Anthony Ravard (AG2R-La Mondiale) won the 97km stage 2, the first part of today’s Circuit de la Sarthe split stage, between Varades and Angers. Yesterday’s third place finisher proved to be the fastest in a sprint finish in the Loire-side town to take his first victory of the season. Manuel Belletti (Colnago-CSF Inox) was second and Sébastien Chavanel (Française des Jeux) was third.
The stage was dominated by a breakaway from Sébastien Minard (Cofidis), Pierre Rolland (Bbox-Bouyges Telecom) and Alexandre Geniez (Skil-Shimano). The trio was never allowed to get a large gap by the Caisse d’Epargne team of race leader Luis Leon Sanchez, and was caught by the peloton inside the final few kilometres.
Despite the time bonuses awarded to stage winner Ravard, Sanchez held on to his race lead going into the afternoon’s 6.7km time trial.
Result stage 2a
1. Anthony Ravard (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale
2. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Colnago-CSF Inox
3. Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux
4. Marko Kump (Slo) Adria Mobil
5. Alexander Porsev (Rus) Itera-Katusha
6. Rémi Cusin (Fra) Cofidis, le credit en ligne @ 1s
7. Xavier Florencio (Spa) Cervélo TestTeam
8. Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne-Schuller
9. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Team RadioShack
10. Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, le credit en ligne
Standings after stage 2a
1. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
2. Marko Kump (Slo) Adria Mobil
3. Yury Trofimov (Rus) Bbox-Bouyges Telecom