Just 240 kilometers separate Arnaud Démare from a fourth record tricolor knit.
In the event of success on Sunday at the French Championships in Cholet, where Julian Alaphilippe makes his return, the 30-year-old sprinter would join a big name in the cycling imagination, Jean Stablinski, on the list.
“
Inevitably, these small records write the history of cycling, it is an additional motivation
”, declared this week by videoconference the triple champion of France (2014, 2017, 2020), sometimes frustrated that “
we forget very quickly
” his great deeds.
"
People tend to underestimate me, but this is my 86th victory
", regretted Démare, on the evening of his second bouquet in the Giro 2022. With a seventh stage success, the Picard became the most victorious Frenchman in the test.
Ahead of Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, winners of six stages each.
Since then, the leader of Groupama-FDJ has collected an eighth before raising his arms again, for the 88th time, in the first stage of the Route d'Occitanie.
The sign of an extended form.
"
Beyond writing a record over a year, we are writing a little piece of history
", retains the winner of Milan-Sanremo 2016
. Giro.
»
Before equaling Sunday the most successful road race of the French Championships, Jean Stablinski (1960, 1962, 1963, 1964)?
At the end of the twelve laps of a technical urban circuit of 20 kilometers without real difficulty, they seem to be able to deprive him of it.
In the absence of Christophe Laporte (Jumbo), who missed out, and Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic), victim of a fractured cervical vertebra in April, "
Nono
" quotes Bryan Coquard, second in a stage of the Tour de Suisse last week.
“
I have my card to play on Sunday
,” joins the finisher from Cofidis.
“
Even if I think Arnaud Démare is the N.1 favourite.
»
Others with a decent burst of speed, such as Florian Sénéchal (Quick-Step) or Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), can have their chance in the event of a tiring race through reminders.
A “training” for Alaphilippe
"
It's never the same a sprint after 250 km
", supports Sénéchal, who will be surrounded by a luxury teammate in the person of Julian Alaphilippe for his return to the race, five days before the big start of the Tour de France on Friday from Copenhagen .
The presence of the double world champion on the Great Loop remains to be formalized.
"
I want to do the Tour, of course, but there is also the unknown about my condition and then the selection (within the team, editor's note) also happens higher
", he temporized Friday during of a press briefing.
The wearer of the iridescent jersey has not pinned a bib since his fall with severe results (hemopneumothorax and multiple fractures of the ribs and a scapula) two months ago in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Even if "
Alaf
" shines on the circuits, we should not expect to see in Cholet the sparkling puncher of Imola and Louvain, warns AFP his coach and cousin Franck Alaphilippe: "
The Championship will serve as a training if he does the Tour.
»
“
He will only have had three real weeks of training before the French Championship
,” he describes.
“
It would be a little more by the Tour but it's still not much.
A virus, on his return from his internship in Sierra Nevada, notably caused him to lose precious days.
“
I don't know how it's going to be in the peloton, when it's going to go down quickly or when there will be brakes
,” anticipates the person concerned.
“
That's also why I'm here, to get back to normal, not just to see where I am physically.
»