Course de la Paix 2015: Russian Rostovtcev sprints for the victory in first stage

Russain rider, Sergei Rostovtcev wins first stage of Course de la Paix 2015 after crash marred sprint finish in Litoměřice. Dutch Bram Welten was second and Brandon McNulty from USA finished third. Rostovtcev is the first race leader.

Rostovtcev winning the first stage (photo: Denik.cz)

Rostovtcev had a great start of the season with six wins in Italian junior scene. He's riding for Team Giorgi A.S.D. and can be considered as a pure sprint specialist. Five of his six wins this season came from a bunch sprint. Last year, he become World Champion in Scratch Race during Junior Track World Champs in Seoul.

Here's what the winner says after the stage:

"It's unbelievable, I can not believe that I managed to win such a big race. I'm really happy, but I have thanks to my colleagues, who were well positioned in the last kilometers and showed a lot of strength to drag me to the finish. Because now I got my first big win in my life and I am very proud that I did it in the Peace Race."

Podium of the first stage: Welten, Rostovtcev, McNulty (photo:denik.cz)

Results:

Gallery from the first stage

The first stage was marked but numerous crashes including Simon Guglielmi who went down in final stretch and Stan Dewulf who crashed hard earlier and unfortunately broke his collarbone. Group was splitted into several pieces. Most of the race favorites like Costa, Larsen, Foss and Eenkhoorn finished in the front group and should fight for leaders jersey tomorrow in the morning time trial.