Belarusian outsprints Ravard and Leukemans in stage one
The peloton is starting to pick up the pace, with the five-day Etoile de Bessèges underway as the first stage race in Europe. On day one it was sprinter Yauheni Hutarovich (Française des Jeux) who sprinted to victory ahead of Anthony Ravard (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM). Hutarovich is also the overall leader after day one, which was 150 kilometers between Beaucaire et Bellegarde.
It was a hectic final, the winner admitted. “I was impeded by a crash. I found myself back in 20th position, with my teammate Cédric Pineau,” he said after the race, according to directvelo.com. Hutarovich also felt he had the legs so he went all out. “I came back up and with 500 meters to go, I launched my sprint. That was from far but I had nothing to lose.”
Hutarovich did not have a special game plan for the opening day. “I don’t give myself precise objectives,” he said. “I want to win all the races that come up.”
A group including Vacansoleil’s Johnny Hoogerland, Daniel Diaz, Laszlo Bodrogi and Steven van Vooren escaped after some 50 kilometers and had a maximum advantage of three minutes. With about 25 kilometers to go, the group was caught. “FDJ was working a lot today,” Hutarovich said.
After the regrouping a counter with about 40 riders went and stayed away. Hutarovich launched his sprint from far back and was able to make it all the way to the front.
Vacansoleil’s directeur sportif Hilaire Van Der Schueren could look back at an active race, where Hoogerland was in the main break and Leukemans sprinted to third. “We rode very well, we were competitive all day long, all the way to the last meter.”
Hutarovich was happy for himself, but also for the team. “Since January 1, everything is going right for us. We won the French cyclocross championships with Francis Mourey, two stages in the Tropicale Amissa Bongo (Geoffrey Soupe and Nacer Bouhanni), la Marseillaise (Jérémy Roy) and now today I. I hope it continues like that for us.”
The foundation was put up in the preseason, including getting together a good team. “The team has done a big recruitment this winter. Everybody is motivated. We especially had some very good camps.”
Results stage one
1. HUTAROVICH Yauheni FDJ 3h32’23”
2. RAVARD Anthony ALM
3. LEUKEMANS Björn VCD
4. PINEAU Cédric FDJ
5. HADDOU Saïd EUC
6. SISKEVICIUS Evaldas LPM
7. VAN DIJK Stefan VWA
8. LEMOINE Cyril SAU
9. POULHIÈS Stéphane SAU
10. SALOMEIN Jarl TSV
11. CHAVANEL Sébastien EUC
12. JACOBS Pieter TSV
13. SCHEIRLINCKX Staf VWA
14. PORSEV Alexander KAT
15. VANLANDSCHOOT James VWA