Helven wins opening Etoile de Bessèges stage

Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise rider Sander Helven emerged victorious on the opening stage of the Etoile de Bessèges, taking out the sprint from the winning breakaway over fellow Belgian Laurens De Vreese (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Benoît Jarrier (Bretagne-Séché Environnement).

The 23-year-old Helven was part of a six-man move that was sparked in the first 10km by Jarrier. He was quickly joined by Helven and fellow Frenchman Boris Dron, and later Michael Goolaerts (Vérandas Willems), De Vreese, and Marcus Christie (An Post-ChainReaction).

The six riders gained a maximum of 8:45 over the peloton ahead of the first mountain sprint of the day, where the maximum points on the climb were taken by De Vreese.

A puncture by Christie slowed the momentum of the leaders somewhat, and at the same time La Pomme Marseille and FDJ.fr were taking charge of the chase with 100km to go, and began slowly whittling away at the gap. Rain began to fall, further adding to the misery of the leaders.

De Vreese continued his charge for the mountains jersey on the second climb, with a gap of 5:46, and behind the peloton began to split in two under pressure from the chase. Some 30 riders never made it back on.

The leaders still had 3:45 upon entry to the finishing circuits, and with 12km and two laps to go, they still had just over two minutes, making it highly unlikely the reduced peloton could bring them back, even with a reinforced chase from FDJ, Lotto-Belisol and Europcar.

Helven secured the first stage victory in the sprint, while John Degenkolb took the bunch sprint out for seventh over Helven's teammate Tom Van Asbroeck and Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R) 22 seconds later.

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