Pavel Bittner (Team Picnic-PostNL) edged out Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto-Intermarché) to take his first victory of the season in a high-octane bunch sprint finish at Paris-Chauny on Sunday.

The Czech rider held his nerve with a well-timed final effort, powering over the line ahead of Taminiaux, who was the rider to celebrate, believing he had done enough to take the win.

It was then determined later that Bittner had pipped him to the post, with Tobias Müller of the Unibet Rose Rockets rounding out the podium, following a day of hard work driving the chase from the French Pro team.

Beginning in Margny-lès-Compiègne in the Hauts-de-France region of Northern France, the 76th edition of Paris-Chauny featured a 203.6 kilometre route with just over 1900 metres of altitude gain across its distance. In the past, the race has favoured sprinters and hardy classics-style riders, with the past six editions concluding in a bunch sprint.

The peloton rolled out in warm, dry conditions, and a six-strong breakaway moved clear in the early stages of the race. Comprising six riders all representing different teams, they accrued an advantage of just over three minutes after around 80 kilometres of racing, but the peloton began to reel them in gradually after that.

The pre-race favourites included Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) and Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling), but it was the Unibet Rose Rockets who were most prominent at the front of the bunch, driving the chase, with assistance from Tudor, Alpecin-PremierTech and Picnic PostNL, a team desperate for a victory to add to their single win in 2026.

At the halfway mark, Lotto-Intermarché and Groupama-FDJ United moved to the front of the race, with Lotto-Intermarché briefly taking over the pace-setting. The breakaway’s advantage began to tumble with the addition of extra firepower at the head of the peloton, dropping below two minutes with 90 kilometres still to race.

Unibet returned to take control with numbers at the front, and the wind picked up after that with crosswinds coming into play, but the strongest teams were able to maintain control over the bunch. With 60 kilometres remaining, an attack from a trio of riders including Axel Huens (Groupama-FDJ United) almost made it clear, but the peloton closed the three down and stretched out along the road.

The result was that the breakaway’s advantage was slashed to 30 seconds, and Groupama continued to fire off attacks, with the next move pulling a group of 12 riders clear; this almost proved to be a decisive move, but the remaining three determined breakaway riders resisted the catch, and the chase group was swallowed up by the peloton once again with 50 kilometres to race.

Shortly after, the breakaway was reduced to one man – Michiel Lambrecht (Team Flanders-Baloise) moved into the solo lead of the race. Groupama-FDJ United’s Johan Jacobs attacked solo from the peloton, and with 33km to go he united with Lambrecht to form a lead duo. The two built a 50-second lead over the peloton, and though the bunch remained patient, slowly closing in as the kilometres ticked down, the pair combined well to resist the catch for a significant period.

It all kicked off in the bunch just ahead of the final climb of the day, the Côte de Guivry, with accelerations breaking up the peloton, and with the pair up front caught, Groupama-FDJ United profited, ending up with two riders in the race lead along with one from TotalEnergies.

They held off the peloton until just 900 metres remained, and the expected bunch finish transpired, but there was confusion after that as Taminiaux appeared to close out Bittner to take victory, raising his arms in celebration as he crossed the line. It later transpired that it was in fact Bittner who triumphed, a well-timed sprint seeing him surge just ahead of Taminiaux and the rest to claim a sorely needed win for his team.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Results

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.