Colin Joyce avoided a large crash in the closing kilometers to finish eighth in stage one of the Tour Poitou-Charentes. Elia Viviani won the sprint stage ahead of his lead-out man Simone Consonni in a one-two finish for Cofidis, Solutions Crédits.
With sprint trains vying for the best possible position on the winding roads, a nasty crash sidelined a large section of the peloton four kilometers from home. Joyce was the only Rally Cycling rider to make the cut and surfed between the reduced AG2R Citroën Team and EOLO-Kometa lead-outs in the last kilometer.
The Idaho native was blocked prior to going into the final bend but fought his way back into the top 10 to salvage a result for Rally Cycling from the chaotic day.
Speaking after the stage, men’s team director Jonas Carney said,
“The guys rode well today trying to set up Arvid for the finish. Unfortunately, there was a big crash with five kilometers to go and Arvid went down. He wasn’t able to get back on the bike so they’re checking him out at the hospital. It’s not the start we were hoping for but Colin did a great job adjusting to the situation on the road and finished strong.”
Tomorrow sees the riders take on another rolling stage just shy of 200km. You can catch the action on the Tour Poitou-Charentes Facebook page.
Stage one results
1 VIVIANI Elia – Cofidis, Solutions Crédits 5:01:31
2 CONSONNI Simone – Cofidis, Solutions Crédits ”
3 SARREAU Marc – AG2R Citroën Team ”
4 GROSU Eduard-Michael – DELKO ”
5 DUPONT Timothy – Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB ”
6 VERMEULEN Emiel – Xelliss – Roubaix Lille Métropole ”
7 HOFSTETTER Hugo – Israel Start-Up Nation ”
8 JOYCE Colin – Rally Cycling ”
9 SWIFT Connor – Team Arkéa Samsic ”
10 WACKERMANN Luca – EOLO-Kometa ”
