Matteo Pelucchi (IAM) got his participation in the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe off to a perfect start with a sprint victory in the flat opening stage. He beat Sacha Modolo (Bardiani) and Bryan Coquard (Europcar) in a bunch kick marred by a crash and took the first leader's jersey in the process.

With Matteo Pelucchi holding off a host of strong sprinters in the final of the opening stage in the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe, the brand-new IAM cycling team took their second victory of the season. Thomas Löfkvist opened the account with his overall victory in the Tour Mediteraneen, and today their young Italian sprinter doubled the score.

The sprint came at the end of a flat 179,4km opening stage of the sprinter-friendly French stage race. Immediately after the race start, Rony Martias (Sojasun) and Nicola Boem (Bardiani) managed to escape, and after a number of kilometres of freedom, they were joined by Kevin Reza (Europcar(.

The trio was allowed to build up a gap of more than 5 minutes before the FDJ team started to up the pace. With Nacer Bouhanni in their line-up for the race, the team saw a perfect opportunity tio go for the victory.

For most of the day, the French team kept the gap just below the 5 minute mark while Martias took maximum points on the day's three categorized climbs to be the first leader of the mountains competition.

As the peloton approached the final four laps of a 6,7km finishing circuit, the peloton upped the pace. Orica-GreenEdge and Ag2r-La Mondiale joined FDJ at the front in an attempt to set up their sprinters Aidis Kuropis and Samuel Dumoulin.

On the penultimate lap of the finishing circuit, the break was finally caught, and all was set for a stage finish. One of the possible sprint contenders Danilo Napolitano (Accent.jobs-Wanty) had an untimely puncture and lost his chances to compete for the victory.

As FDJ lined up their sprint train, a major crash brought down a number of riders inside the final 2 kilometres. However, the main sprinters were all ahead of the incident and continued at a rapid pace towards the finish line.

In the end, the French hopes of Bouhanni and young talent Bryan Coquard (Europcar) were dashed and they had to settle for 4th and 2nd. Instead, Matteo Pelucchi took his fourth professional victory and the race's first leader's jersey.

Pelucchi will have to defend his lead in tomorrow's two stages. The riders will tackle a flat stage in the morning before the GC contenders will take center stage in the all-important time trial in the afternoon.

Top 10:

1. Matteo Pelucchi

2. Sacha Modolo

3. Bryan Coquard

4. Nacer Bouhanni

5. Alexey Tsatevich

6. Steele Von Hoff

7. Giacomo Nizzolo

8. Scott Thwaites

9. Leonardo Duque

10. Benoit Drujon

General classification:

1. Matteo Pelucchi

2. Nicola Boem +0.03

3. Kevin Renza

4. Sacha Modolo +0.04

5. Bryan Coquard +0.06

6. Rony Martias

7. Nacer Bouhanni +0.10

8. Alexey Tsatevich

9. Steele Von Hoff

10. Giacomo Nizzolo