Koldo goes close in Poitou Charentes opener

Koldo Fernández sprinted to fourth place in today's Tour de Poitou Charentes opener. The precocious Davide Appollonio was the fastest over the 184,2km parcours from Surgères to the picturesque village of Cotignac, beating the less famous of the Chavanel brothers, Sébastien, and FDJ's Demare to claim top honours. The speed was so high on the run-in that the first 12 riders finished three seconds ahead of the rest of the main pack which included Astarloza, Bilbao, Velasco, Landa and Jon Izagirre. Mínguez, struggling for form in this late-season, came home 46 seconds down, while Sicard continued his comeback by finishing up 1:36 in arrears. Tomorrow's stage takes the riders from today's finishing-town, Cognac, to Bressuire over a largely flat 175,2 kilometres.