Greig Leach

It was Arnaud Demare (FDJ) who opened up the sprint for the line. Demare jumped from the back of the leading foursome of himself, Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-Quickstep), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal). Demare's move came early catching the others by surprise. Only Stybar was able to catch the Frenchman's wheel and the pair sprinted to the line across the cobble stones, dropping the other two. Try as he might, Stybar was unable to get around Demare and had to watch as the French sprinter raised his arm in victory. Demare is in great form ahead of the UCI Road World Championships next week in Doha, Qatar. I wonder if we will see a Frenchman wearing the Rainbow Jersey for the 2017 cycling season.