Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) finally took the elusive first WorldTour win in the Cofidis jersey when he powered clear to win the bunch sprint in stage 2 of the Criterium du Dauphiné. Having latched onto Edvald Boasson Hagen’s (MTN-Qhubeka) wheel in the finale, he came around the Norwegian and held off a fast-finishing Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r) and Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) to take the victory while Peter Kennaugh (Sky) defended the overall lead.

When he signed a contract with Cofidis, Nacer Bouhanni was expected to continue his impressive string of victories in his new team which has had a pretty poor tally in the last few years. However, the first part of the season was hugely frustrating for the Frenchman who had to wait until April before he finally took his first victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Bouhanni took another two victories before he started to prepare for the Tour de France and was hoping to boost his confidence in the Bayern Rundfahrt and World Ports Classic. However, he came up short in both those races and so he was still missing that big win when he lined up for this week’s Criterium du Dauphiné.

Yesterday’s opening stage was another frustrating experience for Bouhanni who saw Peter Kennaugh deny him the chance to sprint for the win and he was determined to make up for it in today’s second stage which was the easiest of the entire race. Finally, things came together for the Cofidis sprinter who was clearly the fastest when it all came back together for the expected bunch sprint.

"I'm super happy, especially for the team," he said. "They have kept faith in me despite my difficult early part of the season. I didn't doubt myself. I knew I was in good shape. I got a few second places at the Bayern Rundfahrt but that was my come-back race. I'm in the build up for the Tour de France which is my main goal of the year. The Dauphiné and the French championship are part of a very important period for me.

"There was a headwind at the end today so I needed to stay protected by my team-mates. I was well positioned in Geoffrey Soupe's wheel, I didn't care about my adversaries. I let him put himself behind Boasson Hagen, then Modolo, and I managed to accelerate with 200m to go. 

"Yesterday I was disappointed but there was a very nice winner with Peter Kennaugh's coup. This is my fourth win this year and my first one at World Tour level. I'm on the right track but I won't stop here. After tomorrow at Sisteron there'll be another possibility for a bunch sprint finish. If there's an opportunity to get a second stage win, I won't let it go."