CULT Energy Pro Cycling’s Romain Lemarchand was in the long-lasting breakaway trio that threatened to take the victory ahead of the sprinters during the 188 kilometer long first stage of Circuit Sarthe from Sablé sur Sarthe to Varades. The nerve-wrecking finale was however concluded in a bunch sprint after a nail-bitingly intense chase.

CULT Energy Frenchman, Romain Lemarchand took off from the very start of the stage with two companions and they quickly worked up a solid gap in the undulating terrain. Going into the finale, the sprint teams eventually joined forces behind and initiated an intense chase where the front riders were digging deep in their reserves to make it to the finish line. Deep enough to drop one rider from the front group but it still wasn’t enough as the herd of sprint teams galloped past the duo on the finish line where Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) was the first across the line. CULT Energy Pro Cycling's Russell Downing fisnihed 10th.

Romain Lemarchand was on the podium after the stage to receive the Fair Play jersey given to the rider animating the stage and he is now second overall behind the stage stage winner.

DS Luke Roberts says:

"Our plan was to have a rider in the break and Romain got in the mix pretty much straight from the gun and as the sprint teams weren't able to cooperate at first, the front trio came extremely close to the victory. Five seconds would have been enough. In the sprint, we had Russell who finished tenth. With the bonus seconds Romain swept up along the way, he's now second overall. We are expecting a very tough stage on Thursday so it's still too early to say whether or not he'll hang on to the podium."