Jonathan Hivert (Direct Energie) continued his fine 2018 campaign with victory at the Tour du Finistère on Saturday, where he beat Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Guillaume Martin (Wanty Groupe-Gobert) to the line in Quimper.
The 33-year-old Frenchman, who won both stages and the overall at the Tour du Haut Var in February before taking a stage at Paris-Nice the following month, edged out his compatriots after a group of a dozen riders had broken clear on the last of five laps of a 9.7km finishing circuit.
Hivert possesses a strong sprint and was able to overcome the other members of a strong group, which, as well as Bardet and Martin, included Warren Barguil (Fortuneo-Samsic), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), and his own teammate Lilian Calmejane.
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Hivert now has five wins for the season and Direct Energie 12, the French Pro Continental team showing no signs of missing Bryan Coquard, who left acrimoniously over the winter.
Hivert's victory came in a stronger-than-usual field at the Tour du Finistère, which could be explained by the fact that the route contained the exact final 35 or so kilometres that will be found on stage 5 of this year's Tour de France in July.
As such, as well as Bardet, Barguil, and Van Garderen, Richie Porte was also in attendance, all of them grabbing the opportunity for an in-race recon. Bardet will no doubt be happy with his performance in light of a much sooner target – La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège next week.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-du-finistre-2018/results
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