Having already been on the attack in almost all road stages of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, Kevin Van Melsen continued his aggressive riding when he was the longest surviving member of the early breakaway in the GP Plouay.

He is a guy who loves to race and who always rides offensively. Kévin Van Melsen is the king of the breakaways. This week the 27-year old managed to be in the break of the day no less than four times in five days.

The Tour du Poitou-Charentes is a four-days stage race.

"I was in the break on the first day and took the jersey for best climber," Van Melsen explains. "That motivated me of course to try and keep it in the days to come. The only option however was to attack again."

Van Melsen's biggest rival for the jersey was BMC's Marcus Burghardt.

"On the second day we were in the break together again. He told me that he would go for the bonifications and that I could take the GPM-points but on the climb he sprinted nonetheless!"

For Van Melsen there was no option left than to go another time. On the fourth and last day he was at the front again.

"I really wanted the jersey now. Of course I felt tired but also extremely motivated."

This time Burghardt was not in the break and that was good news for Van Melsen. He also won the combined classification and was elected most aggressive rider in the race.

This Sunday, in the Grand Prix de Plouay, Van Melsen found himself in the breakaway yet again. He found the mental and physical strength after a hard week in France to even attack the break in the final but at 40 kilometres from the line he was caught.

"It was good publicity for the team and for myself too. Don't forget this is a WorldTour race," he concludes.