Coquard wins in Marseille, Buratti fourth with regrets

The season of Team MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort, protagonist in Marseille in the classic that opened the French 2026 calendar, the Grand Prix La Marseillaise, continues in the best way. The 24-year-old Nicolò Buratti took a brilliant fourth place in the race won by Frenchman Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), at the end of an intense and selective race along the 145 km of the course covered in 3h:27′:01″.

Aldo Seghedoni

For the formation led by team manager Antonio Bevilacqua, Gábor Deák and the D’Aprile family, this is a result that confirms the technical goodness of the project in a high-level appointment, tackled with personality and great team spirit.

The result is embellished by the eighth place of Marcin Budziński and the generous attacking race of Alessandro Verre (15th), protagonist in the final with a solo attempt that contributed to make the collective performance even more solid.

“First of all I want to emphasize the great work of the team,” said Buratti. “We helped each other as a real team. This fourth place gives us morale and allows us to win important points right away. It was a sprint to manage: it came at the end of a long two-kilometer straight, with a headwind, and timing was crucial. I had beaten the wheel of Coquard, who then won. A hint of regret because I was slightly closed on the right and could not express my full potential. Probably the podium was within reach.”

“I am not a pure sprinter, but a complete rider who performs well on nervous courses. Today you had to constantly relaunch and, paradoxically, it was the descents that made more selection than the climbs. The race was tight and you had to file constantly,” he added.