Nicolas Roche (centre) takes third place in the chase group sprint behind Alejandro Valverde and Nacer Bouhanni for fourth on stage one of the Route du Sud today.
By Gerard Cromwell
Nicolas Roche narrowly missed out on a podium place on his post-Giro d'Italia return to racing today when he finished fourth on the opening stage of the Route du Sud in France.
Today's stage was won in a late solo escape by Spanish national champion Jesus Herrada Lopez of Movistar, who took the first leader's jersey of the three day race in Payolle.
Roche was part of a large group of riders battling it out for second place and after a solid leadout to the top of the third category climb by his Tinkoff Saxo squad, managed to hold on for fourth place on the stage behind pre-race favourite Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr).
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"There was a lot of attacking in the last 15km but the team did really well today," said Roche afterwards.
"Mick Rogers gave me an amazing lead-out to drop me at the front for the sprint but I just wasn't quick enough to beat Valverde or Bouhanni".
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It was a good day for Roche's Tinkoff Saxo team with Michael Rogers (6th) and Jay McCarthy (9th) also finishing in the top ten.
Roche is just six seconds off Herrada's orange race leader's jersey going into tomorrow's tough mountain stage.
Friday June 20th to 22nd: Route du Sud
Stage 1: Lectoure to Payolle-Campan (171.7km)
1 HERRADA LOPEZ Jesus (Movistar Team)
2 VALVERDE Alejandro (Movistar Team)
3 BOUHANNI Nacer (FDJ.fr )
4 ROCHE Nicolas (Tinkoff-Saxo)
5 HARDY Romain (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
6 ROGERS Michael (Tinkoff-Saxo)
7 DI GREGORIO Rémy (Team La Pomme Marseille)
8 BOSWELL Ian (Team Sky)
9 McCARTHY Jay (Tinkoff-Saxo)
10 ROSSETTO Stéphane (BigMat - Auber 93)
General Classification after Stage 1
1 HERRADA LOPEZ Jesus (Movistar Team)
2 VALVERDE Alejandro (Movistar Team)
3 BOUHANNI Nacer (FDJ.fr)
4 ROCHE Nicolas (Tinkoff Saxo)
5 HARDY Romain (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
6 ROGERS Michael (Tinkoff-Saxo)
7 DI GREGORIO Rémy (Team La Pomme Marseille)
8 BOSWELL Ian (Team Sky)
9 McCARTHY Jay (Tinkoff-Saxo)
10 ROSSETTO Stéphane (BigMat - Auber 93)
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