Herrada wins Route du Sud opener

Spanish road champion Jesus Herrada (Movistar) soloed to victory in the opening stage of the 2014 Route du Sud, coming in just seconds ahead of the field, led home by his teammate Alejandro Valverde and sprint-ace Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ).

Herrada dons the first leader's jersey of the three-day stage race, leading by 10 seconds over Valverde with Bouhanni in third two further seconds behind.

The day's breakaway of Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale), Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Yoann Paillot (La Pomme Marseille) and Antonio Molina (Caja Rural) was reeled back following the penultimate climb.

Paillot was the last man standing as the stage contenders patiently waited until closer to the uphill finish to launch their attacks.

Team Sky set the pace before launching Kanstantsin Siutsou up the road, but Movistar was letting no moves go. The Belarus rider was caught back with 7km to go, and not long after Kenny Elissonde (FDJ) went up the road with Herrada, but the move did not succeed.

The Spanish champion went on another breakaway with Christopher Juul Jensen (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Antoine Lavieu (La Pomme Marseille), which was more successful.

While the trio did not gain much ground, and Lavieu was pulled back inside 2km to go, Herrada left Juul Jensen behind as the final climb kicked up, and soloed to the win ahead of his teammate Valverde, giving his team its 100th victory.

"Our strategy was to make the race hard into the climbs to avoid any sprinters reaching the finish with us, especially Bouhanni," Herrada said.

"I didn't know the finish, but I had checked it on the Internet and I knew that the last kilometer was less steep. Alejandro was really in control and told me to attack with 5k to go; I made some attacks, and later jumped with Jensen, 3k from the finish. He got dropped in the hardest part of the climb and when I reached the 'flamme rouge', I knew I had won, because the final section was mainly flat."

Herrada said the win was a big boost for his morale after a long break from competition. He spent three weeks training at altitude after the Tour de Romandie, and was unsure of how he would feel in the first stage.

"I took a step forward in Romandie and it was good for me to convince myself I can be close to the top guys in the mountains," he said. "Let's hope it's a sign I can be on the Tour de France roster, I'm so excited to take part in it - but for the time being, we're focused on this race and the National Championships. We'll see how we do tomorrow - we'll talk to Arrieta and see how we will play it, because many of us are strong and we can profit from it. Hoping the legs feel the same tomorrow."

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