Yauheni Hutarovich sprinted to victory in the 162km stage one of the Circuit de Lorraine in France, besting Luca Paolini (Acqua & Sapone) and Manuel Cardoso (Footon-Servetto). The Française des Jeux sprinter also leads the general classification, due to the time bonuses with four and six seconds ahead of the same two riders.
The race was overshadowed by a crash 800 meters from the line, which brought down the Bbox Bouygues Telecom pair Cyril Gautier and Steve Chainel, the 2008 Tour de Lorraine winner. "Cyril is fine, but Steve hurt his back. He hurt his arms, his knee and his hip as well," said his sports director, Ismaël Mottier. "He will be having a bad night."
Bbox rider Nicolas Vogondy formed part of the four-man break of the day, so Mottier was a bit disappointed with the outcome. "It is too bad [with the crash] because Steve could have been reaping from a day where our team really showed itself."
Yann Huguet (Skil) was also involved in the crash and is out of the race.
Tomorrow's stage two is from Pagny sur Moselle to Chantraine over 170km.