Cavagna solos to French men's road title

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Rémi Cavagna delivered Deceuninck-Quick Step's second French national road race title 10 years after Sylvain Chavanel and three days after a big disillusionment due to mechanical problems in the individual time trial for which he was the defending champion.

The 25-year-old won by 58 seconds after a lone attack from 14 kilometres out in poor conditions on the hilly course. Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) and Damien Touze (AG2R Citroen) rounded out the podium after winning the sprint from a reduced chase group.

"I don't realize what's happening," said Cavagna, interviewed by French national team manager Thomas Voeckler. "My goal was the time trial. I was the favourite and I came for winning. I was very disappointed. It was a slam in my face. I know there were circumstances and problems…

"However, today we were a team of only three riders with Julian [Alaphilippe] and Florian [Sénéchal] but a super team anyway. Our tactic was for me to be ahead if a numerous group was formed at the front. When I heard that Julian was coming across, I could take it easy for a while after I rode a lot in the breakaway. At the last feeding, I heard some encouragement so I took my chance and it worked out."

Cavagna took place in the leading after 30km of racing, along with Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM), Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic), Jérémy Leveau (Xelliss-Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Rémy Rochas and Victor Lafay (Cofidis), Matthieu Ladagnous, Simon Guglielmi and Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Geoffrey Bouchard and Touzé (AG2R-Citroën), Alexis Guérin (Vorarlberg), Jérémy Cabot and Fabien Doubey (TotalEnergies).

They got a maximum time gap of five minutes at half way. With 35km to go, Sénéchal put the hammer down, launching a strong attack for Alaphilippe. Only David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R-Citroën) managed to follow the world champion. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) reacted with a slight delay. Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) made it across.

The 7-man chasing group missed being reunited with the 14 leaders by a mere thirty seconds due to the presence of Alaphilippe. After they got reeled in by the remaining of the peloton on the rain soaked demanding circuit of Epinal, Madouas and Cosnefroy attacked. Martin reacted, again with a slight delay.

Once the trio bridged the gap, Cavagna was gone solo at the beginning of the last lap with 14km to go. He could power on his favourite time trial mode to collect the white, red and blue jersey that will not be featured on the roads of the Tour de France as the 'TGV of Clermont-Ferrand' – his nickname – pursues further goals after having ridden the Giro d'Italia and missed out on the last stage victory due to a crash in the last curve in Milan. The time trial of the Tokyo Olympics is one of them.

In between Chavanel and Cavagna, Groupama-FDJ settles for seven French titles for road racing out of nine.

"We outnumbered the other teams in the front group", Molard said. "I knew the team would put faith in me but Rémi was too strong. He attacked at the right place in the feed zone. We never managed to bring him back.

"We came to defend our jersey. We rode well, tactically speaking with giving Gaudu and Madouas the possibility to play their cards in case of a regrouping. It's a pity to come second. But we'll come back for another jersey in the team."