Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) has been close to his first victory multiple times this year. Today he finally crossed the line in first position as he won the French one-day race Paris-Camembert to get a huge confidence boost ahead of the Ardennes classics.

Pierrick Fedrigo put in an attack inside the final 2km of the hard final to the Paris-Camembert. Joined by Julien Antomarchi (La Pomme Marseille), Sylvain Georges (Ag2r) and Circuit Cycliste Sarthe winner Pierre Rolland (Europcar), he managed to escape the clutches of the diminished peloton.

At the end of an extremely aggressive and fast race, the peloton had used up most of its domestique resources, and the group had built up a gap of 14 seconds as they passed under the Flamme Rouge. Knowing that it was too late for the peloton to catch them, the group had to decide the race in a final sprint.

Most riders know that Fedrigo is a danger man in a sprint from a breakaway, and today he once again proved his abilities. Having won multiple Tour de France stages in similar fashion, he used his final kick to outsprint his companions to take his first season victory ahead of Georges and Rolland.

The win comes at a perfect time for Fedrigo who prepares an assault on the Ardennes classics. The Frenchman has always been expected to perform well in the hilly races but he has never fulfilled the expectations. With today's important confidence boost, 2013 could be the year where Fedrigo finally delivers on his promise in the most prestigious one-day races.

A very fast start

The 206,5km Paris-Camembert race is the fourth round of the important Coupe de France race series and with its hilly route a perfect preparation race for the Ardennes classics. Taking in a hard route with 8 climbs inside the final 85km, the race has been strong climbers like Alejandro Valverde and Sandy Casar.

With only 14 teams starting the race, most riders knew that it would be a difficult affair to control. As a consequence, attacks went thick and fast in a very fast start to the race.

Rob Bush (La Pomme Marseille), Julian Kern (Ag2r), Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar), Renaud Dion (Bretagne), Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) and Dimitri Le Boulch (BigMat-Auber93) created the first serious escape and the group was allowed to build up a gap of 50 seconds. However, Sojasun had missed the move and with most of the big teams all represented, the team had to close down the move in order to avoid the responsibility of a lone chase all day.

All back together

After 35km, it was all back together, and once again riders started to go off the front. At one point, the peloton broke into two pieces with 38 riders going off the front. With the likes of Fedrigo, Jeannesson,  Georges, Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r) and Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun) all in the front group, it was a dangerous move.

Continental team La Pomme Marseille once again proved its amazing strength and closed down the move by a strong effort to protect the overall lead in the Coupe de France of Justin Jules. After 75km of racing, it was all back together, and the day's early break had still not been created.

The early break gets clear

That happened moments later as the elastic finally snapped. Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r), Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar), Alexandre Blain (Raleigh), Rob Britton (Raleign), Kevin Lalouette (Roubaix), Romain Hardy (Cofidis), Fabien Schmidt (Sojasun), Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Cedric Pineau (FDJ) made up the day's 9-man key move.

They were allowed to build up a gap of 2 minutes when Bretagne-Seche Environnement took up the pace-setting duties. The grey-clad team was the only of the big French teams to miss out and they took on the responsibility to keep the gap in check.

As they entered the final, hilly part of the race, Schmidt had an unfortunate puncture but after a long chase he managed to get back on. The effort, however, cost a lot of energy and on a climb he and Hardy were both dropped and later caught by the peloton.

The break splits up

Moments later, Britton, Declercq and Pineau dropped their companions who were gradually picked up by the bunch. With Sojasun and Europcar no longer represented in the front group, the two pro continental teams upped the pace, and the gap started to come down rapidly.

On a climb, Mikael Cherel (Ag2r), Antomarchi, Julien El Fares (Sojasun), Bryan Coquard (Europcar) and Mike Terpstra (Team 3M) escaped and they joined the 3 breakaway riders to form an 8-man escape. The break was never allowed much leeway and Terpstra decided to set off on his own.

The former companions were all caught and the young Dutchman delivered a fabulous effort to hold off the Sojasun- and Europcar-led peloton but with 10km left he was caught. That happened exactly at the bottom of the day's final climb in which Georges put in a furious acceleration to set off on his own.

An aggressive final

The Frenchman was caught but denied to give up his effort, and moments later he was again off the front, this time accompanied by Rolland and Antomarchi. The group was once again brought back together, and  all indications were that the race would be decided in a sprint between the likes of Coquard, Dumoulin and Julien Simon (Sojasun).

However, Fedrigo would not accept this outcome, and as they passed the 2km to go banner he managed to escape the peloton's clutches. In the company of Rolland, Georges and Antomarchi, he managed to hold off the bunch, and in a sprint he finally took the victory which has so far eluded him this season.

Result:

1.  Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ)
2. Sylvain Georges (AG2R La Mondiale)
3. Pierre Rolland (Europcar)
4. Julien Antomarchi (La Pomme Marseille)
5. Bryan Coquard (Europcar)
6. Anthony Geslin (FDJ)
7. Julien Simon (Sojasun)
8. Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale)
9. Julien El Farès (Sojasun)
10. Laurent Pichon (FDJ)