Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – Stage 5 – Bryan Coquard 9th

The fifth stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes between Saint-Chamond and the Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes was the last chance for the fast men in the peloton to prove themselves. Although a breakaway group of six riders broke away on the roads of the Loire, Rhône, and Ain regions, it remained under the control of the peloton and our riders, who actively participated in the chase. The breakaway held on until the end, but it was the sprint that decided this stage. Bryan Coquard took 9th place. 

Bingen Fernandez, sports director: 
"The plan for the day was to get Bryan Coquard into the sprint. We knew it would be a bit tricky because the first part of the stage was ideal for breakaways. But in the end, we saw that several teams were interested in finishing in a sprint. So we rode with them.
The team worked well, but we fell a little short in the final stretch. Bryan wasn’t able to sprint properly; he was a bit boxed in. In the end, he wasn’t able to show his true potential. We finished in 9th place. Like all competitors, we always want to do better. But that’s just the nature of the sprint.”