In France, I almost beat this fellow (6)
I believe the answer is:
jethro
'this fellow' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in france i almost beat' is the wordplay.
'in france i' becomes 'je' ('I' in French).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'beat' becomes 'throb' (throb is a kind of beat).
'throb' with its last letter taken away is 'thro'.
'je'+'thro'='JETHRO'
(Other definitions for jethro that I've seen before include "- Tull, seed drill man" , "fellow" , "- Tull, seventeenth to eighteenth century English agriculturist" , "Priest" , "--- Larkin (The Archers)" .)