Hello and welcome to Vendée for the Chrono des Herbiers. A race for the TT riders of the ProTour Peleton, and all the division's strongest are here vying to take the win.



Of the early riders to hit the course, Sean Downey was the one to post a creditable fast time. The Irish champion looked in top form, even catching his two-minute man, Jesus Herrada with around 15 km to go to the finish -- 1h13'08"



Downey's time would stand until Mikhail Ignatiev rolled through the finish. The Russian Champion rode hard, besting the time by just 5 seconds. With some big riders still to come, it would be an anxious wait for him to see if it will stand the test -- 1h13'03"



Anxious wait to beaten instantly... Sadly for Ignatiev, Gen-I's Greek Champion Panagiotis Vlatos would come home 32 seconds up on the Russian. A great time, and possibly even a Top 5 contender come the end of the day -- 1h12'30"



Michael Ford was the first of the big favourites to hit the course, and he was not having a good day. He would be down at all the checks along the route, and he would finish 49 seconds down on Vlatos.



Lars Boom had an outside chance of a Top 10 finish today, but it was clear to see he was after more than that. Bettering Vlatos at the first two checks, he would be hoping that he could hold this pace all the way to the finish.



Kristjan Koren was man for Gazelle today, and again he would be hoping for a Top 10 finish at the end. He had started strong, and looked good for his pre-race expectations.



Another man who was looking good was Marcel Kittel. The German was just a few seconds off the pace of Boom, and like him, he will be hoping that he hadn't gone out too hard on the course.



What a ride from Boom! The Aegon rider finishes 10 seconds than Vlatos and takes top spot way from the Greek. It was an amazing time, and could he take a podium at the end of the day? -- 1h12'20"



If Michael Ford was struggling today, then Adrian Malori was having a disaster. The Tinkoff rider was nearly a minute down on Boom at the first 2 checks and wouldn't manage to take back any time before the end. A day to forget for him... -- 1h13'09"



We said in the preview that one rider would 'pull a Phinney' today, and the award goes to Emilien Viennet! A strong contender in the start house, he would minutes out on the course. Not a good day for one of the home favourite. -- 1h14'10"



Back at the finish line for the arrival of Koren. A great ride from the Slovenian, and he bests the time of Boom by 6 seconds. Given he was 30" or so behind the Dutchman at the first check, he did a great job to make back the time -- 1h12'14"



Here's one less rider for Koren to worry about. Kittel comes home way down the standings. It seems his fast start was too fast, and he faded over the lumpier finish. He will be hoping the day will end with a Top 10 finish though -- 1h12'54"



So here come the big favourites - first up is Martijn Keizer. Roturn is hoping for a Top 5, but I'm sure he will be wanting more than that. Starting off at a steady pace, he was looking good to met his manager's expectations.



A bronze medalist at the U23 WC, Marlen Zmorka was a hot favourite to take the win today. One of the fastest at the early checkpoints, he would be certainly up there at the finish.



From Zmorka to Coppel! The French National Champion was riding well and up on the Ukrainian by a few seconds over the opening half of the race.



If someone needed to perform here, it was Taylor Phinney. He was hot favourite last year and he flopped in a big way! He holds the favourites title again, but in the colours of RBC this year, he was hoping for a much better finish. Signs on the opening parts of the route looked promising.

Sadly, the finish by Martijn Keizer was missed by the cameras, but he comes home 13 seconds down on Koren, and 7 seconds down on his own teammate Lars Boom. His manager wanted a Top 5, but he might be getting it with someone else. -- 1h12'25"



Zmorka was the next to finish of the favourites, and he will be disappointed with that ride! Slower than both Boom and Koren, he needs a miracle to even make the podium. -- 1h12'25"



After what seemed like an age, Koren's time is finally beaten! Jerome Coppel smashes the remaining half of the course and takes 41 seconds off the Slovenian's time. First man to break the 1h12'00" barrier, it will need to be special from Phinney to win this. -- 1h11'33"



We said it needed to be special, and my god it was! Coppel time doesn't stand for long at the top of the pile, and the American takes a fine victory in France by 31 seconds. This certainly makes up for last year!

