Fabio Silvestre has won the stage 1 bunch sprint at the Tour de Normandie, beating Coen Vermeltfoort and Alexandre Blain to the line where a crash marred the fight to the line.
The 23 year old Portuguese, who took tenth place in yesterday’s prologue, is the new leader in the overall, the points and young rider classifications.
Stage 1 of the 2013 Tour de Normandie was 201 km long and ran between Colombelles and Forges-les-Eaux. The break of the day included of Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix Lille Métropole), Cédric Delaplace (Sojasun Espoirs) and Roman Semyonov (Continental Team Astana). The peloton, under the control of overall leader Thomas Scully’s Team Raleigh, never gave the three riders more than a three minute leash. Kowalski was the last man up front and he was caught with 5k to go, making room for a fast bunch sprint.
Fabio Silvestre: “I was all the time in a good position, together with Daniel Klemme and Eugenio Alafaci. The last kilometer was super hectic, with no less than two crashes. I’m very happy that we didn’t get caught up in them.”
Eugenio Alafaci and Daniel Klemme took 9th and 10th place. “I’m super happy with my first victory for the team! Life on the road has been great and I have learned so much with this team. This is a victory for all the riders and staff on Leopard Trek!”
Adriano Baffi: “We can be proud of this result. Fabio has been showing constant progress and in a way it doesn’t surprise me that he won today. His shape is good and he’s a real fighter. A bunch sprint is of course always technical and difficult, also because we don’t really have sprint train – but if you have good legs, like Fabio, it helps. Bravo to the boys!”
