Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani) broke Mark Cavendish’s stranglehold on the Tour du Poitou-Charentes when he beat Roy Jans (Wanty) and the British race leader in the bunch sprint in the morning stage on the third day of the race. With 4 bonus seconds, Cavendish defended his overall lead as he goes into the decisive time trial in the afternoon.

With several strong showing, Nicola Ruffoni has been knocking on the door for his first pro win right from the beginning of his neo-pro season. Today he finally broke his drought when he emerged as the strongest in the bunch sprint on the morning stage of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes.

Ruffoni could probably not have imagined a sweeter first victory as he managed to beat Mark Cavendish in the sprint and so broke the Brit’s stranglehold on the race. In fact, the race leader could only manage third as Roy Jans continued his recent string of near-misses by taking second.

After the opening two sprint stages, the Tour du Poitu-Charentes continued with a short morning stage that was again expected to suit the fast guys. The riders travelled over 111km from Montmorillon to Jourdain along mostly flat roads with just three smaller climbs along the way. In the finale, the roads were slightly uphill, making for a difficult sprint.

All riders who finishes yesterday’s stage, took the start under beautiful sunny condition and right from the beginning Thomas Vaubourziex (La Pomme) launched the first attack. Jean-Christophe Peraud and Blel Kadri (Ag2r) were among 4 riders to try to bridge the gap but the moves were neutralized.

Instead, Fabrize Jeandesboz (Europcar), Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r), Jarl Salomein (Topsport) and Sebastien Delfosse (Wallonie) took off and they were given some leeway. After 10km of racing, they were already 1.40 ahead but now OPQS started to control the situation, keeping the gap stable between the 1- and 2-minute marks.

Delfosse beat Salomein and Gougeard in the first KOM sprint while Salomein led Delfosse and Jeandesboz across the line in the second one. In the first sprint, Salomein beat Delfosse and Jeandesboz.

All the time, OPQS kept the gap just above the 1-minute mark but with 40km to go, they started to accelerate. Kevn De Weert did the work and with 30km to go, he had brought the gap down to 55 seconds.

Delfosse beat Salomein and Gougeard in the final KOM sprint with 20km to go and now the escapees were only 40 seconds ahead. The escapees worked very well together and with 10km, they still had 40 seconds in hand.

Jan Bakelants (OPQS) and Jerome Pineau (IAM) were now working hard in the peloton but the escapees proved to be hard to catch. With 3km to go, they were still 12 seconds ahead but OPQS managed to bring it back together for the bunch sprint where Ruffoni took the first professional win of his career.

With his third place, Cavendish defended  his lead and he now goes into the afternoon time trial with a 14-seconds advantage over Jans. However, the flat 23.4km course is expected to produce a major shake-up and determine the overall winner of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes.