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Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay: Eric Young trumphs in Stage 1 sprint

June 5, 2014
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American Eric Young of Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies took the first stage win of the inaugural Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay Thursday in La Baie, QC. It’s Young’s second victory of the year following a Stage 6 win in March’s Vuelta Mexico.

The first stage’s route consisted of 11 laps of a 15.1 km circuit. The first lap was wheeled in 20 minutes as various break and chases lit out from the peloton. Canadian Bruno Langlois of 5 Hour Energy was in one of the more promising late escapes and Amore & Vita’s Luca Benedetti stayed busy enough in the breaks to seize the first King of the Mountains jersey.

The last escape of the day was the duo of 5 Hour Energy’s James Stemper (USA) and Jacob Rathe (USA) of Jelly Belly zipped away on the penultimate lap and held a 40-second gap going into the final lap, but it all came together, with Ukrainian outfit ISD Continental taking the reins with 3 km to go.

In the bunch sprint Young found the right wheels and was able to hold off runner-up Dutchman Martijn Verschoor (Team Novo Nordisk) and Canadian Patrick Naud (Garneau-Québecor) at the line. Young takes the leader’s jersey and the green points jersey while the best young rider, Dane Asbjorn Krach Anderson (Christina Watches), will be clad in the white jersey.

Friday’s stage consists of another circuit course in La Baie with harder climbing over 8 laps of 21.3 km.