Matteo Trentin (Etixx-Quickstep) won the 2nd stage of the Tour du Poitou Charentes. Yauheni Hutarovich (Bretagne-Seche) was 2nd and Sep Vanmarcke (Lotto-Jumbo) rounded out the podium.

The victory was decided from a small group that got away in the final 30km of the race. Initially it was 28 riders that went clear in the crosswinds after Etixx-Quickstep and Lotto-Jumbo put the race in the gutter.

MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung were unfortunately only able to place Gerald Ciolek in the race defining move as the 2 World Tour teams applied the pressure to keep the peloton at bay.

With advantage in numbers, Etixx played their cards well to have Trentin sneak the win while Ciolek did his best as the sole representive in the move to claim 6th place.

"Today Ciolek ended in 6th place. He was the only rider that showed good awareness when 30 riders got away in the wind. The warning signs were there with Etixx and Lotto-Jumbo being good teams in the wind but still we could only have a single rider up front. This was not a good situation, we really hoped Tyler [Farrar], Nic [Dougall] and Daniel [Teklehaimanot] would have made the split too. Unfortunately it was not our best of days," sports director Michel Cornelisse said.