Garmin engineer a win for Kreder in France

Kreder (Garmin-Barracuda) beat Guillaume Boivin (SpiderTech) and new race leader Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-Big Mat).

“It was really a team win,” said Kreder. “I was suposed to do the lead-out from 1km to go and I did that with my brother [Raymond] and Koldo [Fernandez] on my wheel.

"At 700 meters there was a small corner to the left and normally my job [would be] over there but my brother and Koldo left a gap because I went so fast in the corner. I kept that gap untill the finish."

But it was Hutarovich who pulled on the race leaders jersey after the allocation of bonus points, despite having the same overall time as that of stage one winner Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Endura), and Kreder.

After the snow and ice on stage one, the riders faced a new opponent for stage two, the wind.

Sebastien Turgot (Europcar) and Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun) led a breakaway of 50 km. They were joined by Thomas Vaubourzeix (La Pomme Marseille) who was anxious to preserve the climbers jersey he earned on stage one.

The trio built a build a three and a half minute lead on a peloton led by the FDJ-BigMat, Europcar, Astana and Garmin-Barracuda who combined to bring them back in driving crosswinds.

Taking advantage of the winding streets in the finale, Garmin-Barracuda had three riders in the last corner, and it was Kreder who picked up the victory.

The 127km third stage will lead the peloton from Seyne-sur-Mer to La Londe les Maures.

Stage 2: 136km, Salon de Provence to Martigues.

1 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Barracuda 3:10:40
2 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Spidertech Powered By C10
3 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ-Big Mat
4 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar
5 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Barracuda
6 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Acqua & Sapone
7 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Garmin-Barracuda
8 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana
9 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Team Type 1-Sanofi
10 Benjamin Giraud (Fra) La Pomme Marseille

General classification:

1 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ-Big Mat 6:31:33
2 Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (GBr) Endura
3 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Barracuda
4 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Spidertech Powered By C10 0:00:04
5 Sebastien Chavanel (Fra) Europcar 0:00:06
6 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:10
7 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Garmin-Barracuda
8 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana
9 Romain Hardy (Fra) Bretagne-Schuller
10 Benjamin Giraud (Fra) La Pomme Marseille