Bouhanni wins Criterium International first stage

Image 1 of 14

Nacer Bouhanni (FdJ.fr) won the opening stage of the Criterium International on Saturday morning, taking the bunch sprint ahead of Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) and Marko Kump (Tinkoff-Saxo) after 89km of racing near Porto Vecchio in the south of Corsica.

The Frenchman, who takes the leader's jersey going into the afternoon's time trial, worked off his frustration of not being named to ride Milan-San Remo and no doubt bettered the chances of being named to the French squad's Tour de France line-up.

It was the third win of the season for the 23-year-old Bouhanni, who called it “a big satisfaction after my crash in Paris-Nice.” He won the first stage of Paris-Nice and wore the leader's jersey for two stage, but had to abandon on the fifth stage after a crash.

The race was held under warm blue skies and 20C temperatures in Porto Vecchio, the site of the Grand Depart of the 2013 Tour de France.

A group of four got away early and after 25km, Alexis Gougeard (AG2R), Clement Venturini (Cofidis), Thomas Vaubourzeix (La Pomme-Marseille) and Theo Vimpere (Bigmat-Auber 93) had built up a two-minute lead.

The short stage had only one climb along the way, the Cote de Conca, at 45km and the quartet went over with a gap of only 35 seconds. Vimpere secured the first mountains jersey, and was followed over by Gougeard and Vaubourzeix. And shortly thereafter at 49km, the break was over and the bunch came back together.

With some 29km to go, the peloton split into two and Andy Schleck (Trek Factory Racing)  amongst those in the 50-man second group. However within 5km they had made their way back to the first group, and the peloton took on the day's intermediate sprint at 73.5km. Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling) took the points, followed by Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) and Stephane Rossetto (Bigmat-Auber 93).

Astana's Alessandro Vanotti wasn't willing to wait for the expected mass sprint and took off, gaining a 10second gap with 10km to go. With 5km to go he still had 8 seconds, but the sprinters' teams weren't about to let him get away. He was caught with 2km to go and the bunch sprint was on. Bouhanni ensured he hit the line first.

The afternoon's time trial stage is over a seven kilometre course and includes a twisting climb out of the port and a dive back down to the finish.

Full Results