Arnaud Démare: "I turned out to be the strongest"

Off the back of his opening win of the season, Arnaud Démare has entered a streak of wins as he crossed the line first in Scalea, beating Caleb Ewan in a milimetrical sprint and extending his lead in the points classification.

In a post-race interview, he quickly pointed out that despite the incredibly small margin, he was confident of the win as he crossed the finish: “To be honest, I immediately thought I had already won. I wasn't quite sure, though, because it was very close."

Groupama - FDJ had a relatively calm day throughout most of the stage as Lotto Soudal took charge of the responsability for the sole rider that went up the road early on, and they could make good use of the six-man leadout that has came to Italy alongside the Frenchman in order to reach success in the flat stages. Today happened to be the case, again.

As he managed to avoid the chaos that were the final 500 meters, he managed to slot in an incredibly narrow gap behind Caleb Ewan, and launched his bid for the line in the final meter, with the organizers needing a photofinish picture to conclude the day's winner. "I was perfectly placed with the team at every important point, at every roundabout in the last fifteen kilometers. Perfect! Mark Cavendish left very strong in the final sprint, but I knew I had something left. In the end I turned out to be the strongest of the three," he concluded.

He now holds 53 points of lead over Biniam Girmay which is quite a significant lead as the race comes closer to the mountains. He will not have an easy time on the two mountainous stages that will come later this week, however he will only have to resist and come within the time limit, with the large support of his team.