Navardauskas claims first stage race win in Circuit de la Sarthe

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Garmin-Sharp defended the lead in style after Ramunas Navardauskas took the yellow jersey in the queen stage of the 62nd Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire and scored a 1-2 with Rohan Dennis closing in second place. Dennis was also awarded the best young rider's prize. It was the first stage race victory of the Lithuanian's career, while the last stage went to young Frenchman Axel Domont who continued an AG2R-La Mondiale winning streak.

"It wasn't too complicated to keep the yellow jersey as we had quite a good gap from yesterday's stage and Rohan Dennis was in second place, also ready to take over if I had a problem," Navardauskas told Cyclingnews at La Ferté-Bernard. "The whole team was motivated and ready to help. Thomas Dekker stayed all day long at the front of the peloton. I'm really proud of what my guys have done today. Thanks to them, I was able to ride with fresh legs till the end. During the last lap, I realized that I didn't feel the fatigue."

For most of the race, Tony Hurel (Europcar), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) and Martin Kohler (BMC Racing) were up the road but they were caught on the finishing circuit that consisted in eight laps of 9.2km each. Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Angelo Tulik (Europcar) were next at the front.

"I wanted to ride as long as possible with Angelo as I know him well," Domont explained. "But three more riders [Anthony Geslin of FDJ.fr, Gustav Larsson of IAM Cycling and Vegard Stake Laengen from Bretagne-Séché Environnement] came across and it was a different story."

With 10 kilometers to go, as the gap went down to 15 seconds, it looked like the race would end up in a bunch gallop, but neither FDJ.fr nor Europcar were keen to chase their rider at the front as they believed Trek Factory Racing would do so for Giacomo Nizzolo, thus it meant another missed opportunity for Nacer Bouhanni and Bryan Coquard, especially for the latter who finished the five-stage event empty ended while Bouhanni had to be satisfied with the win on stage 1 only.

"It was a bit stressful," Domont described. "I wanted to attack in the last climb but I forced myself to wait. Then I saw the opportunity to attack with 1.5km to go. I knew it was all or nothing but had I waited for the sprint, it would have been nothing anyway. We at AG2R are surfing on the right wave these days."

With Carlos Betancur and Jean-Christophe Péraud, AG2R-La Mondiale has already claimed the Tour du Haut-Var, Paris-Nice and the Criterium International, while Romain Bardet and Alexis Gougeard imposed themselves in one-day events Drôme Classic and Classic Loire-Atlantique. This is Domont's first pro victory. "When I turned pro, I wondered if that would ever happen," the 23-year-old from the Rhône-Alpes region admitted.

"Every victory can change a lot in every rider's career," Navardauskas echoed. "For me, it's a big one as this is my first yellow jersey for a very long time and it's definitely my first win in a stage race as a pro."

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