Topsport Vlaanderen continued their impressive start to the season when their fast finisher Tom Van Asbroeck proved that he is more than just a sprinter when he won today's Cholet Pays De Loire. The former U23 Worlds bronze medalist made it into the big 22-rider group that went away from the gun and survived the gradual elimination before he could make use of his powerful sprint to beat his 8 remaining companions at the finish line.

 

One year ago Tom Van Asbroeck won the sprint of the peloton in the Cholet Pays De Loire, the third round of the season-long Coupe de France race series but with a break already up the road, he had to settle for a minor placing. Perhaps keeping that experience in mind, the Belgian decided to go on the attack in today's 2014 edition of the French race and that proved to be a wise decision.

 

Van Asbroeck made it into a big 22-rider group that escaped when strong winds wreaked havoc on the peloton right from the start and with an apparently disinterested peloton, it quickly became clear that the race winner would be one of those 22 riders. As the hard weather conditions and repeated climbs took their toll on the escapees, the number of riders in the front group constantly came down and by the end only 9 riders remained.

 

Knowing that he had no chance in a sprint against the many fast riders in the front group, Arnaud Courteille (FDJ) who had also been part of the race-winning move in yesterday's Classique Loire Atlantique, kept attacking and his final move wasn't caught until 1km from the line. With the young Frenchman back in the fold, the race was set to be decided in a 9-rider sprint.

 

As a sprinter, Van Asbroeck knew that he had a good chance of prevailing and he showed his fast speed when he held off Sebastien Delfosse (Wallonie) and Sebastien Turgot (Ag2r) in the final dash to the line. The win was the third in a major race for the Topsport Vlaanderen team that has had an impressive start to the season, with the team also playing a prominent role in the early classics. For Delfosse, it was his second runner-up spot in a French one-day race after his second place in the Drome Classic earlier this month.

 

The French season continues next weekend when it is time for the traditional short stage race Criterium International while the next round of the Coupe de France is the Route Adelie Vitre on April 4.

 

A hilly profile

After yesterday's Classique Loire Atlantique, the Coupe de France continued with the Cholet Pays de Loire which took the riders over a 206km route starting and finishing in Cholet. The race was a rolling affair with 10 shorter climbs and finished with a lap of a 29km finishing circuit with two ascents. The final of those was located 8.2km from the line and from there it was flat to the finish in Cholet. The race had both been won by bunch sprints and breakaways in the past, making it a rather open affair.

 

The race got off to a very fast sprint as the weather conditions offered plenty of wind for the first part of the race. Several riders tried to get clear but no one was able to get a significant gap until Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix) attacked 4km after the start.

 

The wind creates chaos

The past pace and the wind caused the peloton to split and suddenly a 21-rider group had set off in pursuit of Kowalski, they quickly caught the lone leader while Cofidis was trying to get things back under control but at the 6km mark, they were already 30 seconds behind the 22 leaders.

 

The front group was made up of Gediminas Bagdonas, Sébastien Turgot (AG2R La Mondiale), Jimmy Engoulvent (Europcar), Arnaud Courteille, Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ.fr), Benoît Jarrier, Armindo Fonseca (Bretagne Séché), Christophe Laporte (Cofidis),  David Lozano (Novo Nordisk), Tom Van Asbroeck, Thomas Sprengers (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Karol Domagalski (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Frederik Veuchelen (Groupe Gobert), Ilnur Zakarin (RusVélo), Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Adrian Kurek (CCC Polsat), Dimitri Le Boulch (BigMat-Auber 93), Benjamin Giraud, Yoann Paillot (La Pomme Marseille 13), Sébastien Delfosse (Wallonie Bruxelles), Tom Goovaerts (Veranclassic-Doltcini) and Sergey Shilov (Lokosphinx). With most teams represented in the front group, the peloton seemed to be content with it composition and so they were already 4.30 ahead after 18km of racing.

