Arnaud Demare (FDJ) once again underlined his huge sprinting talent by beating much of the world elite in the fourth stage of the Tour de Suisse, taking his first ever stage win in a WorldTour race. Despite his already sizeable victory tally, he rates today's win as one of his 5 best and is happy to see himself progress both as a sprinter and a classics rider.

Arnaud Demare has long marked himself out as one of the biggest sprint talents in the world. Long before his win at the 2011 U23 world championships, it was evident that he was destined for something big and that big win in Copenhagen did only confirm that assessment.

Already in his first race as a professional, he beat the best sprinters in the world in the final stage of last year's Tour of Qatar. He went on to tale another 5 wins during his maiden season, with his victory in the WorldTour Vattenfall Cyclassics being his major breakthrough.

This year his progress has continued. During the spring classics he delivered strong performances, thus underlining that he could be much more than just a pure sprinter in future seasons. He went on to completely dominate the 4 Days of Dunkirk, winning 3 of the 5 stages and taking a convincing overall win.

What lacked in his palmares as a sprinter was a stage win at one of the big WorldTour stage races. Today he could finally tick that box when he outsprinted elite sprinters like Matthew Goss, Tyler Farrar, John Degenkolb, Alexander Kristoff, Heinrich Haussler and Peter Sagan in the fourth stage of the Tour of Switzerland.

The stage had some tough climbs along the way but Demare raced as a senior member of the peloton, carefully gauging his efforts to save energy for the final.

"I'm really happy," he said. "We had perfect timing. Throughout the day, Yoann  Offredo   protected me perfectly. On the climbs, I deliberately held something back to keep the power for the sprint and then I got back on each time."

The sprint was a chaotic sprint as a sharp left-hand bend with 200m to go played a crucial role. To have any winning chance, you would have to enter that corner in one of the first three positions and the young Frenchman knew this.

In the past, he has had some problems positioning himself for the sprint but today his strong lead-out man William Bonnet did a formidable work. He dropped his sprinter off in perfect position in fourth position just behind Farrar, Goss and Goss' lead-out man Daryl Impey.

From there, Demare sprinted into the corner, exiting the bend in first position and from then on no one was able to pass the young Frenchman. Goss got close in the end but the stage was just a little bit too short for the Australian to take the win.

"In the last 2 to 3 km, the pace was really fast and it was a little lottery," Demare said. "I fell back, rubbed shoulders and it was difficult to keep my position. I wondered where William Bonnet was. I looked around and suddenly I saw him coming and though "There he is..." I was relieved."

"After the corner with 2km to go, he started to bring me back to the front. There were two or three traffic islands so we had to be careful. I knew I had to be in second position in the final corner but when I saw the sign signaling 200m to the turn, I said "Go!" I sprinted twice, both before and after the turn. That was crucial but it was possible because I had super legs. After the turn, I felt that  Goss took advantage of my slipstream but I also saw the finish line approaching and I thought it was too late for him."

His super legs came from his big work load in the early season where he participated in big classics like the Gent-Wevelgem, Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders and his wily racing came from his growing spring experience.

" I did the hard racing in the classics and I feel I have progressed," he said. "And then I learned in the sprints too. And it was not easy to reproduce what I had observed others do. I must also say that the trust from the FDJ team is a great advantage. This victory is in the top 5 of my victories because winning in the WorldTour is always huge. And the  Tour of Switzerland goes well for us as Thibaut Pinot is fifth overall. All is well!"

Unsurprisingly, sports director Yvon Madiot was overjoyed by his team's splendid performances which has seen both captains Demare and Pinot deliver some formidable results.

"The stage went smoothly with a 3-rider breakaway which attacked during the 5th kilometer and was chased down by the pack, led by Jeremy Roy, he said. "This morning we chose the tactics that gave us the win: to save Arnaud for the last moment. Yoann Offredo and William Bonnet did a perfect job and Arnaud took decisive action by sprinting before the last corner. This is a great victory in the Tour of Switzerland which is going well for us since Thibaut is fifth overall. "

Demare will get another chance in Wednesday's and Thursday's stages which could both end in sprints while Pinot will save his legs for Friday's queen stage to La Punt. Starting at 16.55, you can follow tomorrow's stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.