GP de Fourmies

Telephone squad turns into attacking force as early break by Madrazo preceeds late attacks from Visconti, Amador and Costa. Bouhanni (FDJ) beats Greipel (LTB) at bunch kick

‘Les baroudeurs’, the fighters. Attitude and presence were the key notes from Movistar Team in the 81th GP de Fourmies, over 203km full of small ascents in the French region of the Nord. The telephone squad repeated the process followed on Saturday during the Brussels Classic by sending one of their riders into the early break; it was this time Ángel Madrazo who came into a six-man group which was caught only 20k from the finish by a resounding FDJ, who previously controlled all counter attempts by team-mates Andrey Amador and Rui Costa.

The Portuguese rider exhibited his great form building up for the Worlds, with several moves that did not find the required luck. Neither did the attack from Giovanni Visconti at the final climb, the race coming into a mass sprint where Bouhanni (FDJ) beat Greipel (LTB) into a small field with Ventoso (17th), leading the Blues in a day where Alex Dowsett was also missing after an illness that already sidelined him the previous day in Belgium.