Jerome prevails in Tro-Bro Léon

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Europcar's Vincent Jérôme scored the second win of his pro career at the Tro-Bro Léon, four years after victory in the Tour du Doubs. At the end of the Breton version of Paris-Roubaix, the 26-year-old Frenchman triumphed after outsprinting Canadian champion Will Routley (Team Spidertech Powered By C10).

"I'm really happy," Jérôme said. "I was in search of a nice win and this is a great race. It was my first time participating in the Tro-Bro Léon. Fortunately I had good advice about the gravelled roads from my teammate Perrig Quéméneur who is originally from the area here.

"The team told me that I could do well here. It's a race of good positioning, like the Belgian Classics from which I came out pretty well." Jérôme recently finished 11th at the GP E3.

Luck was on Jérôme's side when his teammate Tony Hurel punctured at the front with 20km to go. The neo-pro from Europcar had been away with FDJ's Arnold Jeannesson since they passed a gravelled road in front of the castle of Kerouartz with 40km to go. Jérôme managed to bridge across to Hurel along with Steve Chainel (FDJ).

Jérôme was alone against two riders from FDJ until Canada's Routley came across 8km from the finish. Routley was then the only rider able to respond to Jérôme's attack at the beginning of the bell lap with 5km to go. Cramps prevented Chainel from following the move.

"I also felt a little bit of cramps for the final sprint," Routley told Cyclingnews. "I lost a bit of confidence, that's what made me sprint too early. I should have waited until the last minute. I also made the mistake to not close the door on him, but Canadians are known as too nice guys..."

The result is the first podium appearance of the season for Team Spidertech Powered By C10, in its first year as a Pro Continental team. "I've loved this race, Tro-Bro Léon is awesome," said Routley, 27, who switched to road cycling from mountain biking at the age of 21.