Roy Impressive in Marseillaise

Jeremy Roy kicked off the season in style with a commanding win at the GP Marseillaise Sunday afternoon. Roy gave not only himself but his FDJ team the first publicity of the season in the "overture" of the French cycling season. And he really did command all of the attention with the way he dominated.

Roy escaped in the early breakaway along with Sylvain Georges and Julien Guay in the opening kilometers of the race and worked with them over the early climbs. Guay eventually ran out of gas, and it was down to just a two man battle over the final few climbs.

Rather than wait to be caught, Roy decided it was time for action and attacked Georges within the final 30 kms and went completely clear of everybody. But then the even more impressive part was that he stayed clear and finished the race with a massive 2:43 lead over the peloton. The way he was riding he probably could have held it for another 50 kms if he had to. It was just his day...

But also massive props to Georges for hanging on to 2nd. He knew the big prize was gone but still managed to salvage the day and get himself on the podium after he barely held on to a 5 second advantage over the charging peloton. A lot of guys would have probably sat up, but Georges was rewarded for his efforts and took 2nd.

Romain Feillu (easily the strongest sprinter in the field) took care of business on the bunch sprint for 3rd.

It was a good day for a breakaway. I'm actually surprised more riders didn't try it.

Most of this field (a good portion of which is French) will be heading to the Etoile de Besseges in a few days for the first European stage race of the year. The Italian (Etruschi) and Spanish (Mallorca) seasons will also be kicking off next week.

Don't get me wrong, the Tour Down Under is one of my top 5 favorite events of the year but the season just isn't official until racing kicks off in Europe.