BMC went into the first stage of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes with the plan to do the sprint with Sebastian Lander. Unfortunately, a crash took the Dane out of contention.

Marcus Burghardt represented the BMC Racing Team in the breakaway Tuesday on the opening stage of Tour du Poitou Charentes while teammate Sebastian Lander had his hopes of contesting the sprint dashed when he was involved in a crash. 

Lander was involved in a big pile-up with 10 kilometers to go in the 192.4-kilometer race. The former Danish national road champion was not seriously hurt, but the delay meant only Burghardt and teammates Stephen Cummings, Thor Hushovd and Amaël Moinard finished in the leading group.

"It is too bad we lost Sebastian for the sprint because he was looking pretty good today," Burghardt said. "Fortunately, Steve was up there because he is our general classification hope."

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took the win ahead of Maxime Daniel (AG2R-La Mondiale) and  Roy Jans (Wanty-Groupe Gobert). Burghardt said it was not his objective to make the breakaway on a day when the wind played a major factor.

"I was just up in the font after the start and wanted to make some moves and suddenly we were gone," Burghardt said.

BMC Racing Team Sport Director Yvon Ledanois said after Burghardt's group was caught inside the last 45 kilometers, there were many tense moments.

"The crosswinds made it a very nervous day," he said. "But I am glad Steve was up there in the lead group."