Giro del Trentino: Maxime Bouet wins stage 1a as peloton finishes seven minutes down
Sir Bradley Wiggins' hopes of winning the Giro del Trentino suffered a major early blow.
By Matt Westby
Last Updated: 16/04/13 6:58pm
The Frenchman, from Ag2r-La Mondiale, was one of eight men to go clear of the main bunch early in the short, 128.5km stage - which started and finished in Lienz, Austria - and they swiftly opened up a healthy gap that the race favourites were unable to close.
The eight escapees were whittled down to just three leaders on the day's only climb, the Iselsberg Pass 13km from home, and Bouet went on to claim victory ahead of the Czech Republic's Josef Cerny (CCC) and Michael Rodriguez (Team Colombia), with the peloton following 6min 57sec later.
While a breakaway rider winning was not entirely unexpected, the margin of Bouet's victory was a surprise and could have a potentially decisive say on the outcome of the race, which comprises just five stages in four days. Stages 1a and 1b both take place on Tuesday.
Wiggins (Team Sky) and fellow race favourites Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Cadel Evans (BMC) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida) have a team time trial and three difficult, mountainous stages in which to claw Bouet back, but could have their work cut out.
Bouet boasts defending champion and climbing expert Domenico Pozzovivo among his team-mates, while Rodriguez comes from a team whose motto is "Inspired by Climbing" and who have pedigree in this race, having won a mountain stage in the 2012 edition.
The likes of Team Sky, BMC and Astana will get their first chance to cut the deficit on Tuesday afternoon's stage 1b, a 14.1km team time trial around Lienz.
Result
1 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, 2:48.59
2 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Polsat Polkowice, same time
3 Michael Rodriguez (Col) Team Colombia, st
4 Nicola Dal Santo (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia - Fondriest, +39
5 Enzo Moyano (Arg) Caja Rural, same time
6 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Rusvelo, st
7 Jacques Janse van Rensburg (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka, +41
8 Gang Xu (Chn) Champion System, +1.11
9 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox, +6.51
10 Leonardo Duque (Col) Team Colombia, st
