Justin Jules (La Pomme Marseille) took the biggest win of his career to date, as he sprinted to victory in the GP Marseillaise, his team’s home race, in front of Olympique de Marseille’s Stade Vélodome football stadium. The 26-year-old from the northwest suburbs of Paris finished just ahead of 2012 race winner Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale) at the end of the attacking 148km race, with Thomas Damuseau (Argos-Shimano) third, after a crashing police moto disrupted the peloton in the closing kilometres.
The traditional European season-opener, starting and finishing in France’s second city on the Mediterranean coast, was dominated by a two-man breakaway from Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Thomas Vaubourzeix (La Pomme Marseille). As the peloton split on the third climb of the day, Cédric Pineau (FDJ) and Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) managed to join the leading duo, but all four were reeled in by the front group inside the final 15km.
There was an almost immediate counter attack from Sander Armee (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), who led by 20 seconds over the top of the Col de la Gineste with a little under ten kilometres left to race. The young Belgian was swallowed up by the front half of the peloton with just 3km to go, however, as the sprinters’ trains began to prepare for the finish.
Unfortunately, as the peloton was approaching the finish - with just a kilometre and a half to go - a crashing police moto brought down a number of riders, including Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM), Julien Simon (Sojasun), Rémi Cusin (IAM Cycling), and Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol).
In the dash for the line, the La Pomme Marseille team managed to get Jules to the front, and he just managed to hold off the attentions of Dumoulin all the way to the line.
Result GP Marseillaise
1. Justin Jules (Fra) La Pomme Marseille
2. Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
3. Thomas Damuseau (Fra) Argos-Shimano
4. Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ
5. Sander Armee (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
6. Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
7. Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Crelan-Euphony
8. Warren Barguil (Fra) Argos-Shimano
9. Björn Leukemans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM
10. Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise