Ivo Oliveira (UAE Workforce Emirates) claimed a slender victory within the 4.1 kilometre prologue of the Boucles de la Mayenne in Laval, France.
The Portuguese rider blasted to the victory on the technical circuit and took the primary race chief’s jersey by two seconds over Axel Zingle (Cofidis) with Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) third by one second additional behind.
“I have been specializing in this stage for the previous month that I have been fascinated with this TT and I have been working actually exhausting in the direction of it,” Oliveira siad. “I knew it was a form of effort that suited me because it’s much like a observe effort and so knew I might be in with a shout of successful.
“It is my first victory with the staff since successful the Portuguese TT champs some years in the past so I could not be extra completely happy. Now we’ll attempt to defend the yellow.”
Oliveira will carry the chief’s jersey into a troublesome stage 2 of the four-day occasion when the peloton faces a lumpy 185.2 kilometre stage from Saint-Mars-sur-Colmont to Lassay-les-Châteaux.
Defending champion Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) didn’t return to reclaim the title of the race which has alternately been gained by sprinters and classics specialists.
In 2021, Arnaud Démare gained three of the 4 levels, the general and dash classifications.
The Frenchman is within the hunt once more this yr, inserting sixth within the prologue. Cosnefroy, final yr’s runner-up, is probably going the most important risk to a repeat of 2021.
