Rolland prevails at Pré-en-Pail

After winning the time trial and taking the lead of the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire for the second year in a row, Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) was right to mention that Europcar would be testing their legs for Pierre Rolland ahead of the Ardennes Classics. The Frenchman who won an Alpine stage of the Tour de France in the past two years claimed a very convincing solo win atop the Mont des Avaloirs at Pré-en-Pail. As none of the time triallists managed to follow him, he also became the new race leader.

"This is my first victory of the year, so it makes me very happy," Rolland said. "It comes at the right time in an important period for me with Liège-Bastogne-Liège coming up. It was part of the plan that Europcar would be trying to do something. Once we reached the final circuit, I was content to realize that it was harder than in previous years. With my teammate Kevin Reza in the breakaway after finishing eleventh in the time trial, I only had to follow the rhythm of the peloton."

With 30 kilometres to go, Reza made it across to the leading trio formed early at kilometre 25 by Marco Coledan (Bardiani-Valvole-CSF Inox), Cyril Bessy (Cofidis) and Jimmy Engoulvent (Sojasun). The Europcar rider was accompanied by Sébastien Duret (Bretagne-Séché) and Lloyd Mondory (AG2R-La Mondiale).

The race situation left Orica-GreenEdge and RadioShack Leopard to share the turns at the front of the peloton. With 25km to go, Rolland attacked with David De La Cruz (NetApp-Endura) and continued by himself in the last lap, 7km away from the finishing line, after having dropped the former breakaway riders. Thomas Voeckler protected his advantage by marking closely the likes of Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) who counter-attacked.

"With Thomas, we form a duo that works well together," Rolland said. "We wanted to use this day as a test. It's reassuring for what's next to come. I hope to keep the yellow jersey till the end now. It's good to know that the last stage is also a difficult one."

Rolland is currently in the middle of his second bloc of racing this year. He started with 27 days of competition to build up his form through four stage races: Tropicale Amissa-Bongo, Etoile de Bessèges, Tour of the Mediterranean and Le Tour de Langkawi, after which he took a break prior to resuming racing at the Criterium International. "I knew from my training that my condition was good," Rolland said. "But every time I was racing in Europe, we faced apocalyptic weather conditions and I really can't stand the cold. Now I hope to not get sick before my big goal, which is Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Only after that, I'll start a new bloc of work for the Tour de France."

Durbridge and Bob Jungels, who were equal on time on top of the overall standings after the time trial, finished more than four minutes down on Rolland whose main threat now looks like RadioShack's Tony Gallopin (4th overall at 11 seconds).