Olympic-bound Roulston wins open stage of Tour

BikeNZ’s Olympic preparations received a further boost with track hopeful Hayden Roulston winning the open stage of the Tour des Deux-Sevres in France today.

Roulston, competing with the BikeNZ endurance track squad, rode clear in a solo breakaway in the 160km opening stage from Baker to Saint-Amand-sur-Sevre in the north west of France.

The Ashburton rider, who will compete in the individual pursuit, team pursuit and Madison in Beijing, finished 25 clear of four chasers with a further 45 seconds back to the peloton on the first day of the four-stage event.

Roulston went clear in a superb performance to finish ahead of the chasing quartet of Stéphane Rossetto (CC Nogent-sur-Oise), Gaël Malacarne (Cotes d'Armor Master Jacques), Loïc Mühlemann (SCO Dijon) and Alexis Merle (Cycle Poitevin). Le peloton a été réglé, pour la sixième place, par Michaël Szkolnik (Albi VS).
The tour finishes on Monday.