Ben King Of Cannondale-Garmin has won the opening stage of the Criterium International.
This annual three stage race on the island of Corsica off Southern France started with a 92.5km stage which started and finished in the southern town of Porto Vecchio.
Ben King of Cannondale-Garmin and Clément Saint Martin (Team Marseille 13 KTM) had the main break of the stage and were four minutes ahead and King won the stage in 2.06.43, five seconds ahead of Saint Martin and 39 seconds ahead of Roman Feillu of Bretagne Seche Enviroment.
“It’s a great feeling to win here,” said King to his team's opener. “All I could think about in the final twenty kilometres were my teammates, especially Langeveld, who was in great condition and had a bad crash yesterday.”
“I also crashed last weekend in Milan-San Remo,” King added. “We’ve had some back luck, but we haven’t lost our fighting spirit. So, I desperately wanted to get the win for my teammates. That was my motivation. I’m happy I was able to deliver.”