Following two stage wins and an overall victory in the four-day Tour de Wallonie that ended Wednesday, Groupama-FDJ sprinter Arnaud Demaret will look to capitalize on his strong form in Sunday's French national championship road race in Grand Champs, Brittany, for his third He will try to win the title.

"I've been thinking about it ever since they changed the course to one that was less difficult than expected. Considering how I'm feeling and the course I can run now, I think I have a good chance."

Teammate and climber Thibaut Pinot has already announced that he will miss Sunday's road race in order to rest his back, which he injured in a crash at the recent Criterium du Dauphiné, and recover before the start of the Tour de France in Nice on August 29

Demar.

DeMare will not be included in the eight-member French WorldTour team for the Tour, but will instead participate in the Giro d'Italia scheduled for October.

The 28-year-old Demare said he was a little surprised to win a stage at the Tour de Wallonie for the sixth time in his career. DeMare finished the race 20 seconds ahead of Greg Van Avermaat of the CCC team, while Amaury Capiotto of Spaur-Vlaanderen-Barroise was another five seconds back in third place.

"Considering the course, I didn't expect to win the overall at the beginning of the week. But after winning the second stage, I didn't want to rule anything out. I had the time bonus and today I had a little bit of an advantage. We also had a route to recover a few kilometers after the climbs over the last two days."

Frédéric Gédon, sport director of Groupama-FDJ, added: "We had a good time, but we had to be careful. For me, it is not that surprising. He was very strong this week, but so was the team."

"I must also say that usually when you have a strong leader, the other players follow.