Arnaud Démare will resume racing next week. Stopped by the team after a disappointing spring, the Arkéa – B&B Hotels rider, who is clearly aiming for the Tour de France as his big seasonal goal after having to skip it last year leading to his break with Groupama – FDJ, will therefore be competing May 14-19 at the Four Days of Dunkirk to begin to find his race rhythm again. A race that has seen him shine several times in the past, taking home six stage wins and the overall twice in three participations (the last was in 2017, the two overall triumphs in 2013-2014)

“I feel great,” he comments enthusiastically ahead of his return to racing, which will thus take place seven weeks after his last race, “I have been completely for a fortnight, resting because I needed it. I took advantage of this break from training and racing to do some tests. The results indicated general fatigue. So the decision to stop was the right one. This decision, made with the team’s sports management, should allow me to recover in the second half of the season.”

At the moment, therefore, the form is still a little uncertain, but he feels he is getting the good feelings back: “Every time you get back on the bike after a break, you go back to the basics. You start with the basics and then add specific sessions. It’s kind of like building a house. You lay the foundation and then build around it. My feelings are that of a runner starting to train again and getting better day by day.”

Obviously, then, there are no big demands for his comeback race, to which he arrives without setting specific goals, or at least without wanting to announce them publicly: “It’s an important race for me. This year it will be a recovery race. I will take it one day at a time, like a daily classic. It will be good for me.”