Arnaud Démare: "I’m still disappointed as I’m here to win"

Arnaud Démare came with six riders focused on his support, and on getting Groupama - FDJ to conquer sprint stages, and at today's bunch sprint - his first real opportunity - success was close, but Démare could only finish second place.

After the stage, the Frenchman explained how the finale unrolled in his point of view: “It was very fast, and we expected it because everyone was very fresh. Our positioning was good, but it was hard to stay together," he said. "I lost the guys with just a kilometre to go but managed to get back into Jacopo’s [Guarnieri] wheel at 600m. I saw the train with Cavendish pass, and I fought to get into this wheel. I was really happy to be there.”

With positioning succeeding, Démare was in a good position to fight for the stage win. He matched Mark Cavendish's sprint, but couldn't get through in the final meters. “He went hard from far, and held on for long. It was impressive. There wasn’t much to do.

"I immediately started my sprint next to him, but looking back, I think I should have stayed a bit in his wheel and waited until the last moment to try to overtake," he added. As for the possible tilt at the points classification, Démare climbed to fourth place, 18 behind Mathieu van der Poel who will depart to the fourth stage in the lead - as Biniam Girmay will wear it on the day.

“I’m still disappointed as I’m here to win but there are plenty of other opportunities coming up. It still is a decent start for the team. Physically, I’m fine, I don’t miss much. The guys did a good job, we still have to adjust the timing and stay together. We took second, it could have been worse, it could have been better too, but at least it really launches our Giro," he concluded.