An apparently unharmful first stage at the Etoile de Besseges turned into a hectic business among strong men on February 4th, through the 153,9 km route from Bellegarde to Beaucaire. In spite of going down to a flu in the last three days, Colombia-Coldeportes’ Carlos Julian Quintero fought his way through the wind and echelons that took the center stage on a cold day in France, remaining in contention for the GC.

Belgian Kris Boeckmans (Lotto-Soudal) won the final sprint among the 13 men that managed to stay to the fore in a day characterized by continuous splits and crashes. Boeckmans took the stage and the leader’s jersey by beating Edward Theuns (Topsport) and Marco Coledan (Trek). Quintero was the best Team Colombia-Coldeportes rider on the day, finishing 21st, 17 seconds down on Boeckmans, and sits 24th in the GC, 27 seconds behind the leader.

The race took a swift turn right after the start, with 27 men moving away from the bunch, helped by the crosswinds, with the peloton forced to enact a strong chase to keep them within reach. Another big group, including Carlos Julian Quintero, broke away with 40 km to go, rejoining the frontrunners, until the last split of a weary day left just 13 men at the front.

“In days and conditions like these, experience is really a big factor, and clearly several of our line-up riders have just started dealing with those," Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi explained. "Then we did not enjoy the best of luck, since Leonardo Duque crashed after being hampered by another rider just after the start, and almost the same happened to Carlos Mario Ramirez several kilometres later – both fortunately with no major consequences. On the other hand, and in spite of sickness, Quintero gave another demonstration of his very good condition, and I think he is capable of reaching a valuable GC placement in this race."

Tomorrow the second stage will take the riders from Nimes to Les Fumades (155 km): once again, no impressive climbs, but plenty of threats represented by wind and weather.