The first stage of the tour is also the longest. It should be a stage for the sprinters, while the escapes will have a lot of things to fight for: 3 intermediate sprints and 4 categorised climbs.
Martens won the first sprint of the day followed by Mancuso and Ljungblad. Craven, Lemoine, Jeannesson, Petrie - Armstrong, Lai and Bagdonas were also in the group, which was going to be the breakaway group of the day
Bagdonas and Petrie - Armstrong attacked for the first KoM points. The EON Ruhrgas rider won them
Arvesen and Vingerling are leading the pack for NVidia, but they are already 7 minutes behind the breakaway group
Jeannesson won the second intermediate sprint of the day in front of Ljungblad and Lemoine
NVidia are the only team interested in chasing the breakaway and the pack is already 10 minutes behind the escapes at the second intermediate sprint
Bagdonas attacked again on the next climb to win it in front of Ljungblad and Martens
On the third climb of the day Petrie - Armstrong made his move to take the win in front of Martens and Jeannesson
Energie - Diesel, Wii, Nos and NVidia are leading the pack with 80 km left and they are now just 6 minutes behind the breakaway group
Martens won the last intermediate sprint of the day in front of Lai and Petrie - Armstrong
On the last climb of the day Martens, Ljungblad, Bagdonas and Craven made a gap between them and the other escapes
The pack is still 4 minutes behind the first breakaway group at the last summit of the day so the escapes have a good chance to win today
But there are only 3 riders in the first group. Bagdonas wasn't able to keep it up with the others and he was brought back in the second breakaway group
In 10 km Craven, Martens and Ljungblad already have won 1 minute over the other escapes
With 20 km left from the stage they have 2 minutes advantage over the pack so they have a real chance to win today
With 20 km all the other escapes were caught
With 13 km left Craven made his move and got away from Ljungblad and Martens
Ljungblad is trying to come after, while Martens seems dead as he is losing the contact with the Ikea rider
Inside the last 10 kilometers Ljungblad managed to catch Craven
Vespa are leading the pack but the battle for the stage win seems to have been lost
M&M, Vespa and Jack Wolfskin are the fastest trains in the pack but at the moment they are fighting just for the 4th spot
The M&M riders, Beppu and Lorenzetto, proved to be really strong and they got a gap from the pack, being very close to catch Martens
In front the sprint started and it's going to be really close, both Craven and Ljungblad could get the win of the season here
Behind, the M&M riders were brought back in the pack but Lorenzetto is still the fastest guy in the pack at the moment
And with less than 2 kilometers left Martens is caught by the pack
It was an amazing battle in front between Craven and Ljungblad, but the Ikea rider is the better sprinter and he looks like going to win today
And yes, Ljungblad takes the win
Lorenzetto takes the third spot in front of Van Avermaet, 22 seconds behind Ljungblad and Craven
