Paris-Camembert: Benoit Cosnefroy charges to sprint victory
All French podium with Venturini second and Delettre third
Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) scored his third win of the 2024 season at the hilly one-day race Paris-Camembert.
The Frenchman, who won a stage and the overall at the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes last month, struck out late in the 205.6km race to beat Clément Venturini (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Alexandre Delettre (St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93) and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group Bardiani-CSF Faizanè) to the line from a reduced six-man lead group.
Cosnefroy, one of the leaders of the new-look Decathlon AG2R squad, had previously won the 1.1-rated race in 2019 with an 800-metre solo effort at the finish.
The fight for the win at the race, which had earlier been neutralised due to a mass crash, began when breakaway rider Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) was caught on the day's final hill after 45km on the attack.
The Butte des Fondits (1km at 9.7%) saw Costiou brought back as a select group – including the podium trio and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) – split away off the front on the steep gradients 10km from the line.
After the short, flat run to the finish in Livarot, 20km north of Camembert, it was Cosnefroy who came out on top to claim the 18th victory of his career and Decathlon AG2R's seventh of 2024. Compatriots Venturini and Delettre completed the podium with Marcellusi in fourth.
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Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Prior to joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.
As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Dani also oversees How to Watch guides and works on The Leadout newsletter throughout the season. Their favourite races are Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix and their favourite published article is from the 2024 edition of the latter: 'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix
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