Belgium's Baptiste Planckaert of Wallonie-Bruxelles etched his name on the record book of the Poly Normande right after his compatriots Jan Ghyselinck and Oliver Naesen as he fended off Ryan Anderson of Direct Energie for the victory.
"French Cup races suit me really well, especially with a false flat finish like this one," Planckaert told Cyclingnews at the finish. "Apparently I'm the third consecutive Belgian to win here. This kind of race with a strong wind in the finale is very good for us."
One of his teammates, Tom Dernies, took part in the long breakaway of the day along with Pierre Gouault (HT BTP-Auber 93), Jordan Levasseur (Armée de Terre), Johan Le Bon (FDJ) and Daniel Diaz (Delko Marseille). AG2R La Mondiale chased them down as they were ambitious for Samuel Dumoulin to profit from his post-Tour de France form to increase his lead in the French Cup series.
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With two laps to go, two local riders from Normandy took over from the quintet in the lead. One month after hosting the Grand Départ of the Tour de France, the huge crowd in La Manche was full of hope for Marc Fournier (FDJ) and Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).
The latter was the last man to be reined in with 3km to go. It was an unusual bunch sprint finish in the village of legendary Tour de France [former] speaker Daniel Mangeas. Cofidis did the work for Nacer Bouhanni, who was on his come-back race after he failed to start the Tour due to a fight with a drunken man the night before the French championship. However, the Frenchman was nowhere to be seen (30th) on the finishing line.
Anderson was the closest man to Planckaert. "This is a very good result for me," the Canadian said. "I had the freedom to race for myself pending if I was going well in the climbs. Tony Hurel and myself were protected but I wasn't confident for a sprint finish because it's usually a winning breakaway here. I'm thankful to [Direct Energie team manager] Jean-René [Bernaudeau] to have given me the opportunity to come back to Europe after I had a first experience with [Canadian Pro Conti team] Spidertech."
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