Ravard sprints to win in Niort

Anthony Ravard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) won stage two of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes in a bunch sprint. The 26-year-old Frenchman took out the bunch sprint ahead of Dominique Rollin (Cervelo) and Enrico Rossi (Ceramica Flaminia) to add to his stage victory in the same race last season.

The day’s main aggressor was Brice Feillu (Vacansoleil). He countered the attack of Romain Bacon (Big Mat-Auber 93) early in the stage and the duo quickly built up a decent lead. Once their advantage rose to 6 minutes with 120km to go, however, the Française des Jeux team of overall leader Anthony Roux went to the front of the bunch and steadily began to reel them in.

Feillu and Bacon managed to stay clear into the final stages of the race, but once their advantage was slashed to 25 seconds 9km from the line, Feillu decided to go it alone. With the Saur-Sojasun and Bbox-Bouygues Telecom teams hitting the front of the bunch in order to set up the bunch sprint, however, his efforts were always likely to be in vain.

After he was swept up in the finale, it all came down to the sprint, where Ravard timed his effort to perfection to beat Rollin and Rossi. Anthony Roux maintains his overall lead, 5 seconds clear of Ravard. Brice Feillu took advantage of the intermediate sprints to move up to third overall a further second back.

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