Galland grabs Limousin opener

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Jérémie Galland (Saur-Sojasun) sprinted to victory in the Tour du Limousin's opening 193.1km stage. The 27-year-old Frenchman outkicked Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Caisse d'Epargne) and Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank) in Boussac to take his second win of the season.

Galland's victory also earned the Frenchman a 10 second time bonus and the first leader's jersey at the Tour du Limousin. Time bonuses earned during the stage's intermediate sprints put Stéphane Auge (Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne) into second place, one second behind Galland while Rojas holds third overall, four seconds off the pace of Galland, based on his time bonus for second place on the stage.

The stage was dominated by a break which went from the gun. Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil) immediately launched an attack and was soon joined by Stéphane Auge (Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne) and Cedric Coutouly (Saur-Sojasun). The peloton wasn't in the mood to chase early on and the trio steadily increased their lead over the hilly parcours. Alarm bells finally went off in the field when the three escapees gained a whopping 16:30 on the peloton and their advantage began to decrease rapidly under the impetus of Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Team Sky.

Mortensen, Auge and Coutouly's lead dropped to 11:00 with 100 kilometres remaining and then 6:50 with 83 kilometres to go. Twenty kilometres later their advantage stood at 4:40 as Coutouly began to feel the strain of the effort and ceased pulling.

With 38 kilometres remaining, Auge dropped his two breakaway companions and set out alone in the lead. Mortensen and Coutouly would be swept up by the peloton as Auge persevered up the day's third and final classified climb, the category 2 Côte de Toulx Ste Croix with its summit only 15.7km from the finish line.

Auge reached the summit holding a tenuous lead, but was soon swept up on the descent by an elite selection of approximately 30 riders.

The remainder of the stage was downhill to the finish and the lead group grew to 64 riders who vied for the stage win in Boussac, taken by Galland in a field sprint.

Auge, who won all three intermediate sprints during the stage, would be rewarded for his lengthy escape by taking the sprint classification. His three time bonuses of three seconds each also put him in second overall behind Galland.

Auge's breakaway companion Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil) received the Tour du Limousin's first mountains classification jersey for his efforts off the front.

The peloton faces a 45.1km individual time trial tomorrow for the Tour du Limousin's second stage.

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