Darren Rafferty and Ben Healy were to the fore at Région Pays de la Loire Tour (2.1) in France today on a day when their EF Education-EasyPost team took another victory to add to its 2024 tally.
Rafferty started an attack in the last hour of racing, which persisted for about 30k, as his and Healy's team seeks to take on the race this week, riding in a field where it should do very well.
The 210.5km opening stage, from Fontenay-le-Comte to Saint-Jean-de-Monts, was on flat terrain and saw a four-rider breakaway dominate the early part of the stage.
Samuel Leroux (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Louka Matthys (Bingoal WB), Jean-Louis Le Ny (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur) and Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) were up the road for over 100km and pulled out an advantage of two minutes.
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However, EF Education-EasyPost was among the teams invested in bringing back the breakaway and when the catch was made. Rafferty then went on the attack with 48km remaining.
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The Irishman started a move and was joined by Kévin Ledanois (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Rait Ärm (Van Rysel-Roubaix). However, they were caught after just over 30km, with the peloton having kept them on the right leash on the finishing circuit.
After Rafferty's move was neutralised, the honours came down to a bunch sprint won by Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), with Healy doing a huge level of work in the final 5km to ensure his team sprinter was in position.
Van den Bergin won a photo-finish from Jon Aberasturi (Euskaltel-Euskadi). David Dekker (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), with Ireland's Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) finishing 19th.
After their attacks today, Rafferty and Healy also finished in the bunch on the same time as the winner. Tomorrow's stage, some 162km into Saumur includes a finale with some short climbs which may split the bunch.
