Thor Hushovd (right) just about gets the verdict. Nicolas Roche (at back) was caught out by the twisty an tight last few hundred metres
Nicolas Roche has continued his strong start to the new season by taking 8th on the opening stage of the two-day Tour du Haut Var in France today. The Saxo-Tinkoff rider said he may have placed higher if he had nailed his finishing effort a bit better.
"Today's stage was a bit chaotic as the escapees were caught early and the stage started from scratch with 50 kilometres to go," he said after the 152km run from Le Cannet des Maures to La Croix Valmer won by Thor Hushovd (BMC).
"In the finale, I was in a good spot for the sprint but I lost a couple of positions in a corner before the finish line. But tomorrow is another day. The stage is longer and harder than today and I know the roads pretty well from my junior time where I used to race for the club organising this race. So hopefully I'll be at the right spot at the right time tomorrow when we enter the finale."
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There were a number of breakaways today – with the early move gaining eight minutes before being overhauled. On the lumpy finishing circuit a number of late escapes were mopped up as some hard racing saw the peloton whittled down to just 50 riders.
In the charge to the line Hushovd proved fastest, with the former World Champion taking his first win in 17 months after being plagued with illness and injury since the season before last.
Stage 1: Le Cannet des Maures - La Croix Valmer 152.5km
(Same result for general classification, no time bonuses today)
| Position | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team | 3:42:22 |
| 2 | Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
| 3 | Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ | |
| 4 | Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 5 | Egoitz Garcia Echeguibel (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
| 6 | Justin Jules (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
| 7 | Julien Simon (Fra) Sojasun | |
| 8 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
| 9 | Vincent Jerome (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 10 | Mathieu Drujon (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | |
| 11 | Armindo Fonseca (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | |
| 12 | Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Sojasun | |
| 13 | Dominik Nerz (Ger) BMC Racing Team | |
| 14 | Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack Leopard | |
| 15 | Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 16 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 17 | Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Garmin-Sharp | |
| 18 | Romain Lemarchand (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
| 19 | Lars Boom (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
| 20 | Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team | |
| 21 | Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling | |
| 22 | Cyrille Patoux (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
| 23 | Stefan Denifl (Aut) IAM Cycling | |
| 24 | Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) IAM Cycling | |
| 25 | Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
| 26 | Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
| 27 | Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
| 28 | Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
| 29 | Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra) Sojasun | |
| 30 | Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | |
| 31 | Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ | |
| 32 | Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 33 | Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) FDJ | |
| 34 | Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
| 35 | Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 36 | Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 37 | Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 38 | Julien Fouchard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
| 39 | Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
| 40 | Gustav Larsson (Swe) IAM Cycling | |
| 41 | Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Movistar Team | |
| 42 | Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
| 43 | Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team | |
| 44 | Jean-Marc Bideau (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | |
| 45 | Antoine Lavieu (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
| 46 | Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
| 47 | Thomas Rohregger (Aut) RadioShack Leopard | |
| 48 | Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
| 49 | Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ | |
| 50 | Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team | |
| 51 | Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Sojasun | |
| 52 | Moreno Hofland (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
| 53 | Niels Vandyck (Bel) Verandas Willems | |
| 54 | Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
| 55 | Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:17 |
| 56 | Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 57 | Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Movistar Team | |
| 58 | David Veilleux (Can) Team Europcar | 0:00:21 |
| 59 | Romain Bacon (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | |
| 60 | Floris Smeyers (Bel) Verandas Willems | 0:00:24 |
| 61 | Marcel Wyss (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
| 62 | Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | 0:00:27 |
| 63 | Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Argos-Shimano | 0:00:29 |
| 64 | José Gonçalves (Por) La Pomme Marseille | |
