Pierre Rolland took both the stage and the overall lead at the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe on Thursday. The Frenchman who has won an Alpine stage of the Tour de France in the past two editions carved out a very convincing solo win atop the Mont des Avaloirs at Pré-en-Pail.

"This is my first victory of the year, so it makes me very happy," Rolland said on the team website. "It comes at the right time in an important period for me with Liège-Bastogne-Liège coming up. It was part of the plan that Europcar would be trying to do something. Once we reached the final circuit, I was content to realize that it was harder than in previous years. With my teammate Kevin Reza in the breakaway after finishing eleventh in the time trial, I only had to follow the rhythm of the peloton."

With 25 km remaining of the stage, Rolland went on the attack with David De La Cruz (NetApp-Endura) and continued on his own in the last lap, 7 km away from the finishing line, after having dropped the former breakaway riders. Thomas Voeckler protected his teammate’s advantage by closely marking any would-be counter-attacks by the likes of Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ).

"With Thomas, we form a duo that works well together," Rolland said. "We wanted to use this day as a test. It's reassuring for what's next to come. I hope to keep the yellow jersey till the end now. It's good to know that the last stage is also a difficult one."

At present Rolland is in the middle of his second series of racing this year. Rather unusually, he began with 27 days of competition to build up his form through four stage races: Tropicale Amissa-Bongo, Etoile de Bessèges, Tour of the Mediterranean and Le Tour de Langkawi, after which he took a break ahead of the Criterium International.

"I knew from my training that my condition was good," Rolland said. "But every time I was racing in Europe, we faced apocalyptic weather conditions and I really can't stand the cold. Now I hope I won’t get sick before my big goal, which is Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Only after that, I'll start a new bloc of work for the Tour de France."