1	Taylor Phinney	RBC Pro Cycling	1h11'02
2	Jerome Coppel	Team I-Gen - Festina	+ 31
3	Kristjan Koren	Gazelle	+ 1'12
4	Lars Boom	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 1'18
5	Marlen Zmorka	Metinvest-Dacia	+ 1'23
6	Martijn Keizer	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 1'25
7	Panagiotis Vlatos	Team I-Gen - Festina	+ 1'28
8	Brent Bookwalter	Movistar - US Postal	+ 1'35
9	Tim Dees	Pendleton's	+ 1'38
10	Marcel Kittel	Vesuvio - Accumalux	+ 1'52
11	Andrea Dal Col	Vontobel	+ 1'59
12	Mikhail Ignatiev	Metinvest-Dacia	+ 2'00
13	Sean Downey	Pendleton's	+ 2'06
14	Adrian Malori	Tinkoff Sport Academy	+ 2'07
15	Jasha Sütterlin	Team Puma - SAP	+ 2'14
16	Luke Durbridge	Jayco'z Cycling Project	+ 2'15
17	Mattia Cattaneo	Orange - KLM Cycling	+ 2'16
18	Alexandor Cataford	RBC Pro Cycling	s.t.
19	Michael Ford	Jayco'z Cycling Project	+ 2'17
20	Roman Kreuziger	RBC Pro Cycling	+ 2'18
21	Michael Schär	Vontobel	+ 2'21
22	Victor Campenaerts	BPost-Vlaanderen	+ 2'27
23	Gediminas Bagdonas	Evonik - ELKO	+ 2'37
24	Hugues Mottin	Bouygues Telecom	+ 2'40
25	Jesse Sergent	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	+ 2'41
26	Damien Howson	Grieg - Eftel	+ 2'43
27	Zakkari Dempster	Grieg - Eftel	+ 2'45
28	Miles Olman	Jayco'z Cycling Project	+ 2'47
29	Michael Valgren Andersen	Orange - KLM Cycling	+ 2'48
30	David Abal	Movistar - US Postal	+ 2'54
31	Thomas De Gendt	Gazelle	+ 3'00
32	Tony Martin	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
33	Michael Faerk Christensen	Grieg - Eftel	+ 3'06
34	Steven Lammertink	eBuddy	+ 3'08
35	Emilien Viennet	Orange - KLM Cycling	s.t.
36	Anton Vorobev	Tinkoff Sport Academy	s.t.
37	Carlos Verona	Movistar - US Postal	+ 3'12
38	Andrei Nechita	eBuddy	+ 3'20
39	Morgan Kneisky	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
40	Jakub Danacik	Becherovka - Petrof	+ 3'21
41	Daniel Teklehaimanot	Eritel - Sonatrach	+ 3'24
42	Mujtaba Hussein	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	s.t.
43	Michael Hepburn	Metinvest-Dacia	+ 3'25
44	Mathieu Bernaudeau	Team I-Gen - Festina	+ 3'26
45	Luca Sterbini	Red Bull - Huawei	+ 3'30
46	Vegard Stake Laengen	Aker - MOT	+ 3'31
47	Artem Ovechkin	Tinkoff Sport Academy	+ 3'34
48	Richard Laningo Laizer	Kenya Airways - Dimension Data	+ 3'35
49	Welle Jallays	BPost-Vlaanderen	+ 3'36
50	Bob Jungels	Vesuvio - Accumalux	+ 3'38
51	King Lok Cheung	Pendleton's	+ 3'39
52	Richie Porte	Vesuvio - Accumalux	+ 3'42
53	Tanel Kangert	Gazelle	s.t.
54	Frederik Frison	Aegon - Lavazza	+ 3'45
55	Stanislau Bazhkou	Aker - MOT	+ 3'46
56	Lasse Norman Hansen	Red Bull - Huawei	+ 3'50
57	Sven Vandousselaere	BPost-Vlaanderen	+ 4'01
58	Daniel Turek	Becherovka - Petrof	+ 4'02
59	Patrick Bevin	Team Puma - SAP	s.t.
60	Ion Izagirre	Pokerstars.com	+ 4'05
61	Philipp Walsleben	eBuddy	+ 4'16
62	Steven Burke	Pokerstars.com	+ 4'21
63	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Vontobel	+ 4'34
64	Dan Craven	Eritel - Sonatrach	+ 4'37
65	Dylan Van Baarle	Team Puma - SAP	+ 4'39
66	Westley Gough	Becherovka - Petrof	+ 4'43
67	Jesús Herrada	Pokerstars.com	+ 4'45
68	Nawuti Liphongyu	Red Bull - Huawei	+ 5'28
69	Andreas Vangstad	Aker - MOT	+ 5'30
70	Isaac Bolivar	Evonik - ELKO	+ 6'09
71	Arnaud Grand	Evonik - ELKO	+ 7'07
72	Denis Kostyuk	Control Team	+ 7'17
73	Juan Pablo Wilches	Control Team	+ 9'13
74	Matala Seboka	Eritel - Sonatrach	+ 9'14
75	Micael Isidoro	Control Team	+ 9'48