Gianni Meersman won the first stage of the Volta ao Algarve and claimed his first win of the 2012 season
Gianni Meersman of Lotto Belisol Team won the 151 kilometre stage one of the Volta ao Algarve to help the Belgian side with yet another victory of the season.
He finished the race in a quickest time of 4 hours, 2 minutes and 17 seconds to overcome Greg van Avermaet and Matti Breschel.
The cyclist was delighted after claiming his first win of the season and is looking positive for the coming stages of the race.
He briefed after crossing the finish-line, "I'm really happy with my first win of the season, I'm not a real sprinter, I'm more of a puncher. It's great to get my first win and we'll see about the rest of the week".
Van Avermaet admired the performance of the young Belgian and also mentioned that his side, Team BMC, rode brilliantly during the opening stage.
He cited, "Meersman went with 250 or 200 metres to go, which I thought it was a bit too early, but it was downhill. It was good teamwork to get me up front".
Gianni Meersman, Greg van Avermaet and Matti Breschel secured 25, 20 and 16 points, respectively.
Dutch cyclist, Karsten Kroon won the both sprints of the race and grabbed 6 important UCI points.
He also achieved the first and the second Mountain’s category of the race and added 10 more points to his total.
Meersman is currently leading the stage 1 classifications, with a lead of 4 seconds over Greg van Avermaet.
Matti Breschel, Bjorn Leukemans and Nicolas Roche secured the third, fourth and fifth positionsin the respective order.
Team Ag2R-La Mondiale is at the top position after the stage 1 team’s classifications. Team Vacansoleil-DCM and Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step are currently holding the second and the third positions, respectively.
Volta ao Algarve is the UCI 2.1 ranked event and is held annually, since its first edition, back in 1960.
Portuguese rider, Jose Manuel Marques was the first winner of the race, while Belmiro Silva holds the honour of winning the race for a maximum number of 3 times.
Tony Martin of Germany succeeded at the most recent version of the race and is aiming to make it his second consecutive win of the season.
He finished the first stage at the15th position and is targeting the 187.5 kilometre stage 2 of the race.
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