An Post-Sean Kelly’s Lithuanian strongman Gediminas Bagdonas has finished best of the team in the opening stage of the five-day Étoile de Bessèges in the south of France today.
Last year’s An Post Ras winner was unlucky to be just about edged out of the top ten, finishing 11th in the bunch sprint into Bellegarde after 148km of fast racing over a flat course but in breezy conditions.
Mark McNally was one of many fallers today, while Irish riders Sean Downey and Ronan McLaughlin reported a very fast and crash filled stage.
We’ll have more in this later, including full results.
Provisional results – more to follow
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Feb 1st-5th Étoile de Bessèges
Stage 1: Beaucaire – Bellegarde 148km
1. Nacer Bouhanni Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat 100 20
2. Jean-pierre Drucker Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s 90 15
3. Bobbie Traksel Landbouwkrediet - Euphony 85 10
4. Marcel Kittel 1t4i 80 8
5. Kris Boeckmans Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team 75 6
6. Samuel Dumoulin Cofidis - Le Credit En Ligne 70 5
7. Jure Kocjan Team Type 1 - SANOFI 66 4
8. Yannick Martinez La Pomme Marseille 62 3
9. Kevyn Ista Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s 58 2
10. Anthony Ravard Ag2R - La Mondiale 54 1
11. Gediminas Bagdonas An Post-M. Donnelly-Grant Thornton - S... 50 -
12. Jimmy Engoulvent Saur - Sojasun 48 -
13. Michael Van Staeyen Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 46 -
14. Yukiya Arashiro Europcar 44 -
15. Tom Van Asbroeck Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 42 -
16. Anthony Delaplace Saur - Sojasun 40 -
17. Fabien Bacquet Big Mat - Auber 93 38 -
18. Renaud Dion Bretagne Schuller 36 -
19. Arthur Vichot Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat 34 -
20. Benjamin Giraud La Pomme Marseille 32 -
21. Stefan Van Dijk Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s 30 -
22. Stijn Devolder Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team 29 -
23. Kenneth Vanbilsen An Post-M. Donnelly-Grant Thornton - S... 28 -
24. Cédric Pineau Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat 27 -
25. Steven Van Vooren Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 26 -
26. Kurt Hovelijnck Landbouwkrediet - Euphony 25 -
27. Bjorn Leukemans Vacansoleil – DCM
