Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r) confirmed that he is destined for a big future when he powered clear to take a dominant win in the uphill sprint at the end of the GP de Plumelec. The Frenchman put 5 seconds into defending champion Julien Simon (Cofidis) and Pierrick Fedrigo (Bretagne) after his team had controlled the race all day.

 

Coming from the sport of mountain bike, Alexis Vuillermoz has decided to try his hand on the road and the first part of his time on the tarmac has been hugely promising. The Frenchman got a big breakthrough in 2014 when he finished 11th in the Giro d’Italia despite working in a support role for Domenico Pozzovivo.

 

Later in his first year at the WorldTour level he confirmed his potential when he won a stage of the Tour de Gevaudan and this year he again underlined his punchy climbing skills in the spring. He finished 14th in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and 6th in the Fleche Wallonne.

 

The latter result proves how strong the talented Frenchman is in uphill sprints on short, steep ramps and so he was one to watch in today’s Coupe de France race GP de Plumelec which finishes with a very tough climb in the lumpy Breton terrain. The race has been dominated by puncheurs and so is perfectly suited to Vuillermoz’ characteristics.

 

However, Vuillermoz was expected to play a support role for Samuel Dumoulin who was targeting the race and the Ag2r team worked hard all day to bring everything together for an uphill sprint. They brought back an early break and tried to control the many attacks that were launched at the midpoint of the race.

 

In the end, Pierre-Luc Perichon (Bretagne) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) attacked and Ag2r allowed them to stay clear for a while until they used their strong team to bring it back together inside the final 20km. They quickly neutralized several attacks but Cyril Gautier (Europcar) still managed to put the sprint under threat.

 

The Europcar rider launched a strong attack and passed the flamme rouge with a small advantage over the 30-rider peloton. Cofidis were leading the chase before Ag2r took over, trying to set Dumoulin up for the sprint.

 

Gautier was caught as they headed up the climb and everything came together for the French team. However, it was not Dumoulin who crossed the line in first position as Vuillermoz turned out to be in a class of his own.

 

With his punchy acceleration, Vuillermoz easily rode away from the rest and he crossed the line with a 5-second advantage over his nearest chasers. Defending champion and two-time winner Julien Simon could only manage second while Pierrick Fedrigo crossed the line in third.

 

Fedrigo was probably pleased with the outcome as it allowed him to extend his overall lead in the prestigious Coupe de France race series. He will try to add more points to his tally tomorrow when the Boucles de l’Aulne offers another tough race in the hilly terrain in Bretagne.

 

A hilly course

The 2015 edition of the Grand Prix de Plumelec was held over 182km around the city of Plumelec. After an opening section of 52.5km, the riders did 6 laps of a 13.9km circuit before they ended the race by doing 6 laps of a smaller 7.7km circuit. The big circuit included a small climb and the tough climb to the finish while the second circuit only included the final ascent which would be tackled a total of 13 times.

 

Ryan Wills (CCT) was the only non-starter when the riders gathered for the start on a pleasant day in Bretagne. The race was fast right from the gun and it took some time for the early break to be formed.

 

An aggressive start

A Europcar and an Armee rider briefly got a gap but after 11km of racing, it was all back together. Instead, it was a three-rider group with Pierre-Luc Perichon (Bretagne), Anthony Geslin (FDJ) and Yoann Paillot (Marseille) that got clear. Haritz Orbe (Murias Taldea) bridged across but the attacking continued further back. Three riders nearly made the junction before it all came back together at the 18km mark.

 

Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Matthieu Boulo (Bretagne) and Julien Duval (Armee) were the next to attack while Alexis Bodiot (Armee) and Thomas Deruette (Differdange) took off in pursuit. At the 25km mark, the front trio were 20 seconds ahead of their chasers while the peloton was at 40 seconds.

 

Ag2r take control

The peloton slowed down and allowed the gap to grow significantly but the front group still didn’t wait for their chasers. Finally, they made the junction after 34km of fast racig.

 

The peloton was now 3.30 behind and it was Ag2r who took control. They quickly upped the pace and riders started to get dropped.

 

Marseille come to the fore

At the 45km mark, the gap was already down to 2.15 and at the first passage of the finish line, it was only 1.35. Ben Gastauer and Christophe Riblon worked to keep the gap stable around that mark during the first laps of the big circuit.

 

Marseille came to the fore to work with Ag2r as Julien El Fares started to trade pulls with Gastauer. They kept the gap stable until the attacking started on the fourth lap.

 

New attacks

Mikael Cherel (Ag2r), Pierre Rolland (Europcar), Steven Tronet (Auber 93) and James Spragg (CCT) got clear to form a strong four-rider chase group but they were brought back before the end of the fourth lap. Here the gap had gone down to only 35 seconds.

 

Tronet set the pace for a while before the attacking started again. Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (FDJ), Fabrice Jeandesboz, Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Tronet, Quenton Pacher (Armee), Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix) and Clement Saint-Martin (Marseille) made it across to the front group to form a 13-rider group that had a 10-second advantage.

 

A new front group

Antomoarchi attacked from the front group while the rest of the group was caught. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2), Geslin, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier (FDJ), Anthony Delaplace, Armindo Fonseca, Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne), David Arroyo (Caja Rural), Romain Sicard (Europcar) and El Fares attacked and caught the Roubaix rider, before Kevin Lebreton (Armee) also bridged across.

 

Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) tried to bridge the gap but his efforts were in vain and with 60km to go, it was all back together. However, only 50 riders were left in the main group.

 

Perichon and Voeckler get clear

Bretagne started to ride tempo on the front and brought back an attack from Roubaix and FDJ. Jeremy Leveau (Roubaix) was the first to get a small advantage and he was joined by Perichon, Voeckler and Jeremy Roy (FDJ) to form a new front group.

 

Perichon and Voeckler dropped their companions and crossed the line at the end of the final lap of the big circuit with a 6-second advantage over their chasers while the peloton was at 20 secons. Cherel started to chase for Ag2r but they lost ground and were 1.05 behind at the end of the first lap of the small circuit.

 

Ag2r and Cofidis take control

The gap went out to 1.20 before the front group started to lose terrain. At the end of the second lap, Leveau and Roy were caught and it was now Peraud setting the pace, 50 seconds behind the leaders.

 

Cofidis started to chase and at the end of the third lap, they had brought the gap down to 30 seconds. Marseille were the next to take over and they brought the break back before they started the penultimate lap.

 

Gautier makes his move

30 riders were still in contention when Geslin and Sepulveda attacked. However, they were quickly caught and instead Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural) and Sicard took off as they climbed the tough climb for the penultimate time.

 

Those two riders were brought back and all was set for an uphill sprint. However, Fonseca and Cyril Gautier (Europcar) tried to change the outcome by making another attack.

 

Gautier dropped his companion and passed the flamme rouge with a small lead over the peloton which was led by Cofidis. Ag2r took over and brought him back and managed to deliver Vuillermoz to a great victory.