In his fabulous 2012 season, Julien Simon added the prestigious French one-day race GP Plumelec-Morbihan to his growing palmares but last year he could only manage 3rd in his title defence. After a disappointing 2013 season, things seem to be back on track for the talented Frenchman and so he was naturally one of the great favourites for the 2014 edition of the race.

 

The race ends on a small climb that grew to fame in 2008 when it featured at the end of the first stage of the Tour de France where Alejandro Valverde powered to a stage win and the first yellow jersey of the race. As a puncheur who excels in that kind of uphill sprint, Simon is perfectly suited to the race and so his team set out with a mission to again conquer the important French one-day event.

 

Simon didn't disappoint his Cofidis teammates who delivered him perfectly to his second win in the event. In fact, the team was so dominant that final lead-out man Luis Angel Maté held onto second to make it a 1-2 for Cofidis.

 

In 2012, Simon proved to be a great talent but in 2013 he struggled a lot more. After the demise of Sojasun, he was picked up by Cofidis and he has delivered lots of stellar performances in the early part of the season. Today the elusive win finally arrived and that was a big relief for Simon.

 

"I did not feel great in the middle of the race," he told Directvelo. "Only during the last three passages of the Cadoudal climb I started to feel better. In the final laps, I saw that Bryan Coquard and Samuel Dumoulin were not better than me and that gave me confidence.

 

"When I won here in 2011 with Saur-Sojasun, the team did a great job, but today it was even better. I have rarely seen such a performance. Luis Angel Mate delivered me 300 meters from the line. That made the difference.

 

"It's nice because I have not won for a long time (since the GP de Wallonie in September 2012, ed.). I'm surprised it took so long time. I was signed by Cofidis to win races so it's a relief to open the account today. I hope to do as well tomorrow in the Boucles de l'Aulne. With more than 157 points, the Coupe de France is now a target."

 

"The day was perfect," Maté said. "We did a super nice teamwork. With the success of Julien and my 2nd place, it is a true collective victory. The team took the lead in the last lap to work for Julien. I trusted him. 

 

"Romain Hardy was the penultimate rider in the train. It was planned that I should be the final lead-out man. When I saw that we had made ​​a small gap, I continued my effort. 

 

"We will enjoy this win tonight and be well rested for tomorrow. After the Boucles de l'Aulne, my next race will be the Dauphiné."