At a first glance today's stage of the Giro d'Italia may seem like a missed opportunity for FDJ and Nacer Bouhanni but in fact the French team was pleased to see a big group stay away to the finish. In that way none of Bouhanni's rivals in the points competition scored any points, meaning that the Frenchman has virtually secured the red jersey.

FDJ chose an unusual tactic in today's stage of the Giro d'Italia that could have been one for the sprinters. Instead of keeping things together for their fast sprinter, the team sent two riders, Jussi Veikkanen and Johan Le Bon, up the road in the move that stayed away to the finish.

In that way they prevented key rival Giacomo Nizzolo from scoring any points, meaning that Bouhanni has virtually sealed the win in the points competition. At the same time, twoloyal domestiques got a chance to chase some personal success.

Unfortunately, Le Bon was hit by bad luck in the finale when he crashed in a slippery roundabout, thus losing all chances to win the stage. Instead, they came away with a 6th place for Veikkanen who mistakenly celebrated what he thought was a stage win when he won the sprint of the chase group.

"It is unfortunate," Le Bon said." I'm not hurt. The stage was difficult one day after a terrible day in the mountains. We didn't win but the day was positive as Nacer's direct rivals for the red jersey did not score any points. This is ideal and the goal now is to go to Trieste with this jersey. The team works well, we all believe in it."