FDJ Cycling Team (France) - Press Release: For Arnaud Démare and his lead-out train, stage 2 the Route d’Occitanie was kind of the final rehearsal before the Tour de France. It ended up with a clear victory in Auch. Perfectly positioned before the short uphill finish, the French champion powered his way to his eighth win of the season. He also brought the fourteenth to his team.
“Happy with my work”, Anthony Roux.
After a lively and – too – hilly first stage, Arnaud Démare’s real chance of victory on the Route d’Occitanie was supposed to be this Friday towards Auch. The beginning of the stage certainly featured some climbs, but the peloton eventually spent a quiet day, as almost no one was interested in going on the attack. “Two riders went from the start, and despite three nice climbs in the first fifty kilometers, there was no reaction nor movement,” said Frédéric Guesdon. Adne Van Engelen (Bike Aid) and Angel Madrazo (Burgos-BH) were therefore able to create a gap on the bunch. “The breakaway took almost eight minutes and then we started to pull with Education First and AG2R-Citroën,” added Frédéric. “The gap then reduced quite quickly, as the course was almost entirely flat up until the last 50k”. “We wanted to do everything we could to bring a bunch sprint at the finish,” said the French champion. “With only two men in the lead, it was rather easy to manage. Seventy kilometres from the finish, there was another attack with three riders who joined the two leading men. The fight got a bit more serious but we still closed the gap bit by bit with Anthony Roux, who is coming back from an injury and who did a great job”.
Interested? Submit your enquiry using the form below:
Only available for registered users. Sign In to your account or register here.