Bouhanni claims first win of 2015 in Circuit Sarthe opener

Nacer Bouhanni finally whipped his Cofidis lead-out train into shape and claimed a long-awaited first victory of 2015 in the opening stage of Circuit Cycliste Sarthe in Varades. The Frenchman denied the remaining two early breakaway riders a shot at the first leader's jersey, his train catching them in the final kilometre and delivering their star to the win.

"We didn't know if we'd be able to bridge the gap or not," the Frenchman told Cyclingnews after the race. "So we used Dominique Rollin to chase with three kilometres to go although he was scheduled for leading me out. It's a relief to finally pull up a win."

Carlos Ramirez (Colombia), Romain Lemarchand (Cult Energy) and Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka) wasted no time establishing the day's breakaway as they rode away from the bunch after five kilometers of racing in the crosswinds, and although two Bretagne-Séché Evironnement riders, Armindo Fonseca and Anthony Delaplace, attempted to chase they never made the junction. The peloton made a huge gamble, giving the trio an 11 minute 30 second advantage at km 60.

Janse Van Rensburg picked up the three mountain sprints along the way, assuring himself a podium visit at the end of the stage, while Lemarchand claimed the three intermediate sprints, the last of which came on the fourth of six 7.2km finishing circuits in Varades, when the gap to the peloton was still over three minutes.

"It was very nice to ride at the front after I got sick at the Settimana Coppi & Bartali," Janse Van Rensburg explained. "I had a week off the bike. It was good for my recovery to be in the breakaway today. I'm feeling good on the bike again. I knew it would be hard to stay away, so I went for the KOM and I'm happy to get the jersey, it's good for the team. But we almost made it to the finish."

As the kilometers ticked down, more teams began to contribute to the chase, with Cofidis trying to set it up for Bouhanni, and Movistar, Roompot, Cannondale-Garmin all putting in a huge last-minute effort to shut down the trio. It nearly looked like they'd left it too late when, at 20km to go, the breakaway still had 2:35.

But with 3km to go, the three had just 25 seconds, and when Ramirez let go of the breakaway their gap quickly fell. With 2km to go it was down to just 8, and Janse Van Rensburg and Lemarchand had lost all chances as the lead-out trains bore down on them.

"It's been a hectic sprint," Europcar's up and coming fast man Thomas Boudat said. "With 600 metres to go, I was well positioned but I got caught by a wave of ten to fifteen riders and I found myself rejected in twentieth place. I became a spectator of the sprint. It's frustrating and I hope to do better tomorrow as I want to sprint against Nacer to know what I'm worth really."

"With 1km to go, I was on tenth position," Bouhanni described. "My teammate Christophe Laporte made a huge effort for me and we took the commands with Geoffrey Soupe with 600 or 700 metres to go. I launched my sprint at 200. Apparently it looked easy but the important is to win, whether it's by five centimetres or two lengths of a bike.

"This is my third win at Circuit de la Sarthe. I like this stage race. The course is lumpy. I've won stage 2 in Angers as a French champion with FDJ (in 2013) so I know what the finish of tomorrow's half stage is like. It'll be important to follow my teammates like today. I'm only targeting the sprints here. The time trial is not my specialty and during stage 4, which is hard, I'll preserve myself for stage 5."

Alex Dowsett and Adriano Malori (Movistar) lead the predictions for Wednesday's time trial in Angers with defending champion Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale-Garmin), Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka), Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Tiago Machado (Katusha) also in contention for a great result against the clock.

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