# Benoît Cosnefroy

Benoît Cosnefroy (French pronunciation:; born 17 October 1995 in Cherbourg) is a French cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale.

## Career
### Junior and amateur years

Cosnefroy was born into a family passionate about cycling. His grandfather was the organizer of a race in the English Channel, while his father often took him to see bike races during his youth. He first started competing at the age of 8 with the Union Concorde Bricquebetaise. In 2011, he joined the Pôle Espoir de Caen, where he stayed for three years. He took his first victory at the age of 16 in the Prix Louis-Cosnefroy, a race held as a tribute to his great-great-grandfather Louis Cosnefroy. However, during his years in the junior category, Cosnefroy saw little success. In 2014, he moved up to the under-23 category, joining team Bricquebec Cotentin. The following year he joined Chambéry CF [fr], the development team of AG2R La Mondiale after hitchhiking along the nine-hour drive to apply. This year, he achieved modest success in amateur and under-23 races. In 2016, he began to obtain more results, notably placing second by half a wheel length to Valentin Madouas at the national amateur road race championships, and second to Paul Ourselin in the under-23 national championship. He joined AG2R La Mondiale as a stagiaire in August, placing 4th in the road race at the UEC European Under-23 Road Championships.
The 2017 season was a major turning point in Cosnefory's career, and was his final year competing as an amateur. He took his first elite category win in May: stage 2 of the Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour, holding off the peloton for almost 160 kilometers. The same month, he placed sixth in the Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan, his first top ten in a 1.1 or higher category race.

### Professional career

Cosnefroy turned professional in August 2017 with UCI WorldTeam AG2R La Mondiale. Five days after joining the team, he won the silver medal in the road race at the UEC European Under-23 Road Championships. His success continued, winning the Grand Prix d'Isbergues in September, followed by the under-23 road race at the UCI Road World Championships five days later.
Cosnefroy completed his first full professional season in 2018, notably placing third in Paris–Tours and ninth in the Bretagne Classic Ouest-France, his first top ten in a UCI World Tour race.
Cosnefroy took five victories in 2019, all in France: the overall classification and third stage of the Tour du Limousin as well as the one-day races Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan, Paris–Camembert and Polynormande. In July 2019, he was named in the startlist for the 2019 Tour de France, which was his first Grand Tour. He placed 113th overall.
At the beginning of 2020, he won the Grand Prix La Marseillaise and the Étoile de Bessèges before the season stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As soon as racing resumed, he won the fourth and final stage of the Route d'Occitanie ahead of Bauke Mollema, Thibaut Pinot and Egan Bernal. He was selected for the French team for the UEC European Road Championships held in Plouay, where he finished tenth in the road race. In the 2020 Tour de France, he led the mountains classification and wore the polka dot jersey for 15 consecutive stages; he ultimately finished sixth in the final classification standings. He ended the season strongly, placing second to Marc Hirschi in the La Flèche Wallonne, as well as third in De Brabantse Pijl and second in Paris–Tours.
On 22 May 2021, he won the Tour du Finistère and three months later he won his first World Tour race: the Bretagne Classic ahead of Julian Alaphilippe and Mikkel Honoré. On 12 September, he won the bronze medal at the European Championships behind Sonny Colbrelli and Remco Evenepoel.
The following spring, he took second place at the Amstel Gold Race and the Brabantse Pijl. In September, he won his second World Tour race: the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec with a 2 kilometer solo.
He took no wins in 2023, but was awarded the Combativity award for stage four of the Tour de France.
Cosnefroy started 2024 on strong form, winning stage 2 and the overall title of the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes in February, followed up with a sixth place finish at Strade Bianche in early March. Three weeks later he won Paris–Camembert, followed by his first win at the Brabantse Pijl after having been on the podium three times before. In early May, he won the Grand Prix du Morbihan.

