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Video length: 8 min
Men’s elite race: summary
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The Normand became French road racing champion on Sunday. Relive the race between Avranches and Saint-Martin-de-Landelles, in Manche.
Paul Lapeira has established himself on his land. The runner Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale won the blue-white-red jersey for the first time in its career at the end of the 240.6 kilometers race between Avranches and Saint-Martin-de-Landelles (Manche). He beat Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) – already in bronze last year – and Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies) in the sprint.
Starting with three laps to go to get into the leading group, the native of Fougères took advantage of a demanding circuit and the help of his teammate Nicolas Prodhomme at the front to widen the gap. Behind, the big names tried to react by multiplying attacks like the Groupama-FDJ of the outgoing winner Valentin Madouas or Julian Alaphilippe, but without success. This harvest punctuates a flamboyant first part of the season: with 26 victories, the French team occupies third place in the world in the UCI rankings, and is approaching the summer with ambitions.
