Hutarovich opens FDJ's season account

For the second year in a row Yauheni Hutarovich (Française des Jeux) claimed the opening stage of the Tour Méditerranéen Cycliste Professionnel with a sprint win into the southern French city of Sauvain on Wednesday afternoon.

With temperatures anchored below zero throughout the 95 kilometre stage, Hutarovich defeated Frenchman William Bonnet (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) and Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) to claim his and Française des Jeux's first win of the season.

The trio led a group of 16 riders into the finish, with four other riders scattered throughout an almost two minute gap to the majority of the peloton. Strong winds caused a number of splits to form in the run into the finish, with significant portions of the peloton losing massive chunks of time by days end.

Both Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) were present in the main selection on the opening day  of the tour and are now poised for strong performances overall of the five-day race.

In-form Dutchman Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) was another to find himself in the front group. His win at the only mountains sprint of the day gave him the leader's jersey in that competition.

Hutarovich, who claimed two stages at the 2009 Tour Méditerranéen, also assumed the race lead by virtue of his stage win. The 26-year-old also leads the points classification.

Hutarovich will carry a four second advantage over Bonnet into stage two on Thursday. Iglinskiy sits a further two seconds back, in third overall. Valverde and Vinokourov are part of a thirteen rider group now placed 10 seconds behind the leader.

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