Luca Wackermann wins Tour du Limousin opener

Luca Wackermann (Vini Zabù-KTM) took his team's first win of the season on the opening stage of the Tour du Limousin, attacking on the hilltop finale to leave a reduced group trailing in behind in Evaux-les-Bains.

The Italian, who had launched an unsuccessful attack on the penultimate climb of the day, crossed the line solo ahead of Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ Continental), who celebrated as he led the chasers home seven seconds down. Jon Aberasturi (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) rounded out the podium in third place.

Wackermann had earlier attacked on the penultimate climb of the day before being caught by the reduced peloton with 5km to go. He was clearly the strongest man of the stage, blowing past an earlier attacker to ride the final 1.5km uphill alone.

"It was very hard today," said Wackermann, who now holds the race lead by 11 seconds. 

"On the next to last climb I attacked but It was no good. I waited for the small group and then tried again on the final climb."It's a result of some very hard work at home, so I'm very happy."

How it unfolded

The peloton set off from Couzeix under cloudy skies to kick off the Tour du Limousin. A rolling 183.5km stage would see the riders tackle three categorised climbs, several more 'hidden' hlils, and a 1.9km, 6.3 per cent ramp to the finish in Évaux-les-Bains. 

A fast start saw a number of attacks off the front before Sam Brand (Novo Nordisk), Iker Ballarin (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Jan Petelin (Vini Zabù-KTM) get away. The trio held a lead of 15 seconds after 10km, enough for Tony Hurel (St Michel-Auber 93) to get across and make it four in the break of the day.

Before long, they were well away, 3:20 up the road after 15km of racing. Their maximum advantage was five minutes after two hours of racing, but the quartet would not be allowed to stay away to the finish on a tough stage to start the race.

Hurel took the points at the first climb of the day, the Côte de Pionnat, though the peloton quickly upped the pace afterwards, bringing the gap down from two minutes to under half a minute. There were splits in the peloton as attacks flew up front, with Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) maintaining a presence at the head of the peloton.

By the time the riders were climbing en route to the second-category Côte de Toulx-Sainte-Croix, Oliver Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ) and Marlon Gaillard (Total Direct Energie) had sprung away, and were joined by Alejandro Osorio (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Joël Suter (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles) and Delio Fernández (Nippo Delko One Provence). Gaillard crashed out of the move at the 44km to go mark, leaving his four companions to a 40-second lead. 

In the peloton, UAE and Cofidis were the teams putting in work. Everything was back under control for the peloton as the two closing circuits loomed, with the escapees brought back by UAE at the 30km mark. At that point, three further climbs remained – two to the finish and the 2km, 5.3 per cent Côte du Châtelet in between.

AG2R La Mondiale took up the pacemaking ahead of the Châtelet, while attacks on the climb saw the peloton split to pieces. Wackermann led the way over the top, with Thibault Ferasse (Natura4ever-Roubaix-Lille Métropole) following him to get off the front on the descent.

The pair put up a good fight getting away 9km from the line but with around 30 riders chasing they were caught with 5km to go, meaning a larger battle for victory up to the hilltop finish. Marti Marquez (Equipo Kern Pharma) launched the attacking with 2km to go but Wackermann proved the strongest, flying past the Spaniard to ride under the flamme rouge alone.

The chase group behind was lined out in an effort to chase the 28-year-old Italian down, but it was to no avail as Wackermann had to celebrate his victory before crossing the line. Stewart led the peloton home seven seconds later to claim his best result of the 2020 season so far.