Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) made up for his defeat in yesterday's Brussels Cycling Classic by winning the French semi-classic GP de Fourmies. Having been beaten by Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) 24 hours earlier, the former French champion benefitted from poor positioning by the German champion and came around his rival inside the final 100m to get his revenge.

Yesterday Nacer Bouhanni was delivered perfectly to the line by his teammates in the Brussels Cycling Classic but the former French champion was beaten by Andre Greipel and John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano). Today he made up for the defeat by winning one of the biggest French autumn races, GP de Fourmies.

To make the victory that little bit sweeter, he got his revenge as the rider to finish 2nd was Greipel. Impressive teamwork by FDJ had reduced the peloton to less than half its original size and the German champion appeared to be struggling, sitting at the back of the peloton inside the final kilometres.

When Saxo-Tinkoff tried to lead out Daniele Bennati inside the final 500m, Greipel was desperately trying to move up. The German had to launch a long sprint from far behind but showed immense power by hitting the front early, and he appeared to be cruising to a comfortable victory, his teammate Marcel Sieberg even raising his arms in celebration.

However, Bouhanni had latched onto his wheel and the Frenchman had enough left in the tank to come around the Lotto sprinter inside the final 100m. Thus the FDJ rider finished off impressive teamwork by taking his biggest one-day win while Bryan Coquard (Europcar) completed the podium

The win is Bouhanni's 8th in the 2013 season.

A hilly race

The 205km semi-classic was held in the hilly terrain around Fourmies and contained numerous climbs along the way. The main difficulty was, however, a small climb that was located on the 11km finishing circuit which was to be tackled 5 times at the end of the race.

After a little while, the day's early escape was established when Angel Madrazo (Movistar), Perrig Quemenur (Europcar), Julien Duval (Roubaix), Carlos Quintero (Colombia), Sander Helven (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Clement Koretzky (Bretagne) slipped clear. They were allowed to build up a gap that reached more than 6 minutes when FDJ decided to control proceedings.

FDJ and Ag2r in control

The French team was joined by Ag2r and for most of the early part of the race, David Boucher (FDJ) and Blel Kadri (Ag2r) controlled the escape, keeping the gap at around 3 minutes. Jeremy Roy (FDJ) made occasional contributions and the sprint teams had everything under control.

When they passed the finish line to start the 2nd lap on the circuit, the gap had come down to 2.26. 11km further down the road, the advantage was down to just a minute and the escapees realized that something had to be done.

The break splits up

Quemeneur attacked on the climb and at first, only Duval and Quinerto could respond. Madrazo managed to rejoin the group while Koretzky and Helven were both picked up by the peloton which was still controlled by Boucher and Kadri.

However, the aggression started in the peloton as well when a Vacansoleil rider attacked. However, he was closely marked by Yoann Offredo (FDJ) and it all came to nothing. The race came back together and FDJ kept a high pace throughout the remainder of the lap with Mathieu Ladagnous doing the majority of the work.

The break is caught

With the peloton breathing down the neck of the escapees, Quemeneur launched a new attack the next time up the climb. Only Duval could respond but it was all in vain as the escaped was caught when 21km still remained.

Cyril Gautier (Europcar) launched an attack but once again Offredo was quick to respond and it all came to nothing. However, the peloton was now completely strung out as riders kept accelerating on the front.

Costa launches a dangerous attack

Fabio Felline (Androni), Davide Appollonio (Ag2r), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) all tried to attack but none of them had any success. A more promising move was launched by a La Pomme Marseille rider who got company from Rui Costa (Movistar) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana).

Flavien Dassonville (BigMat) bridged across but he had Felline, Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r), Ignatiev and the rest of the peloton in tow. Hence, it was once again back together when Cannondale rook control, hoping to set up Elia Viviani for the sprint.

Bardet creates a 5-rider group

The final time up the climb, Giovanni Viscoti (Movistar) attacked but it was the countermove by Romain Bardet that was more successful. Cannondale riders Maciej Bodnar and Kristijan Koren tried to close it down but suddenly found themselves in a 5-rider group with Bardet, Leonardo Duque (Colombia) and Alessandro Malaguti (Androni).

The 5 riders decided to cooperate but Katusha and FDJ organized a chase. With 4km to go, it was back together and Bodnar immediately hit the front, keeping the pace high.

Dumoulin in a solo move

With 3,5km to go, Appollonio launched another attack but he was overtaken by Dumoulin who built up a solid gap. However, Katusha and Cannondale still had strength in numbers and they brought things back together as they passed the flamme rouge.

Greipel was far back in the peloton but when Saxo-Tinkoff launched their lead-out, he powered down the left-hand side of the road. He appeared to have locked up the win but Bouhanni still had something left in the tank and he came around the German champion, thus getting revenge for yesterday's defeat.

Result:

1. Nacer Bouhanni 4.37.29

2. Andre Greipel

3. Bryan Coquard

4. Davide Cimolai

5. Borut Bozic

6. Tom Veelers

7. Elia Viviani

8. Yauheni Hutarovich

9. Julien Simon

10. Leonardo Duque