In August 2012, Démare won the first
World Tour race of his career by prevailing in the
Vattenfall Cyclassics, ahead of local favorite
André Greipel and
Giacomo Nizzolo.[5] Démare clearly dominated the mass sprint contested in scorching heat at the end of the 245.6 km (152.6 mi) race.[6] That year, he also participated in the
Olympic road race, finishing 30th.[7]
2013 season
In 2013, Démare won 3 stages in a row at the
Four Days of Dunkirk and the general classification.[8] On the third stage, his team-mate and lead-out rider
Geoffrey Soupe produced a final power surge to launch Démare, and the duo finished one-two in the mass sprint, with
Ramon Sinkeldam of
Argos–Shimano taking third place.[9]
2014 season
Démare won the
Four Days of Dunkirk stage race for the second year in succession, winning two stages during the event. He also won the points and young rider classifications.[10] He also put in some strong performances in the
cobbled classics, finishing second in
Gent–Wevelgem and twelfth in
Paris–Roubaix.[11]
2015 season
Démare struggled for form for much of the 2015 season, only scoring one top ten finish in the
spring classics with a tenth place in
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. He did however manage to score two stage wins in the
Tour of Belgium.[11]
2016 season
In January 2016 Démare announced his race plans for the first half of the new season, starting his campaign on home soil at the
Étoile de Bessèges and
Tour Méditerranéen, followed by competing in the cobbled classics of
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad,
Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne,
Milan–San Remo,
Gent–Wevelgem,
Tour of Flanders and
Paris–Roubaix, along with the stage races
Paris–Nice and the
Three Days of De Panne.[11] He also announced that he would skip the
Tour de France and focus on the
Giro d'Italia instead.[12] He enjoyed success at the Tour Méditerranéen, where his FDJ squad won the race's opening team time trial and he won the following stage.[13] Démare went on to win the first full stage of Paris–Nice[14] and then took the biggest win of his career at the
Milan–San Remo. His victory was questioned by rival riders
Matteo Tosatto and
Eros Capecchi, who alleged that Démare had been assisted by a tow from a team car on the climb up the Cipressa after he crashed with 30 kilometres (19 miles) to go. However, in the absence of any photographic or video evidence, race officials decided not to take any action.[15] Démare became the first Frenchman to win the Milan-San Remo since
Laurent Jalabert in 1995. He was also the first Frenchman to win a
Monument race since 1997, when Jalabert and
Frédéric Guesdon had won the
Giro di Lombardia and
Paris–Roubaix respectively.[16]
2017 season
On 4 July, two days after finishing Stage 2 in second position behind
Marcel Kittel, Démare clinched his first
Tour de France or
Grand Tour stage win by winning the
Tour de France's fourth stage that ended in a hectic sprint into
Vittel; it was the first stage victory by a Frenchman in a bunch sprint since
Jimmy Casper won Stage 1 that started and ended in
Strasbourg in
2006.[17] In
Stage 6, Démare was edged out again into a second-place finish by
Marcel Kittel, who launched a perfectly timed late sprint with around 200 metres to go.[18] Démare was ill during the mountainous Stage 8 and fell back very early. Two teammates were with him trying to bring him in within the time limit. He eventually finished in 188th position, 37 minutes and 33 seconds behind the Stage 8 winner.[19] Démare, who was sitting in second position in the points classification at the start of the Stage 9, finished that challenging
mountain stage in a group around 40 minutes behind the Stage 9 winner. That put him outside the time limit, and therefore out of the Tour de France, along with six other riders.[20]
Démare's first victory of the 2019 season came during the tenth stage of the
Giro d'Italia, which ended on the streets of
Modena, prevailing in a bunch sprint ahead of
Elia Viviani.[32] He took the lead of the
points classification the following day,[33] which he held for seven stages, but ultimately finished second to
Pascal Ackermann – a rider he had criticised following his Modena stage victory.[34] He then won two stages and the points classification at the
Route d'Occitanie,[35][36] and also won a stage at the
Tour de Wallonie.[37] Démare's final win of the season came at September's
Okolo Slovenska, where he won the penultimate stage and the points classification; he finished second overall, one second in arrears of race winner
Yves Lampaert.[38][39]
After a stage win in September's
Tour de Luxembourg,[49] Démare returned to the
Giro d'Italia in October, as one of the contenders for the
points classification jersey.[50] Démare won his first stage of the race on stage four, winning a bunch sprint into
Villafranca Tirrena.[51] Démare then won the next two bunch sprints on stages six and seven into
Matera and
Brindisi respectively,[52][53] taking and solidifying his lead in the points classification, and as a result, becoming the first rider since
Robbie McEwen in
2006 to win three stages in the opening week of the Giro d'Italia. He added a fourth stage victory on stage eleven into
Rimini, again in a bunch sprint,[54] and ultimately held the points classification lead until the finish in
Milan; he finished 49 points ahead of his closest challenger,
Peter Sagan.[55] Démare finished the 2020 season with fourteen victories, two more than any other rider.[56]
2021 season
Démare took his first win of the season in April at the one-day race,
La Roue Tourangelle, beating
Nacer Bouhanni in a sprint finish.[57] He then won two stages and the points classification in the
Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana,[58][59] and in May, won the last three stages of the
Boucles de la Mayenne on his way to winning the general and points classifications at the race.[60][61][62] He won the second stage of the
Route d'Occitanie,[63] before competing in the
Tour de France for the first time since
2018. Démare recorded a single top-ten stage finish (fourth) on stage six, and finished outside of the time limit three stages later, ending his race early.[64] He made his first start at the
Vuelta a España, looking to complete the triptych of winning a stage at all three
Grand Tours.[65] The closest he came was a second-place finish to
Fabio Jakobsen on the fourth stage,[66] and he finished inside the top-100 of a Grand Tour general classification for the first time. He finished the season with a second-place finish at
Paris–Bourges,[67] and victory in
Paris–Tours, winning out of a four-rider group that had broken clear towards the end of the race.[68] He became the first French rider to win the race for fifteen years.[69]
2022 season
Early in the season, Demare finished in 10th place in both
Milan-San Remo and
Gent Wevelgem. During the
2022 Giro d'Italia he rode very strongly winning three stages as well as the points classification.[70] His victory on stage 13 of the Giro was the 10th
grand tour stage win of his career.