Arnaud Démare: "It went so fast that I was already dead before the sprint"

Groupama - FDJ came to the Giro d'Italia with a team completely focused in the sprints, and they have been extremely successful as Arnaud Démare took his third stage win today in Cuneo, after obtaining his first win of the season just over a week ago.

"It went so fast that I was already dead before the sprint," said after the finish, however it did not prevent him from taking his third stage win and expand his lead in the points classification. The stage to Cuneo was hard, with a breakaway almost resisting until the finale with an average of over 45Km/h on a day where there was a complicated ascent. All sprinters made it through, however the reduced pace caused an urgent chase throughout the final two hours of racing.

Groupama - FDJ were a big part of the chase and eventually had the only leadout towards the finale, catching up with the survivors inside the final kilometer, where Démare took the win. "They all did a great job getting those guys back. This is what you might call a collective achievement. We had to eat up a lot of strong riders early on, which made it doubtful whether we would succeed. At ten kilometers from the finish I started to believe in it," he said.

“I said beforehand that it would be nice if I would take one stage win [in the race]. Two stage wins was a dream. But now I'm already taking a third. That really makes it a dream Giro for the team. Every win is special," Démare concluded. With only one sprint stage in the third week, the Giro d'Italia now becomes a race of survival for the Frenchman, who has the maglia ciclamino almost certain if he makes it to Verona.