Sarreau wins opening stage at Poitou-Charentes

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Theuns and Manzin land on the podium Groupama-FDJ rider relegated from third place

Tour Poitou - Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine 2022 - 36th edition - 1std stage - Chauray - Perigny 193,1 km - 23/08/2022 - Marc Sarreau (FRA - AG2R Citroen Team) - photo Tommaso Pelagalli/SprintCyclingAgency©2022
Marc Sarreau (AG2R Citroën) sprints to stage 1 victory (Image credit: Tommaso Pelagalli/SprintCyclingAgency)

Marc Sarreau (AG2R Citroën) won the bunch sprint to win stage 1 of Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine on Wednesday. Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) followed in second a bike length back.

Lorrenzo Manzin (TotalEnergies) moved from fourth to third place after a close finish with Paul Penhoët of Groupama-FDJ, who was relegated by race officials to 101st position after the race. The bunch sprint was a mass of swerving bikes on the narrow finishing lane, but there was no reason provided, at the time of writing, for moving Penhoët from his initial third-place position.

The victory on the 193.1km opening stage by Sarreau marked the 500th career victory for the French team. He takes the first leader’s jersey for the four-day race that features four road stages and one time trial.

“I am very happy. The team did a tremendous job. We knew from Oliver [Naesen] that it was necessary to be well placed at the point of the last roundabout but that the most important thing was the launching. He dropped me off at 250m and I was able to keep all my speed; it was perfect,” Sarreau said.

“It's been two years that I’ve had a succession of difficulties. It's frustrating for me and for the team. So, I'm happy to be back on the path to victory but I hope it's only the start of a good period. There are still several opportunities to win this week so we will try to continue in this direction and defend the leader's jersey.”

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Jackie Tyson
Jackie Tyson
North American Production editor

Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).

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