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Tour de Beauce Stage 1: Luca Benedetti takes opener

June 12, 2014
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BEAUCELuca Benedetti (Amore Vita – Selle SMP) won the opening stage of the Tour de Beauce in a sprint ahead of Eric Young (Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Asbjorn Kragh (Christina Watches – Kuma). The win was his first as a professional. Benedetti signed with his team, Amore Vita – Selle SMP, on June 1 and since then has achieved some notable results. He placed fourth at Philly and he won the king of the mountain’s jersey last week at the Tour de Seguenay.

Stage 1 of the Tour de Beauce was 196 km beginning and finishing in the town of Ste-Justine. The stage featured four circuits of a 48.7-km loop. On each lap there was a KOM sprint up the Côte de Lapierre, a 1.5-km climb with an average gradient of 6 per cent. Jon Hornbeck (5-hour Energy presented by Kenda) who was in the main breakaway accumulated enough points to net the polka-dot jersey heading into Thursday’s second stage.

Given that the Tour de Beauce started a day later than usual and is one stage shorter than last year, there seemed to be a greater intensity in the bunch.  Many riders complained about a twitchy and nervous peloton. The road conditions were at times less than ideal with unexpected cracks and potholes.

The early breakaway established itself 5 km into the race. The move contained Remi Pelletier-Roy (Garneau-Quebecor), Joshua Berry (Team SmartStop) and Jon Hornbeck ((5-hour Energy presented by Kenda. The parcours were typical of the region: there was very little flat ground. The break was never going to make it to the end without any major climbs of note to split the field.

Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies, H&R Block and Garneau-Quebecor led the chase. Team 5-hour Energy added to the high pace with 50 km remaining when the break seemed a little too far up the road for their liking. They pulled their riders out of the breakaway itself to help with the final chase. With 5 km to go the move was caught and the stage was set for a field sprint.

Thursday features the Tour de Beauce’s Queen stage—a 167-km route that finishes atop the infamous Mont-Mégantic. Benedetti is keen to hold onto his leader’s jersey and it will require a huge effort given the parcours.