| 65 | Yannick Martinez (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
| 66 | Steven Tronet (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | |
| 67 | Thierry Hupond (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano | |
| 68 | Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Argos-Shimano | |
| 69 | Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Argos-Shimano | |
| 70 | Mark Christian (GBr) Team Raleigh | 0:00:33 |
| 71 | Anthony Geslin (Fra) FDJ | |
| 72 | Théo Vimpere (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | |
| 73 | Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | |
| 74 | Olivier Pardini (Bel) Verandas Willems | 0:00:38 |
| 75 | Yann Huguet (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano | 0:00:45 |
| 76 | Jerome Cousin (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:00:47 |
| 77 | Mark O'Brien (Aus) Team Raleigh | 0:00:51 |
| 78 | Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
| 79 | Alex Howes (USA) Garmin-Sharp | |
| 80 | Lachlan Norris (Aus) Team Raleigh | |
| 81 | Cédric Pineau (Fra) FDJ | |
| 82 | Romain Zingle (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
| 83 | Olivier Poppe (Bel) Verandas Willems | |
| 84 | Loïc Desriac (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | 0:00:55 |
| 85 | Kevin Lalouette (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | 0:01:00 |
| 86 | Laurent Didier (Lux) RadioShack Leopard | |
| 87 | Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ | 0:01:08 |
| 88 | Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | 0:01:10 |
| 89 | Sylvain Georges (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 90 | Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Sharp | 0:01:34 |
| 91 | Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano | |
| 92 | Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team | |
| 93 | Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Movistar Team | |
| 94 | Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
| 95 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
| 96 | Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Sharp | |
| 97 | Florian Vachon (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | |
| 98 | Florian Guillou (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | |
| 99 | Grégoire Tarride (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
| 100 | Franck Vermeulen (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
| 101 | Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
| 102 | Jean Marc Marino (Fra) Sojasun | |
| 103 | Brice Feillu (Fra) Sojasun | |
| 104 | Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 105 | Laurent Mangel (Fra) FDJ | 0:01:44 |
| 106 | Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team | 0:02:56 |
| 107 | Bob Jungels (Lux) RadioShack Leopard | |
| 108 | Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:04:10 |
| 109 | Anthony Charteau (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 110 | Benjamin King (USA) RadioShack Leopard | |
| 111 | Jean-Albert Carnevali (Bel) Verandas Willems | |
| 112 | Dominic Klemme (Ger) IAM Cycling | |
| 113 | Flavien Dassonville (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | |
| 114 | Thomas Vaubourzeix (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
| 115 | Julien El Fares (Fra) Sojasun | |
| 116 | Rob Britton (Can) Team Raleigh | |
| 117 | Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin-Sharp | |
| 118 | Jacob Rathe (USA) Garmin-Sharp | |
| 119 | Thomas Damuseau (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano | 0:06:09 |
| 120 | Clément Koretzky (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | 0:08:16 |
| 121 | Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack Leopard | |
| 122 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
| 123 | Gregory Habeaux (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
| 124 | Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack Leopard | |
| 125 | Fabien Bacquet (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | |
| 126 | Julien Duval (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
| 127 | Benjamin Verraes (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
| 128 | Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
| 129 | Rudy Kowalski (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
| 130 | Kévin Thome (Bel) Verandas Willems | |
| 131 | Evan Oliphant (GBr) Team Raleigh | |
| 132 | Tim De Troyer (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
| 133 | Robert Bush (USA) La Pomme Marseille | |
| 134 | Christophe Kern (Fra) Team Europcar | |
| 135 | Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Sojasun | |
| 136 | Maxime Le Montagner (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | 0:09:50 |
| 137 | Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) IAM Cycling | |
| 138 | Adrien Petit (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
| 139 | James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
| 140 | Dimitri Le Boulch (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | |
| 141 | Alexandre Blain (Fra) Team Raleigh | |
| 142 | Rick Flens (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
| 143 | Roy Jans (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
| 144 | Eric Berthou (Fra) Team Raleigh | |
| 145 | Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano | |
| 146 | Matthew Holmes (GBr) Team Raleigh | 0:12:40 |
| 147 | Sergio Ferrari (Bel) Verandas Willems | 0:17:38 |
| 148 | Jérémy Burton (Bel) Verandas Willems | |
| DNF | David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp | |
| DNF | Benjamin Giraud (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
| DNF | Jérôme Gilbert (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty |
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