Bizhigitov in Top 10 of GC after opening stage at Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle Aquitaine

199.9-kilometer-long opening stage was characterized by the flat route and finished with massive sprint in Royan, Astana Pro Team’s official website reads.

Kazakh rider Zhandos Bizhigitov tried himself in the breakaway from the beginning of the day and took 3rd place at the first intermediate sprint before he was caught by the peloton after about 40 km of racing.

After peloton caught the first breakaway, it was another attack of three riders, but they were not able to stay clear until the finish line as the sprinters teams controlled the race during the whole day. Opening stage finished with expected bunch sprint won by French rider Arnaud Démare, who also became the first GC leader of the race.

Thanks to bonus seconds earned in the breakaway, after first stage Zhandos Bizhigitov takes 7th place in GC.

All of Astana Pro Team riders safely finished in the main group with the same time as a race leader, except Daniil Fominykh, who was isolated due to crash at 5 km to go and finished 1 minute after his teammates.

«Today was a quite long stage. From the very beginning we tried to attack and Zhandos managed to escape to join the riders who attacked earlier. Then we decided that it was a little bit pointless to go into this breakaway, as there were only two riders ahead, who had little chance to make it to the finish line, and he returned to the main group. But he got some bonifications, and thanks to these seconds, he took 7th place in the GC. Today we were mostly concentrated to work for the finish of Yevgeniy Gidich. At 40 km before the finish line peloton became very active, as there were a strong crosswind, a narrow roads, technically difficult and dangerous final kilometers. We tried to keep the best position for Yevgeniy before the finish, but it didn’t quite work out, as the group began to split and we spent a lot of energy to maintain our positions in the front. There was a crash at 5 km to go, where I was isolated, and therefore I forced to finish 1 minute later. But, in general, we all have a good legs, and we will try again, there are still three sprint stages and an individual time trial,» commented Daniil Fominykh after the finish.

Today is the second flat stage with the start in Royan.