Turgis takes it all in Boucles de la Mayenne queen stage

Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) confirmed that he is one of the greatest French talents when he took a solo victory in the Boucles de la Mayenne queen stage. The Frenchman attacked out of an 11-rider front group and managed to hold off his former companions to take both the stage victory and the overall lead in the four-day race.

In 2012, Anthony Turgis finished second at the Junior European Championships and the Junior Paris-Roubaix and so marked himself out as one to watch. Last year he won the U23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege and finished third at the U23 European Championships to confirm his huge potential.

Those results earned him a contract with the Cofidis but the first time at the highest level has been a tough one for the talented Frenchman. Today he finally proved that he is one to watch also in the pro ranks when he took a great solo win in the Boucles de la Mayenne queen stage.

After his solid prologue, Turgis went into the hilly stage in 17th overall, just 12 seconds behind leader Johan Le Bon (FDJ) and so he was one to watch when he made it into an 11-rider group after a fast and aggressive start to the race. With just four teammates at his side, Le Bon knew that he could not allow them too much leeway and so they never got an advantage of more than 2.30.

FDJ got a lot of assistance from the Topsport Vlaanderen and Murias Taldea teams but their combined efforts turned out not to be enough. The 11 escapees lost Caesar Bihel (Auber 93) but the 10 remaining attackers proved to be impossible to catch.

Having started the final lap of the 8.3km finishing circuit with a 50-second advantage over the peloton, the attacking started in the front group. Xandro Meurisse (An Post) was the first to try and when he was caught with 6km to go, Turgis gave it a go.

Turgis managed to build an advantage of 10 seconds over his chasers but as he approached the finish line, he started to lose ground. It seemed that the strong Frenchman would be caught but he managed to dig deep again and impressively he held off his chasers by just a single second. Yesterday’s stage winner Andrea Pasqualon (Roth-Skoda) who was also part of the breakaway, beat Romain Combaud (Armee) in the sprint for second while Marcel Meisen (Roth-Skoda) led the peloton home 28 seconds too late.

With the win, Turgis also takes the leader’s jersey in the four-day race and he just needs to survive one more stage to take the overall victory. However, the final leg is held on a hilly course. After an easy start with just one climb in the first half, the riders will tackle four ascents before they get to the finishing circuit which they will cover 5 times

The hardest stage

After yesterday’s sprint stage, it was time for the hardest stage of the 2015 edition of the race when the riders tackled a 186km course from Saint-Pierre-des-Nids to Lassay-les-Chateaux. After a hilly first part with four categorized climbs, the terrain got a bit easier as there was only one categorized climb in the second half before the riders got to the 8.3km finishing circuit. It was a challenging affair with a small climb that the riders would tackle a total of four times.

It was another beautiful day in France as the sun was shining bright when the riders gathered for the start. With a temperature of 23 degrees, it was less hot than it has been in the previous stages, making it a perfect day for a bike race.

Lots of attacks

Like yesterday it was a fast start with lots of attacks. The first rider to get a significant advantage was Thomas Sprengers (Topsport) but he was quickly brought back. Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix), Clement Venturini (Cofidis) and several Wanty riders were all active but after 15km of racing, no one had managed to get clear.

Race leader Johan Le Bon was dealt a significant blow when his teammate Yoann Offredo left the race. Meanwhile, the peloton tackled the first climb where Maxime Renault (Roubaix), Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix), Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne), Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural) and Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier (FDJ) were all active but it was Julien El Fares (Marseille) who led Goncalves, Quentin Pacher (Armee) and Antomarchi across the line at the top. At this point, several riders had already been dropped and many of them soon abandoned.

The break is formed

After the top of the climb, 4 riders attacked and that group quickly swelled to include 11 riders. Caesar Bihel (Auber); Pierre-Luca Perichon (Bretagne), Goncalves, Thomas Damuseau (Roubaix), El Fares, Yoann Barbas, Romain Combaud (Armee), Xandro Meurisse (An Post), Serge Dewortelaer (Veranclassic), Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) and Andrea Pasqualon (Roth-Skoda) quickly established a solid advantage of 1.50 at the end of a fast first hour during which Matthieu van der Poel (BKCP) was one of many riders to abandon.

When Pasqualon beat Turgis and Goncalves in the first intermediate sprint at the 53km mark, the gap had gone out to 2.35 but now Topsport Vlaanderen had taken control in the peloton. They kept it stable around 2.30 before Murias Taldea made a big acceleration on a climb with 110km to go. That brought the gap down to just 1.10 as they entered the final 100km and several riders were again dropped, including sprinter Thomas Boudat (Europcar)

Three team share the workload

Like his brother Mathieu, David van der Poel (BKCP) abandoned the race and sprinter Frederique Robert (Wanty) also stepped off his bike. Meanwhile, FDJ had again taken control in the peloton and even though they got some assistance from Murias Taldea and Topsport, they allowed the gap to go back up to 2.25 with 75km to go.

Those three teams kept it around that mark for a little while while Yannick Eijssen (Wanty) left the race. Moments later, Perichon beat Turgis and Pasqualon in the final KOM sprint of the day.

Sprinters get dropped

With 35km to go, the gap was down to 2.00 but as the peloton started to accelerate, several riders were dropped. Lorrenzo Manzin (FDJ), Yauheni Hutarovich (Bretagne), Gert Joeaar and Louis Verhelst (Cofidis) were among the riders to get dropped.

At the second passage of the finish line, the gap was down to 1.25 and now Europcar had also started to work. Their work paid off as the gap was only 1.00 at the start of the penultimate lap.

The attacking starts

However, the escapees responded well and when they started the final lap, they had only lost another 10 seconds. At this point, Meurisse launched a solo attack while Bihel dropped back to the peloton.

Meurisse’s attack was unsuccessful and instead Turgis took off. When he entered the final 4km, he had distanced his former companions by 15 seconds while the peloton was still 40 seconds behind. With 2km to go, Turgis still had 10 seconds in hand and that proved to be enough as he won the stage with a 1-second margion over Pasqualon.