Hunter scores for Garmin-Transitions

Robbie Hunter (Garmin - Transitions) sprinted to victory in the Tour of Murcia's opening stage today, taking his first win of the season and the US ProTour team's first on European soil. The 32-year-old South African bested Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Vicente Reynes (HTC - Columbia) at the finish in San Pedro del Pinatar, denying Brown the opportunity to win Murcia's first stage for the third consecutive year.

Garmin - Transitions was also active from the stage start as the break of the day was initiated by Hunter's teammate Danny Pate and Frenchman Alexandre Blain (Endura Racing) after 11km of racing. The duo were soon joined by Rubén Reig (Caja Rural) and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) and the four escapees found themselves 5:15 ahead of the field after 26 kilometres.

That would prove to be the quartet's largest advantage as the peloton chipped away at their lead, ultimately absorbing them inside of 20 kilometres to the finish following 135km of freedom.

Blain claimed the intermediate sprint jersey along the way, a big achievement for the British team. "I decided with the wind and the climbs today that I would go on the attack. I wanted the Meta Volantes jersey and I took that today. I am pleased, it shows that we are not just here for show but that we came to race. This is good for the Endura Racing Team. I am very pleased."

The teams of the sprinters kept the tempo high into San Pedro del Pinatar, particularly Team Milram and Rabobank, and their efforts split the peloton. Milram's and Rabobank's respective sprinters, Roger Kluge and Graeme Brown, however would be out-kicked at the finish line by Robbie Hunter (Garmin - Transitions).

"Over the last climb of the day the field started to split and the speed was really high," said Garmin - Transitions director Johnny Weltz. "The break was caught with 20 km to go. In the cross wind the field split into several groups but we had our key hitters up there: [David] Zabriskie, Robbie [Hunter] and Danny [Pate].

"As we approached the finish more people got dropped in the cross wind and the reduced group was a perfect scenario for us where Robbie rounded up the day with a clear victory!"

All of the general classification favourites such as defending champion Denis Menchov (Rabobank), Team RadioShack's Lance Armstrong and Andreas Klöden, Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) and David Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions) arrived at the finish in the 55-rider strong lead group. The one notable absence was sprinter Theo Bos (Cervélo Test Team) who was expected to vie for stage honours, but the Dutchman missed the split and finished 1:08 behind Hunter.

With the stage victory, Hunter also assumed the first leader's jersey at the Tour of Murcia.

The peloton faces a more challenging stage two tomorrow as they race 169.8km from Calasparra to Caravaca de la Cruz. The category 1 Alto de San Juan will be tackled twice, although the field will have 40km of downhill and flat ground after the second crossing to regroup by the finish line.

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