Bozic claims Limousin opener

Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) sprinted to his fourth win of the season in the opening stage of the Tour du Limousin on Tuesday. Spain's Xavier Florencio (Cervelo TestTeam) finished second while Germany's Paul Martens (Rabobank) rounded out the top three.

"This victory makes me very happy. I need to thank the entire team which led me out perfectly, especially [Björn] Leukemans," said Bozic. "When I saw the finish with one circuit to go [in Ussel] I thought it was too hard for me but my teammates asked me to make the sprint. I was pleasantly surprised by their incredible work in the last five kilometers."

Bozic's victory in the 159.6-kilometre stage into Ussel also put the Slovenian in the tour's first leader's jersey. "It is difficult for me to think about the overall standings because the other stages should be as difficult," said Bozic. "Today, I did not feel well at all, I was even dropped by one minute at one point along the coast."

The Tour du Limousin's opening stage was marked by very aggressive racing early on with several large groups of riders attempting breaks only to be brought back into the peloton. The main break of the day occurred after 72 kilometres of racing when Frenchmen Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel) and Mathieu Perget (Caisse d'Epargne) escaped on the ascent of the second category Cote de Lestards.

The duo attained a maximum advantage of 6:50 over the peloton before finally being caught inside of 10 kilometres remaining to the finish. France's Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne) chased the two leaders on his own for 50 kilometres but never got closer than two minutes before he was absorbed by the field with 30 kilometres left to race.

Vogondy and Perget did not finish the stage empty handed for their efforts off the front. Vogondy earned the climber's jersey while Perget took the lead in the sprint classification.

On the finishing circuit in Ussel Team Milram, Française des Jeux and Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team set the pace at the head of the peloton with the lead-out train of Vacansoleil prevailing for Bozic in the field sprint for stage honours.

The 29-year-old Bozic's three previous victories of 2009 include the opening stage of the Tour of Poland plus the second and third stages in the Tour of Belgium. In each of those events he also spent time in the leader's jersey.

On Wednesday the riders face a 186.6 kilometre stage from Eymoutiers to Felletin in which there are three third category climbs in addition to three intermediate sprints. The day's final climb, the Cote de la Nouaille, arrives with 19.5 kilometres to the finish in Felletin.