Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr) wins the Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2014, for the 2nd time in row

Added: sunday 21 September 2014 at 19:08:00

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The Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2014 saw a breakaway of 7 riders being formed after a few kilometers in the race but, even though Adrien Petit (Cofidis) held on in the last laps on the circuit, we saw the bunch getting together and the victory was thus once again disputed in a sprint.

In this game, Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr) already showed in 2013 being able to cross the line first in Isbergues and that's what he did again today, in the blue-white-red jersey!
The summary of the Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2014
A few minutes later than planned, this forelast race of the Coupe de France PMU started in the roads of Isbergues with 2 laps on a small circuit and one lap on the bigger circuit north of Isbergues before they attacked the circuit with the "climbs" which finally brought the back to the final circuit in Isbergues, which they had to do 5 times.

After several unsuccessful attempts, a group of seven riders was formed, with Maxime Renault (BigMat-Auber 93), the local of the race Adrien Petit (Cofidis), Cyril Gautier and Alexandre Pichot (Team Europcar), José Gonçalves (La Pomme Marseille 13), Jimmy Turgis (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) and Kristoffer Skjerping (Team Joker).
A few kilometers further, the group was extended with two other riders: Simon Geschke (Team Giant-Shimano) and Rick Ottema (Veranclassic-Doltcini), who were chasing behind them.

In the first hour, the gap of this breakaway was relatively low, around 1'15"/1'30", before it finally increased to above 2 minutes to go up to 2'35".
During that time, the peloton has always been under the control of the FDJ.fr team and thanks to the efforts of the riders of this team, the gap was long time kept stable around 1'50".

After about 125 kilometers the breakaway lost one élément, since Rick Ottema was no longer able to follow the speed. Adrien Petit, who was encouraged by his fans all day long, decided to attack at about fifty kilometers from the finish, in the final climb of the race in Estrée-Blanche, but he was quickly taken back again by his 7 breakaway companions. Still not discouraged, the rider from the north of France attacked again just before he got on the final circuit, this time not alone but with Alexandre Pichot. Once again, this didn't last, but in the effort to take back these two riders, the breakaway lost José Gonçalves and Jimmy Turgis.

While there were still a bit more than 2 laps to go on the final circuit, Adrien Petit attacked once again, this time with Cyril Gautier, while the other riders of the breakaway were taken back by the peloton. At two laps from the finish, when he crossed the finish line, Petit was alone ahead but quickly after that, the adventure came to an end for him as well.

Everything thus seemed to indicate it would end in a bunch sprint, even though we still saw some unsuccessful attempts (including mainly the one by Nikolay Trusov [Tinkoff-Saxo] and Sébastien Hinault [IAM Cycling]) in the final lap, the bunch came back together at the last kilometer sign. Thanks to a perfectly prepared sprint by his team mates, Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr) won the race, for the second year in row, ahead of Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R La Mondiale) and Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling).
The result of the Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2014
Here's the top 10 of the Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2014:

1/ Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr - 4h28'06"
2/ Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R La Mondiale)
3/ Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling)
4/ Tom van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
5/ Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Team Giant-Shimano)
6/ Julien Simon (Cofidis, solutions crédits)
7/ Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale)
8/ Jean-Pierre Drucker (Wanty-Groupe Gobert)
9/ Mickaël Delage (FDJ.fr)
10/ Baptiste Planckaert (Roubaix-Lille Métropole)
The classification of the Coupe de France PMU 2014
Taking the 6th place in the race, Julien Simon (Cofidis, solutions crédits) took an additional 16 points for the classification of the Coupe de France PMU but since his main competitor, Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale), didn't take any points, he of course didn't lose the leader position in this classification.

In addition to that, the rider of the Cofidis team is now sure to win the classification of the Coupe de France PMU 2014 since the winner of the Tour de Vendée will take only 50 points and the gap between Julien Simon and Samuel Dumoulin now is 63 points!

Here's the current top 5 of this classification:

1/ Julien Simon (Cofidis, solutions crédits) - 184 points
2/ Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale) - 121 points
3/ Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R La Mondiale) - 106 points
4/ Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) - 100 points
5/ Bryan Coquard (Team Europcar) - 100 points
The photos and the video summary of the Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2014
You can find a selection of 53 photos of the Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2014 in the corresponding photo category:

>> watch the photos of the Grand Prix d'Isbergues 2014

Later on you'll also find a video summary!
by Thomas Vergouwen
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