We start this tour with three flat stages for the sprinters to sink their teeth into.

Stage Favourites:

Farrar	Vingerling	Fonseca
Peeters		Sinner

Foliforov is the first to attack as we are underway. He would be shortly joined by Kulppi, Sørensen, Grand and Orbe as the battle to be apart of the first break takes place.


Kulppi mops up the first KOM points.

With 144 KM to go we reach the first KOM point with the break still trying to established an advantage:

10 KOM points - Kulppi
8 KOM points - Sørensen
6 KOM points - Grand
4 KOM points - Orbe
--
2 KOM points - Gavenda



Shortly afterwards, after Sørensen and Orbe dropped back to the peloton, we had our first break of this tour established. The 2 man break consisted of: Kulppi & Grand.


The Finnish champ takes all the spoils.

Kulppi was not willing to share the checkpoints with Grand. He would go through the remaining two KOM points, 1st, and would also be the first rider to cross the first two intermediate checkpoints in first place. The Finnish champ will be the first wearer of the polka dots on stage 2.

Herklotz briefly attacked out of the peloton at one of the two KOM points to claim some points, aside from that the domestiques of the sprinter teams mopped up the rest.

KOM with 123 KM to go:	KOM with 105 KM to go:
10 - Kulppi	10 - Kulppi
8 - Grand	8 - Grand
6 - Herklotz	6 - Senni
4 - Cerny	4 - Ariesen
2 - Verholst	2 - Eefting

With just two riders in the breakaway there were '2 seconds and 2 points up on offer for the next rider past the checkpoint ....


Farrar outsprints the rest.

The Azteca - NBCSN rider wins the battle for third place at the two intermediate checkpoints in the middle of the stage, if he can win here can he win the stage?


Slovak champ, Gavenda, was on the front of the peloton for much of the race.

Fletcher - Garneau and Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo Cycling Team were the main chasers today. The break never stood a chance, however, with 19 KM to go the two men were still out-front with a gap of 1'20 back to the peloton with the final intermediate sprint coming up with 12 KM to go.


Farrar takes it again!

With 12 KM to go with Grand about to be caught and Kulppi only '30 up the road Farrar, for the third time today, wins the skirmish for the remaining points on offer.


Kulppi is caught with 6 KM to go.

After a great exhibition in the break our two breakaway riders have now been caught and the final sprint beckons.



The head of the race with 2 KM to go:

		Duggan
	Vanderaerden	Vingerling	Farrar
	Hochmann		Fonseca
Duque	Sinner

No team has a real lead-out/ control of the sprint. The biggest loser, at this stage, looks to be Peeters after his team rode on the front all day long.


Duque puts in a big attack with 1 KM to go!

This really catches many off guard. Who follows? Why his teammate Farrar does. But he really struggles to catch Duque and expends a lot of energy in doing so.



Farrar is about to catch Duque, but Fonseca looks comfortable on the wheel and Vingerling is still in contention with the rest of the sprinters together a few meters behind.



Duque is caught as Hochmann comes surging through to lead the race with 100 meters to go. It looks like a drag race between Hochmann and Vanderaerden for the win today. Fonseca can't match the others for speed, whereas, Vingerling looks to have left his sprint too late. After looking good all day long, suicidal tactics from Azteca look to have cost Farrar a good placing today.


Victory for Hochmann!

Team Ameriabank-Novatek win stage 1 in Bretagne as Hochmann wins by two bike lengths over Vanderaerden to make it an ideal start to the race for the Armenian team.

Fonseca held off a late challenge for 3rd by Vingerling with Dall'Antonia finishing quickly in fourth and Duque did well to finish 5th after putting in a late attack.


Further back: Richeze holding off Sinner to round out the top 10.

Team Ameriabank-Novatek were the first team to animate this stage and they round it off by winning, can Hochmann take the win on stage 2, this time in the leader's jersey?