The Hague-Fouassière (France) (AFP)

He mastered the burning conditions like a master: at age 23, Benjamin Thomas became for the first time champion of France against the clock, Thursday near Nantes, dominating a course of 47.1 km disputed under forty degrees.

"For the podium, it will be played out on the details: it will be necessary to think of well hydrate, the organisms will be put to the test.On a time, we do not really have the opportunity to recover so if we put ourselves in the red one explodes completely, "he predicted to AFP Wednesday.

The rider of the Groupama-FDJ team was finally one of the few not to put himself in the red: gone slower than some rivals, he ramped up on a breakthrough course to finish on the last false flat with more than a minute ahead of all his pursuers, with a time of 58 min 54 sec. Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis) and Julien Antomarchi (Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Métropole) completed the podium but did not compete.

Thomas offers his manager Marc Madiot a new title, he whose team collects so much in these Championships, and who aims with a logical ambition a 7th tricolor jersey on the last 8 editions Sunday during the race online.

The 40 degrees, which reached their peak in the late afternoon have done enormous damage: several riders have been victims of impressive fatigue, some even having to throw in the towel ... not to mention the public Ligerian sentenced to watch the event under huge parasols, or grouped under the trees near the finish line.

- Damages -

The two-time defending champion, Pierre Latour (AG2R), arrived in Loire-Atlantique "without ambition", the fault of a too recent return in the saddle after a fracture of a wrist that put him out of action for four months, as well only to an angina, which he can hardly recover. And unsurprisingly, in these conditions, where all the mismanagement is multiplied, the 25-year-old rider sank after a good start. He finished 14th.

It was even more frustrating for Rémi Cavagna: the rider of the Deceuninck team has long thought to be the most powerful. But he lost his temper little by little until the podium took flight (5th). "I had to put everything in the third part, and I was not able to," he said on the line.

However, in the face of this heatwave, the organization had strengthened the safety net, adding two more supplies for the runners on the course, as well as bringing fresh water to spectators at various points.

There was finally only one able to resist this furnace. The only one, besides, to have concluded his chrono under the hour of race: Benjamin Thomas.

? 2019 AFP