Sylvain Georges wins opening stage of the Rhone-Alpes Isere Tour 2011 – Cycling news
Sylvain Georges of the Big Mat-Auber 93 team won the opening stage of the Rhone-Alpes Isere Tour 2011 on Thursday.
The stage started in Vaulx-Milieu and ended at Saint-Savin. The Frenchmen Sylvain Georges took a total of 3 hours, 50 minutes and 57 seconds to cover the distance of 156 kilometres.
Gaetan Bille of the Wallonie Bruxelles-Credit Agricole team was the runner-up. Thibaut Pinot of the FDJ team finished third 2 seconds behind Sylvain.
Frederik Wilmann, Marc Goos and Justin Jules were in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively.
This stage was very difficult for the riders because there were three sprints and five mountains in the stage.
With 33.9 kilometres to go, Cedric Pineau of the FDJ team took first sprint ahead of Daniel Diaz of the Velo-Club La Pomme Marseille team and Jonas Ljungblad of the Differdange team.
When the race entered in Saint-Geoire-en-Valdaine after 85.4 kilometres, Cedric Pineau maintained his speed and took second sprint of the race.
In the final sprint of the race, Aurelien Ribet made an effort and took four points while Daniel Daiz came second.
In the first mountain of the race, Daniel Diaz was in first place but after 135.1 kilometres, Jeremy Roy took advantage of 6 minutes and took a lead over the peloton. However, after a few kilometres, other peloton riders caught him back.
Gaetan Bille from Belgium grabbed the only KOM of the day, ahead of Thibaut Pinot and Frederik Wilmann.
Sylvain Georges also took a lead in the overall classification with a timing of 3 hours, 50 minutes and 47 seconds. Gaetan Bille of the Wallonie Bruxelles team was in second place 4 seconds behind Sylvain.
Thibaut Pinot finished third with a difference of 8 seconds while Frederik Wilmann was in fourth place 12 seconds behind.
The next stage will start in Charvieu-Chavagneux and end in Toussieu. All the riders will cover the distance of 159 kilometres during the stage.
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