Russel Downing wins sprint at Criterium International

Britain's Russel Downing (Team Sky) proved he can win major European races by winning the 75km second stage at Criterium International on Sunday morning.

Downing was well protected by his teammates in the final kilometres and then beat Michael Albasini (HTC-Columbia) and stage one winner Pierrick Fédrigo (BBox Bouyges Telecom) in the dash for the line. It was his first win since sealing his place with Team Sky after dominating the Tour of Ireland last year.

Downing was British national champion in 2005. He has ridden for minor teams in Britain and Belgium over the years but finally brokethrough and sealed a place with Team Sky for 2010.

"I came to the Criterium to win the second stage and I did it. That’s great," Downing said. "The boys worked hard for me in the last 15 kilometres and in the final kilometre I tried to go into the Columbia train. Then I realised it was windy and I went down a gear. It was good."

Thanks to his third place, Fédrigo kept the race leader's yellow jersey and even gained four precious seconds before Sunday afternoon's 7.7km time trial stage around Porto Vecchio. Portugal’s Tiago Machado (RadioShack) is second overall at 17 seconds, with Spain’s Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) third at 23 seconds and world champion Cadel Evans (BMC) fourth at 29 seconds  into the final 7.7-kms time trial in the afternoon.

Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) finished safely in the peloton, in 24th place, in the same time as Downing.

Early start to a long day

The riders had an early start to the day because the 75km stage began at 9:20 but that didn't deter the attacks with six riders going off the front after just 3.5km.

Dmitry Fofonov (Astana), Jussi Veikkanen (FDJeux), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel) Thierry Hupond (Skil Shimano), Renault Dion (Roubaix Lille Metropole) and Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (Bretagne-Schuller) quickly opened a lead of a minute but the peloton held them there and then began to chase them down in the final 20km as the average speed of the stage stayed above 43km/h.

Simon Gerrans (Team Sky) crashed mid-stage and did not finish but his teammates worked hard in the finale with HTC-Columbia. Their efforts paid off, with the breakaway being swept up with five kilometres to go. Vacansoleil tried to take over the sprint but Team Sky and HTC-Columbia took over to take first and second.

The riders now have a few hours rest before the decisive time trial. Can Fédrigo hang on to the lead and win overall?