On Saturday 20-year-old French rider, Bryan Coquard, took his second stage win in the Etoile de Bessèges.

Following the dramatic finish of yesterday’s stage, won by Frenchman Jerome Cousin (Europcar), today saw the fourth stage of the Etoile de Bessèges. 154 km from Sabran to Pont Saint Esprit awaited the riders. Immediately after the start the stage saw several breakaway attempts, none of which were particularly successful. At one point, however, 29 kilometers into the stage, a breakaway group consisting of 9 riders managed to gain a one minute lead over the peloton. After 76 kilometers their adventure ended as they were swallowed up by the chasing pack.

New breakaways
With 78 kilometers still to go the stage erupted into an avalanche of attacks and counterattacks until neo pro Axel Domont of AG2R La Mondiale and La Pomme Marseille continental rider Thomas Rostollan succeeded in breaking away.

Over the next 38 kilometers they amassed a 6 minutes lead before the peloton set about hauling them back in. It was a difficult task to close the gap over such a short distance because of the huge lead established by the two riders in front, but 5 kilometers from the finish line Domont and Rostollan were back in the peloton.

The Final
Thus the stage was set for yet another bunch sprint and in a repeat performance from stage 2 young French rider Bryan Coquard displayed all of his promising abilities as he saw off the challenges of Fréderique Robert (Lotto Belisol) and Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale) in the sprint.

This is Coquard’s first season as a pro rider since taking silver at the Under 23 World Championship Road Race last year. With Coquard’s stage win Team Europcar has made it 3 out of 4 in Etoile de Bessèges and in addition Jerôme Cousin, also from Team Europcar, is leading in the GC following his stage win yesterday.