Groupama-FDJ)’s Arnaud Demare won the French national road race title for the third time yesterday.
Demare, already a champion in 2014 and 2017 as well as being a two-time Tour de France stage winner, reeled in Julian Alaphilippe before outstripping Bryan Coquard in a sprint finish in the 238km course in Brittany. 
Demare had withstood heavy pressure in the hilly finale of the stage, with a high pace and several attacks going on the final classified climb of the Côte de Beffe at 8.5km from the finish. He and his teammates stayed calm though, steadily working their way back to the front as Jhonatan Narváez (Team Ineos) slipped away alone on descent.
The Ecuadorian’s effort was a valiant one but Groupama-FDJ and AG2R La Mondiale put in the work to bring him back in the final kilometre and set up a sprint on the rise to the line. Demare, 28, missed on selection for his team’s squad for the August 28-September 20 Tour de France, which has been built around Thibaut Pinot.


Nizzolo wins second Italian road race title
NTT rider Giacomo Nizzolo yesterday won the Italian road race title yesterday for a second time as he outsprinted the other survivors of a 13-man breakaway.
Four years after his first victory, the 31-year-old edged Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Davide Ballerini and Bahrain-McLaren’s Sonny Colbrelli in the charge to the line at the end of a 253-kilometre race over 12 laps from Grapa to Cittadella.
Nizzolo has had injury problems since his first national title in 2016. After three very difficult years I managed to win back this jersey and I hope to enjoy it more than the first time,” he said.
Earlier Team Ineos withdrew its squad from the Italian National Championship as a precaution after one of its riders tested positive for the new coronavirus.
Ineos said in a statement that Leonardo Basso, 26, had tested positive on Saturday and showed no symptoms of Covid-19. Filippo Ganna, Salvatore Puccio and Gianni Moscon, who went on training rides with Basso, will also self-isolate for two weeks, as will four staff members who are considered secondary contacts, Ineos said.


Sanchez claims Spanish road race title
Astana rider Luis Leon Sanchez was crowned Spanish road race champion yesterday to add to his four national time trial titles.
The 36-year-old Sanchez, with four Tour de France stage victories to his name and winner of the 2009 Paris-Nice and the 2005 Tour Down Under, finished the 185km course between Ubeda and Baeza, in Andalusia, ahead of teammate Gorka Izagirre, with Vicente Garcia de Mateos (Aviludo-Louletano) rounding out the podium.
Last year’s winner Alejandro Valverde was unable to defend his title, focused instead on honing his preparations for the August 29-September 20 Tour de France.