Jesus Herrada and Alejandro Valverde gave Movistar the best possible start to the mountainous 3-day Route du Sud when the pair made it a 1-2 for the Spanish team in the opening stage. Herrada was the lone survivor of a late three-rider break while Valverde won the sprint for second ahead of a surprisingly strong Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ).

Unlike all other Tour de France favourites, Alejandro Valverde has decided to skip both the Criterium du Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse and instead he is preparing himself for the biggest race of the year in the three-day Route du Sud in the Pyrenees. Today he proved that he is ready for the race when he and his Movistar team dominated the first stage of the race.

The stage ended with a long uphill drag to the finish in Payolle, with only the final kilometre being flat. On paper it looked like a perfect stage for Valverde but his team decided to use another tactic than just setting up their captain for a sprint win.

After Sky had set a brutal pace from the bottom and briefly sent Kanstantsin Siutsou off in an attack, it was the Spanish team’s turn to go on the offensive. They sent Spanish champion Jesus Herrada up the road and the Spaniard was joined by Christopher Juul Jensen (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Antoine Lavieu (Roubaix) to form a strong trio that forced the rivals on the defensive.

Lavieu was the first to get dropped and later Juul-Jensen also had to surrender. However, Herrada proved to be a lot stronger than his companions and held on to take an impressive solo win.

Six seconds later Valverde won the sprint for second but what really caught the attention was the rider that finished third. At the top of a pretty hard climb, Nacer Bouhanni was still present and only Valverde was faster than the winner of the points jersey at the recent Giro d’Italia.

The stage was held on a 171.7km course from Lectoure to Payolle and first consisted of a long, flat run. The finale started with 30km to go when the riders went up a small category 3 climb and from there it was a long gradual uphill all the way to the flamme rouge before it flattened out for the final kilometre.

It didn’t take long for the early break to form and it was initiated by Yoann Paillot (La Pomme Marseille). He was joined by Axel Domont (Ag2r), Antonio Molina (Caja Rural) and Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne) and the quartet was quickly allowed to build an advantage that reached a maximum of 5.45.

FDJ was the first team to start the chase and they stabilized the gap around the five-minute mark. Movistar joined the work and those two teams gradually brought it down to 3 minutes where the situation again got stable.

As they approached the first climb, the pace was upped and at the bottom the gap was only 1.00. Just after the top, Paillot attacked on his own and he managed to stay clear for a little while but with 25km to go it was back together.

Sky now took control and the British team set a brutal pace that made the peloton splinter behind them. Several riders tried to take off but there was nothing to be done against the British machine.

It was all preparation for an attack by Siutsou and the Belarusian stayed clear with a 15-second advantage for a little while. However, Movistar took over behind and with 7km to go, he was back in the fold

With 5km to go, Herrada made his first attempt with Kenny Elissonde (FDJ) but it was his second try that worked. He was joined by Lavieu and Juul-Jensen but when he dropped both of them, he could solo across the line to take a fantastic stage win.

Herrada is now also the first leader of the race, taking a 10-second lead over Valverde into tomorrow’s queen stage. The stage includes the Col du Tourmalet and Col d’Aspin before a mountaintop finish in Val Louron, meaning that all is set for an exciting battle in the Pyrenees.