Marijn van den Berg ruins Euskaltel party, French victory in the Basque Country | Cycling

Van den Berg had a perfect jump in the bunch sprint of the opening stage of the French stage race. In the finishing town of Saint-Jean-de-Monts he pushed his front wheel over the line a little earlier than Jon Aberasturi.

Van den Berg’s lightning-fast last meters put Iker Bonillo on the wrong foot. Aberasturi’s Euskaltel-Euskadi teammate crossed the line cheering, but after viewing the finish photo had to admit that his leader had finished second.

Van den Berg is making a relatively inconspicuous, but no less impressive rise. The 24-year-old from Utrecht focuses on sprints of thinned out pelotons. Last season he recorded three victories, including a stage in the Tour of Poland. This year Van den Berg was already the best in the Tour of Catalonia.

Thanks to his victory in the first stage, Van den Berg is also the leader in the general classification. The Région Pays de la Loire Tour lasts until Friday. All stages are largely flat, so there may be more in store for Van den Berg.

The second stage of the Tour of the Basque Country also turned into a sprint. The rain-soaked roads around the Kanbo finish location made for a chaotic final. Romain Grégoire, Esteban Chaves and Tao Geoghegan Hart, among others, fell.

Due to the crashes, the peloton was split and a relatively small group sprinted for the win. Lapeira turned out to be by far the best. The 23-year-old Frenchman from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team recorded the third and most impressive victory of his career.

Primoz Roglic retained the leader’s jersey after his victory in Monday’s opening time trial. His competitors Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard also finished in the first group on Tuesday.

The Tour of the Basque Country lasts until Saturday. The sprinters will probably no longer be discussed, because several climbs await the riders in each stage.