Sébastien Hinault (AG2R La Mondiale) was the only rider in today’s race that had previously experienced the finish at Lyon’s Côte de la Croix-Rousse, having finished sixth there in the Dauphiné’ Libéré’s first stage way back in 2000. The 37-year-old Breton was able to put his knowledge of the finish to good use, but could only improve three places on his position from eleven years ago; he finished third behind stage winner John Degenkolb (HTC-Highroad) and Lyon local Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis).
"It was a finish that perfectly matched my qualities,” said Hinault. “At first, I was a little disappointed because I thought it could take second place. But, hey, I saw the pictures and the victory would have been difficult to get. Degenkolb did a great sprint and he was a long way ahead.
“Now the disappointment has passed and I'm happy to have finished in the top three, which was the objective at the outset. A lot of riders had looked at this stage, and although this is not a victory, third place is not bad. I still have the stage on Thursday to do something, then we will reverse the roles and I will become a good teammate until the end of the week."
For team manager Vincent Lavenu, the race is going as planned. After a highly successful Giro d’Italia, where John Gadret took a stage and finished fourth overall, the Dauphiné looks equally optimistic with Nicolas Roche moving up to fifth overall.
"The day has been pretty good once again with the third and ninth places of Sébastien Hinault and Nicolas Roche,” said Lavenu. “The team put its weight behind the peloton, to try something, at 27km from the finish. We discussed the tactics this morning and we planned to do this earlier but the wind did not lend itself to it. We then told the riders to stay alert.
“When they saw that there was a crosswind we took the opportunity to create a nice break. This eliminated some opponents but not as much as we'd hoped!”
As the only French team in the top division, AG2R La Mondiale does not have as many victories as its Professional Continental compatriots. Performances like this though, in the sport’s biggest races, give him hope for even better performances to come.
“What I remember about today is the most important collective work that was done; this allows the team to bond and encourages them to move forward."
Roche is hoping to finish strongly in this week’s Dauphiné, on the way to what he hopes will be a good performance at the Tour de France, where he will look to go better than his fifteenth place of last year. One of the things missing in parts of the AG2R La Mondiale team in 2010 was unity, with Gadret refusing to hand over his wheel to Roche when he punctured on the climb of the Port de Balès. The togetherness shown by the team today will surely give him hope for July.