Way more eventful than usual, the first stage of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes, 187km finishing at Barbézieux, rewarded Arnaud Gérard (BSE) after a day where the Movistar Team was always on the right place. The most relevant of the day's escapes, a four-man breakaway featuring Jasha Sütterlin, allowed him to claim a bonus of six seconds as well as leading the Sprints classification and the KOM competition, having crossed the line first on three of the four rated ascents of the day.

With the race completely broken into pieces after the last one, a 12-man cut including José Herrada made it to the finish, with the Spaniard taking tenth at 3 minutes.

José Herrada and Jasha Sütterlin now sit respectively 10th and 13th overall, 13 and 15 seconds behind the white jersey, as the bunch looks for new hills on Wednesday towards La Creche (194.7km) before a decisive double sector on Thursday that includes an individual time trial to Loudun.

"The last thirty kilometers circuit was very interesting," Sütterlin told Directvelo. "It was a good day to be in the break. I knew if I won the intermediate sprints and KOM sprints, I was going to get some jerseys and get on the podium. I tried, and I did, so it was a great day for me and for the team. 

"I think we'll be able to do good things overall with Alex (Dowsett), Adriano Malori and Jonathan Castroviejo. These are three specialists against the clock. I think they all have a chance to make a good GC. Personally, I will try to do the best TT possible but I can not compare myself to the other three riders of the team. I think there are fifty faster and stronger riders in this pack. 

"Tomorrow I do not intend to rest. I will try to keep one of my two jerseys. But I do not know which."