 

The peloton shows little interest

The wind created some splits in the front group but things came back together while in the peloton Cofidis and Ag2r were setting the pace. With riders up the road, however, they were not riding full gas and the gap continued to grow.

 

BigMat was one of the few teams with no rider in the move and so they started to chase which briefly created splits in the peloton. However, the small French team quickly gave up, giving way for Cofidis and Bretagne one the front.

 

More teams start to chase

Wanty also seemed slightly discontent with the situation and so they also started to chase, keeping the gap stable between 5 and 6 minutes. When they also gave up, it was again Ag2r on the front and they were happy to let the gap grow as they had two riders in the front group.

 

After 50km, the gap reached a massive 8 minutes and the peloton showed no signs of interest in upping the pace. In a crosswinds section, however, Lokosphinx started to chase and this stabilized the gap at around 8 minutes.

 

The peloton reacts

After 75km of racing, the riders hit a crosswinds section this created chaos in the peloton. Lokosphinx rode a hard pace that saw the gap come down rapidly and caused a big crash in the slick conditions. The peloton split into pieces, with a 40-rider first group that was just 4.50 behind at the 100km mark.

 

Europcar and Roubaix started to ride hard in that first chase group and the gap continued to come down, reaching 3.20 with 91km to go. Meanwhile, Kurek had had a puncture and he spent a long time in lone pursuit of the front group until he finally rejoined the leaders.

 

Domagalski makes a move

Le Boulch was starting to suffer in the front group but he managed to rejoin his companions after having been dropped for a short while. At this point the gap was down to 2.30 but after a long time with a downward trend it stabilized around that mark.

 

Zakarin was the next to puncture out of the lead group but he quickly rejoined the front. However, there was no longer any cohesion in the front group and after the 8th climb with 76km to go, Domagalski decided to take off on his own.

 

The chasers react

There was no immediate reaction from his former companions and with 64km to go, he was 1.20 ahead. At this point, the 40-rider chase group was just 1.05 behind his chasers and it seemed that they might get back in contention.

 

The chasers decided that it was time to work together and started riding much harder. Zakarin and Leboulch both got dropped while the chase group led by Europcar again started to lose ground.

 

Bagdonas tries his hand

With 54k to go, Domagalski was back in the fold and the front group was again 1.35 ahead of their chasers. This was when Bagdonas made an attack that ended up creating the final selection.

 

The first riders to join the Lithuanian were Fedrigo, Jarrier, Sprengers, Veuchelen and Delfosse and a little later Van Asbroeck and Courteille also managed to bridge across. Kowalski, Paillot and Engoulvent were next to join them and the final rider to make it into the lead group was Turgot.

 

Fonseca in desperate pursuit

The 12-rider front group had now opened a 35-second gap over their former companions which had no cooperation at all. Fonseca tried to attack and was joined by Lozano, Giraud and Shilov while the rest of the group was caught by the 40-rider chase group.

 

With 25km to go, the front group was 1.45 ahead of the group that was led by Cofidis and also contained Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ). However, the group failed to get any closer while up ahead Kowalski was the first to get dropped from the leaders.

 

Courteille opens the attacks

Courtellie was the first to attack and he was joined by Delfosse. The duo were 15 seconds ahead when they crossed the line to start the lap of the finishing circuit but with 11km to go, they were brought back. At this point, the Bouhanni group was 2.15 behind and it was now clear that the winner would be one from the front group.

 

Paillot was the next to attack and while Fonseca and Shilov were the final ones from the original group to get caught by the peloton, he managed to build up a 12-second gap. On the final climb 8km from the finish, however, he was brought back, opening the door for Courteille to make another attack.

 

New attack from Courteille

Paillot and Sprengers got dropped on the climb while Courteille got caught, meaning that 9 riders were left to contest the win. With 6km to go, Courteille made another attack and this time it looked promising for the FDJ rider.

 

The young Frenchman managed to stay clear until the flamme rouge but in the end it was a failed mission for him. He was brought back inside the final kilometre and instead Van Asbroeck beat Delfosse and Turgot to take a sprint win.