photo credits @ Le Tour
American Ben King (Cannondale-Garmin) won the opening stage of this year’s Critérium International today.
Today’s 92.5 kilometer circuit around Porto-Vecchio, featured the climb of the Côte de Conca at midpoint in the race, which took riders along a 2 kilometer ascent with an average gradient of 5 percent.
King went on to beat his breakaway companion, Saint-Clément Martin (Marseille 13), to claim the yellow leader’s jersey, before heading into the today’s second event – a 7 kilometer individual time trial.
The two riders attacked the peloton during the first kilometer, subsequently building up a 40-second advantage that would hold for the duration of the race.
“We rode like it was a time trial,” said King, who won the U.S. road championship in 2010. “Saint-Martin was really strong.” Later, via Twitter, he credited his team for its support: “This sport is so full of ups and downs. I owe it to them for this opportunity.”
Stage 1 Results USA 1 KING, Benjamin (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) 2:06:43 FRA 2 SAINT MARTIN, Clement (TEAM MARSEILLE 13 KTM) + 5 FRA 3 FEILLU, Romain (BRETAGNE-SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 39 NED 4 VEELERS, Tom (GIANT – ALPECIN) FRA 5 VENTURINI, Clément (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) FRA 6 GIRAUD, Benjamin (TEAM MARSEILLE 13 KTM) ITA 7 CANOLA, Marco (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) COL 8 ARREDONDO MORENO, Julian David (TREK FACTORY RACING) AUS 9 MCCARTHY, Jay (TINKOFF – SAXO) ITA 10 FELLINE, Fabio (TREK FACTORY RACING) DEN 11 SVENDGAARD, Michael Carbel (CULT ENERGY PRO CYCLING) FRA 12 LOUBET, Julien (TEAM MARSEILLE 13 KTM) BEL 13 BAKELANTS, Jan (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ITA 14 FORMOLO, Davide (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) USA 15 REIJNEN, Kiel (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) POL 16 POLJANSKI, Pawel (TINKOFF – SAXO) NED 17 KREDER, Michel (TEAM ROOMPOT) FRA 18 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ) ITA 19 BETTIOL, Alberto (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) POR 20 PIRES, Bruno (TINKOFF – SAXO)
General Classification after Stage 1 USA 1 KING, Benjamin (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) 2:06:34 FRA 2 SAINT MARTIN, Clement (TEAM MARSEILLE 13 KTM) + 8 FRA 3 FEILLU, Romain (BRETAGNE-SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 46 FRA 4 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ) + 47 NED 5 VEELERS, Tom (GIANT – ALPECIN) + 48 FRA 6 VENTURINI, Clément (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) FRA 7 GIRAUD, Benjamin (TEAM MARSEILLE 13 KTM) ITA 8 CANOLA, Marco (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) COL 9 ARREDONDO MORENO, Julian David (TREK FACTORY RACING) AUS 10 MCCARTHY, Jay (TINKOFF – SAXO)
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