Kreder surprises Bennati to win stage two

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Michel Kreder took his first professional win at the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe in Angers, out sprinting race leader Daniele Bennati after his teammate Danilo Viganò opened the sprint with 800 metres to go.

Garmin-Cervélo and Leopard-Trek combined their efforts to catch the break that had formed after only two kilometres by Kevin Reza (Europcar), Arnaud Gérard (FDJ), Cyril Bessy (Saur-Sojasun) and Matthieu Sprick (Skil-Shimano). The move had maximum advantage of 2.50 but was caught inside the final five kilometres.

With a head wind blowing from the Maine River from the right, the sprinters were expected to appear on the left side of the road. But it was a different story as everyone was affected by Vigano’s lead out.

“He looked back and realized that Bennati wasn’t on his wheel but saw Samuel Dumoulin and myself”, third-placed Anthony Ravard told Cyclingnews. “He sat up and that made me open the sprint from very far out.”

“This was too far away for me as well”, echoed Bennati “It’s a pity. The finish was a little bit downhill and the stage was short, only 100km, that wasn’t favourable for me. There was a head wind but the reason why I lost is because the sprint was too long.”

Protected from the wind by the barricades and the numerous spectators, Kreder surprisingly passed Bennati on his right hand side.

“I can sprint but I didn’t expect to get my first pro win in a bunch sprint finish,” the Dutchman told Cyclingnews.

“It was so technical at the end that everyone lost the wheel they wanted to follow. I’m very happy. I crashed yesterday because of a bag in the feed zone and I felt very bad this morning. We rode behind the breakaway this morning because we didn’t want our GC riders (David Millar and David Zabriskie) to not lose time before the time trial this afternoon, then I took my chance in the sprint.”

Kreder took Garmin-Cervélo’s tenth win of the 2011 season despite a so-far poor showing in the major classics.

“My ultimate goal in cycling is to win an Ardennes classic”, Kreder said. “I grew up admiring Paolo Bettini and I’d like to be a rider like him. I hope it’ll happen a little later. I also hope my younger brother Raymond to join us soon in the pro peloton; he’s a better sprinter than me.”

The afternoon stage three time trial at the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe is a 6.8km individual time trial with a finishing line facing the medieval castle of Angers, the town where Tom Boonen collected his first stage win at the Tour de France back in 2004.