Alexey Tsatevich took the 5th place in the second (a) semi-stage of the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe. The Team Katusha rider finished second in the massive peloton sprint, 5 seconds behind the three leaders of a successful breakaway.

"We had a short morning stage and it was expected that it would end with a sprint. However we saw a break of 3 French riders going for the victory. The team of the GC leader did not chase too active, and later the peloton just missed a few seconds to catch the break. Finally, the peloton sprinted only for 4th place. Alexey did a good race. He was strong in the sprint, finishing second, but this meant only a 5th place at the stage. Now we are looking forward to the time trial of this afternoon. The distance is pretty short, but we are hoping Tiago Machado can do a good race," said Katusha’s sports director Dmitry Konyshev.

The second (a) semi-stage started in Varades and ended in Angers after 83,9 km of racing. Three riders, Anthony Roux from FDJ, Thomas Voeckler from Europcar and Quentin Jauregui from AG2R La Mondiale went in a breakaway taking a good advantage, enough to win the stage.

Roux became the stage winner ahead of Jauregui and Voeckler. Yesterday’s winner Nacer Bouhanni from Cofidis was the rider who won the bunch sprint, taking 4th place in the stage with Alexey Tsatevich finishing right behind him.

Anthony Roux is the new GC leader.

In the afternoon the second (b) stage will be held: a 6,8 km time trial in Angers.