Casper van Uden sprinted to third place on the opening stage of the Tour de Bretagne Cycliste today, crossing the line just a handful of seconds behind two riders from the early breakaway that managed to hold on to the finish.

Development Team DSM set about controlling the race behind the early break of three riders which build a healthy advantage before gradually being pegged back by the peloton but help at the front of the bunch was few and far between. The gap did keep falling though and heading into the final kilometres, after three had become two out front, the catch looked likely. However, a late surge from the leaders saw them both successfully hold off the fast closing bunch by just seven seconds.

By the finish the fast pace in the bunch had reduced the group to around 60 riders with Tobias Lund Andresen also finishing in the group at seven seconds on GC.

After the stage, Casper van Uden gave a quick recap of his day: “We road really well as a block today. In the final it was very hectic and as a result I chose my own path which worked out well and it was nice to win the bunch sprint but unfortunately the two riders were still up the road.”

Team DSM coach Boris Zimine added: “The guys delivered the plan that we made before the stage well and tried to control the race behind the early break but as often happens on the first day of a stage race no one wanted to help with the chase. At the end as a team we did what we should do but we weren’t able to catch the guys in front so casper finished third. It’s a bit disappointing as once more he’s fastest but doesn’t get the win but there’s still six other stages to improve on this.”