## Major results
### 2016

    2nd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
    2nd Road race, National Amateur Road Championships
    4th Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
    5th Tour de Berne
    6th Overall Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour
    10th Piccolo Giro di Lombardia

### 2017 (1 pro win)

    1st Road race, UCI Road World Under-23 Championships
    1st Grand Prix d'Isbergues
    1st Stage 2 Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour
    2nd Road race, UEC European Under-23 Road Championships
    2nd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
    6th Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan
    6th Tour de Berne

### 2018

    3rd Paris–Tours
    9th Bretagne Classic
    9th Coppa Sabatini
    9th La Roue Tourangelle
    10th Cholet-Pays de Loire

### 2019 (5)

    1st Overall Tour du Limousin
       1st Young rider classification
       1st Stage 3
    1st Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan
    1st Paris–Camembert
    1st Polynormande
    4th Tour de Vendée
    7th Bretagne Classic
    10th Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec

### 2020 (3)

    1st Overall Étoile de Bessèges
    1st Grand Prix La Marseillaise
    1st Stage 4 Route d'Occitanie
    2nd La Flèche Wallonne
    2nd Paris–Tours
    3rd Brabantse Pijl
    5th La Drôme Classic
    10th Road race, UEC European Road Championships
    Tour de France
       Held after Stages 2–16
       Combativity award Stage 2

### 2021 (3)

    1st Bretagne Classic
    1st Tour du Finistère
    1st Tour du Jura
    2nd Polynormande
    3rd Road race, UEC European Road Championships
    4th Tre Valli Varesine
    8th Brabantse Pijl

### 2022 (1)

    1st Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec
    2nd Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
    2nd Overall Boucles de la Mayenne
    2nd Amstel Gold Race
    2nd Brabantse Pijl
    3rd La Drôme Classic
    5th Grand Prix La Marseillaise
    5th Tre Valli Varesine
    6th Overall Tour du Limousin

### 2023

    2nd Overall Tour du Limousin
    3rd Brabantse Pijl
    7th Grand Prix of Aargau Canton
    8th Overall Boucles de la Mayenne
    8th Trofeo Laigueglia
    Combativity award Stage 4 Tour de France

### 2024 (7)

    1st Overall Tour des Alpes-Maritimes
       1st Points classification
       1st Stage 2
    1st Brabantse Pijl
    1st Grand Prix du Morbihan
    1st Paris–Camembert
    1st Tour du Finistère
    2nd Overall Boucles de la Mayenne
       1st Prologue
    4th Overall Région Pays de la Loire Tour
    4th La Flèche Wallonne
    6th Strade Bianche
    9th La Drôme Classic

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tour de France | 113 | 116 | 107 | 91 | 101 |
| Vuelta a España | — | — | — | — | — |

### Classics results timeline

| Monument | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Milan–San Remo | — | — | — | — | — | — | 15 | 22 | 20 | |
| Tour of Flanders | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 16 | — | |
| Paris–Roubaix | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career | Has not contested during his career |
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | DNF | 45 | 18 | 48 | 24 | 54 | 16 | |
| Giro di Lombardia | — | — | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | |
| Classic | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Strade Bianche | — | — | — | — | — | — | 29 | — | 6 | |
| Brabantse Pijl | — | — | — | — | 3 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 1 | |
| Amstel Gold Race | — | — | 48 | 44 | NH | — | 2 | 21 | 16 | |
| La Flèche Wallonne | — | — | DNF | 12 | 2 | 18 | 13 | — | 4 | |
| Bretagne Classic | — | — | 9 | 7 | — | 1 | 20 | 27 | 26 | |
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec | — | — | 25 | 10 | NH | NH | 1 | 54 | — | |
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal | — | — | 24 | 17 | NH | NH | 20 | 27 | — | |
| Tre Valli Varesine | — | — | — | — | NH | 4 | 5 | 60 | — | |
| Paris–Tours | 96 | 155 | 3 | — | 2 | — | 83 | 54 | — | |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |
| NH | Not held |