two weeks at the GP de la Somme which takes place on the 4th of May.

Several sections of gravel roads

The 31st edition of the race known as the Breton Paris-Roubaix, Tro-Bro Leon, took place on a very traditional 202.9km course starting and finishing in Lannilis. Despite having a lumpy profile, the many hills were not expected to produce too much of difference. What made the race tough were the 25 sectors of gravel roads that made the race a unique affair and had given the race its nickname. The race ended with 3 laps of a 5km finishing circuit that on flat gravel sector which ended just a little more than 2km from the slightly uphill finish in Lannilis.

The race was off to an aggressive start as team tactics play a big role in these kind of races. History proves that early escapees may get rather far in this race and so many riders were keen to be part of the early action.

The break is formed

Anthony Geslin (FDJ), Christophe Laborie (Bretagne), Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2r), Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty), Thomas Vaubourzeix (La Pomme Marseille), Julien Duval 8Roubaix), and Jonathan Dufrasne (Wallonie) were the riders that finally managed to get clear but they were never given too much leeway. 62m from the finish they were just 1.10 ahead and it was clear that 2014 wouldn't be the year when an early attacker held on to take the win.

As the peloton was breathing down their necks, the escapees starting attacking each other and with 50km to go, the front group was down to just Hutarovich, Laborie and Vaubourzeix. At this point, they were 35 seconds ahead but 5km further down the road, they were brought back.

The decisive move

This opened the door for new attacks, with Le Bon putting in a strong acceleration. He was joined by Petit, Dassonville, Tony Hurel (Europcar), Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r), Mike Teunissen (Rabobank), and Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne) to form a strong group that had representatives from all the major teams.

The move seemed to be a good one and quickly opened up a 30-second gap. With 31km to go, it was almost a minute but now IAM had started to chase.

Petit and Dassonville take off

Despite defending champion Francis Mourey trying to disrupt the pursuit, the gap started to come down and with 26km to go, it was just 36 seconds. Sebastien Hinault (IAM) tried to bridge across but was closely marked by Mourey.

The acceleration, however, brought the break within shouting distance and just as they were about to get caught, Petit and Dassonville took off 20km from the line. While their former companions were swallowed up, they managed to reopen their gap to 20 seconds 18km from the finish.

The duo stay clear

When they started their first lap of the 5km finishing circuit, the duo was 40 seconds ahead of the peloton that was now down to just 40 riders. Despite their hard work, they failed to get much closer to the front duo which worked excellently together.

Instead, the riders in the bunch started the battle for the final spot on the podium, with Pineau putting in a strong attack. He was joined by Perichon and the duo managed to build a nice little gap.

At that moment, however, it was clear that the front duo would stay away and in the sprint, Petit had no trouble holding off Dassonville to take the biggest win of his career. Pineau beat Perichon in the battle for the final podium spot while Jarrier's sprint win in the peloton was only good enough for 5th.