Appollonio tops Chavanel in opening stage sprint

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Davide Appollonio took his second victory of the season, sprinting his way into the race leader's jersey at the Tour du Poitou Charentes in Cognac.

The 22-year-old handily bested Sebastien Chavanel (Europcar) and FDJ trainee Arnaud Demare to win the stage and take the race lead by four seconds over Chavanel thanks to time bonuses.

"We controlled the race all day, for GC and for the stage. The team was perfect in the lead out," Appollonio said to TeamSky.com.

"They did the last five or six kilometres just with four guys with me on the front. They were really strong. It was a tricky last 2km but we were at the front in a perfect position and we managed to get the best result."

The victory follows several top 10 results in the Giro d'Italia by the young Italian, whose confidence grew more with a subsequent win in the Tour de Luxembourg.

"In the Giro I saw that I can be really good. I didn’t think that I could be this fast but when I have good shape, I think I have shown I have the speed. The team believes in me and race by race I think I am growing. I am young, but if you have no stress and feel good within the team, I think I can show my pace. I am really happy with this victory."

The day's 182km stage began with a series of attacks that eventually resulted in a nine-rider breakaway escaping before the 20km mark. Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun), Joost Posthuma (Leopard-Trek), Anthony Roux (FDJ), Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky), Damien Gaudin (Team Europcar), Arkimedes Arguelyes Rodriges (Katusha), Luis Pasamontes (Movistar), Fumiyuki Beppu (Team RadioShack) and Loic Desriac (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) made up the move, which gained little more than a minute before being brought back at km 83.

Gaudin, Rodriges and new attacker Nicolas Bazin (Big Mat-Auber 93) then slipped away and were allowed a longer leash. The trio gained a maximum 3:30 before being slowly reeled in by the chase of Team Sky and FDJ.

Gaudin claimed two of the three intermediate sprints on offer to ride into the yellow jersey of best sprinter, while Rodriges took all three mountain sprints to take the polka dot jersey.

All that was left was for the teams of the sprinters to pull back the trio in time for the dash to the line, and they did just that with the help of Saur Sojasun and Movistar, capturing Rodriges last inside the 10km mark.

Johan Mombaerts (BigMat-Auber93) countered the catch, lasting until 4km to go when he was brought back. Gaël Malacarne (Bretagne-Schuller) was next to go, but Sky and the Rabobank Continental team upped the pace, bringing the race back together for the sprint.

Appollonio was delivered expertly to the win by Alex Dowsett and Kennaugh, with Greg Henderson giving the final boost of speed the Italian needed to finish with a comfortable margin over his foes.

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