April 4, 2025
There is a five way tie for the lead of the Coupe De France going into the fifth round in Vitré. The route takes the riders North out of Vitré on five large 21KM laps before doing eight smaller laps, 9KM each. The the main climb on the smaller local lap is the Côte de La Chênelière which is 800M long with an average grade of just over 5%. There is a series of left turns which takes the riders into the very technical final kilometer through the old streets of Vitré which could be dangerous if a large group comes to the finish together.
Race Summary
A break got clear early of four riders including Jelle Vermoote of Wagner-Bazin WB, Similien Hamon of CIC-U Nantes, Axel Narbonne Zuccarelli of Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur, and Célestin Wattelle of Novo-Nordisk. Wattelle was dropped around 70KM to go as the other three neared the entrance to the smaller local laps with a gap of 50 seconds to the peloton. Attacking had already begun from the bunch and teams were trying to split the group using the 20KM/HR wind that was blowing. The break was caught and the race was all together with 61KM to go but the attacking continued. Cofidis managed to take control of the bunch until they went over the top of the Côte de La Chênelière with 48KM to go when a group of 13 went away. The leaders went through the finish line with 45KM to go with only about 10 seconds but the front group split to four riders and the gap slowly crept out to 20 seconds. The group included Rémi Cavagna of Groupama-FDJ, Paul Seixas of Decathlon AG2R, Sakarias Koller Løland of Uno-X Mobility, and Antonio Jesús Soto of Equipo Kern Pharma with Unibet-Tietema Rockets chasing behind.
A counter attack from the bunch broke clear which made contact with the four leaders but the group was over 20 riders. The momentum went out and the peloton caught on, bringing the race back together once again. Nicolas Breuillard of St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93 was the next rider to attack, he went on the Côte de La Chênelière with 31.5KM to go and brought Samuel Leroux of TotalEnergies with him. They were joined by Jonas Iversby Hvideberg of Uno-X Mobility, Daniel Årnes of Van Rysel Roubaix, and Niklas Larsen of BHS-PL Beton-Bornholm. They went through 3 laps and 27KM to go with Cofidis leading the peloton 13 seconds back. The gap was still 15 seconds with 2 laps to go. Larsen went solo on the climb but the peloton were in a single file line at full speed on the downhill coming back into Vitré for the penultimate time.
The race was together through the bell for the final 8KM. Louis Barré of Intermarché-Wanty put in a big attack on the climb which caused a split of 8 riders at the front. Cofidis were well represented, including Bryan Coquard, and pushed on over the top. A larger group joined with 4KM to go to make around 25 riders with the rest of the peloton struggling to get back on. Uno-X Mobility led through the final 1KM with TotalEnergies and Cofidis sitting in. The run into 500M was all downhill and incredibly fast. Stian Fredheim of Uno-X Mobility carried the most speed through the corners in the last 500M and found himself with a gap back to Coquard. He continued his effort and the gap kept going out. Paul Penhoët of Groupama-FDJ launched from the bunch and got halfway across but Fredheim had enough of a gap to hold to the finish line to take the victory. Penhoët was a comfortable second with Emilien Jeannière of TotalEnergies taking third.