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Ethan Vernon (NSN Pro Cycling) won the opening stage of the Pays de la Loire Tour, the British rider outpacing Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) to the line in Vertou for his third win of the season.
Another Briton, 21-year-old neo-pro Noah Hobbs (EF Education-EasyPost), beat Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ United) to take the final spot on the podium.
Vernon has already taken wins this year at the Tour Down Under and Volta a Catalunya. He added to his tally here, jumping from the wheel of Blikra after Uno-X led out the final sprint. The win, which puts him in the race lead by four seconds ahead of the Norwegian, is the 15th of his career.
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The stage was a largely flat affair running 187.5km from Fontevraud-l'Abbaye to Vertou. It was one for the sprinters, but that didn't stop a break of seven riders jumping clear 15km after the start.
Xabier Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5) was joined in the move by Lander Loockx (Unibet Rose Rockets), Gabriele Bessega (Polti-VisitMalta), Santiago Ferraro (Bardiani CSF-7 Saber), Axel van der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Clément Davy (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur), and Kévin Avoine (Van Rysel-Roubaix).
The group gained three minutes during the stage, while several teams, including Cofidis, NSN, and Decathlon CMA CGM, controlled the time gap.
Two third-category climbs in the middle of the stage were the only challenges of the day, and Avoine duly led the way over both to grab eight points and take the first mountains jersey of the race.
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The end of the stage was marked by five laps of a local circuit, with the break, minus a dropped Ferraro, leading by 45 seconds as they reached Vertou with 35km to go.
Bessega and Davy were the last survivors from the move, going clear with 21km to go. They held out until 15km to go, at which point the sprinters took over. Several attacks, including a move from Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Antoine L'Hote (Decathlon CMA CGM), went in the aftermath, but the stage was heading for a sprint.
Decathlon, NSN, and Uno-X Mobility led the way into the final kilometres, but it was NSN who came out on top in the final dash for the line.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
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