Two out of three for Matthews after contentious sprint

March 8 ^th 2016 - 17:48

Four in the lead

174 riders left Contres without France's Jerome Coppel (IAM), who pulled out with sinusitis.  From kilometer 0, four men broke clear: Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre), Mathias Brandle (IAM), Anthony Delaplace (Fortuneo) and Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille Provence).  Their lead quickly grew and reached 10:15 shortly before the first intermediate sprint in Chabris (km 25), won by Siskevicius. The peloton, led by Matthews's Orica Greenedge team-mates and Marcel Kittel's Etixx Quick Step, raised the tempo and the gap stabilised at around six minutes (km 54).    

Cat and mouse

The peloton continued to play cat and mouse with the four, who still retained a 2:40 lead at the top of the only climb of the day, the third category Cote d'Estivareilles (km 164), which saw Anthony Delaplace collect four points. But as the trains organised, the gap kept diminishing and the lead was down to 50 seconds with 30 km to go, shortly before Grmay was dropped by his breakaway companions. At the first passage on the finish line in Commentry, as Siskevicius picked three more seconds, the peloton were 35 seconds adrift. Delaplace lost ground in turn with 15 kms to go.

Contentious sprint

Siskevicius and Brandle shook hands as the peloton mercilessly passed them with 12 km to go. The sprinters trains seemed to struggle in the last ten kilometers, Kittel's Etixx-Quick Step team-mates disappearing from view as Cofidis were the most active in the finale. Then Orica-Greenedge seized the reins in the last two kilometers, unveiling their leader's intentions. Sensing the danger, Bouhanni launched the sprint with 250 metres to go but paid the toll for the hardship of the day's long ride when he changed his line, blocking Matthews along the barriers. After checking the finish on video, the race jury awarded victory to the Australian.