Kreder repeats 2011 victory in the Loire

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One year after he claimed his first pro victory for Garmin-Barracuda, Dutchman Michel Kreder did it again in stage two of the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire, which finished in Angers prior to this afternoon's 6.8km time trial.

Already a double stage winner of the Tour of the Mediterranean this year, Kreder anticipated a bunch sprint in which race leader Denis Galimzyanov of Katusha couldn’t take part after being caught in a crash with 7km to go. Therefore, runner up Sacha Modolo took the overall lead in the GC.

“I almost crashed as well”, Kreder told Cyclingnews after the finish. “Our initial idea was to lead out my brother Raymond who is faster than me but that crash changed our plans. We decided that he’d do the same as at the Tour Med. He left a gap behind me at the exit of the roundabout with 500 metres to go. I took an advantage of 20 to 30 metres and never got caught.”

Modolo wasn’t very happy with the outcome. “Kreder sprinted from far out, he was very strong”, the Italian (Colnago-CSF) said. “Sonny [Colbrelli], my team-mate, opened the sprint very early with the hope to catch him but we never did.”

With two second places, Modolo became the race leader. “I would have preferred a stage win”, he made clear. “I’m here to do well. After the Circuit de la Sarthe, I’ll rest for a while and I’ll go for the Tour of Turkey and the Giro d’Italia with high ambitions.”

Modolo isn’t exactly tipped for keeping the yellow jersey at the end of the time trial, even though another Italian sprinter, Daniele Bennati, did so last year. One of the favourites, GreenEdge’s Luke Durbridge, informed Cyclingnews that he suffers tendonitis and isn’t sure about his near future on the bike.

Garmin-Barracuda is the team expected to perform during the 6.8km time trial, even in the absence of David Millar who has been a regular performer at the Circuit de la Sarthe in the past twelve years but is not racing this year due to a broken collarbone. “I’ll give it all”, said Kreder who has a chance to become the race leader after Modolo. “But in our team, we have David Zabriskie, Andrew Talansky and Thomas Dekker who can do better than me against the clock.”

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