We kick off La Tropicale Amissa Bongo with a tough stage from Bitam to Ebalowa. The bookmakers holds Hassen Ben Nasser as their favorite today alongside Jaguar-duo Alex Dowsett and Natnael Berhane in what will surely be an exciting stage to follow.
There is an intermediate sprint already 15 kilometers into today's stage. Early attacker Davide Formolo is the first to cross the line, followed by Antoine Duchesne and Eduardo Girardi.
The trio is joined by Costa Seibeb moments before they reach today's first out of two category four climbs. Davide Formolo is once again first to the line and takes 5 points. Girardi crosses the line as second rider taking 3 points, while Seibeb has to settle for the final point.
Team Hornbach clearly isn't happy with the riders present in the break and soon reel them in. Instead, it is Nicolai Tanovitchii and Valens Ndayisenga who finally establishes the break of the day 50 kilometers into the stage.
Tanovitchii edges out Ndayisenga for the second intermediate sprint and secures his first six bonus seconds of the day. Back in the peloton, it is Nolan Hoffman who sprints to third place.
The gap seems to have stabilized around three minutes with 80 kilometers to go. It is Venchi - Ferranti, Jaguar - Eritel and Team Kenya Airways who is doing the work in the peloton.
None of the leaders seem particularly interested in the final KoM prize of the day, but it is Ndayisenga who leads them over the line and gets five points. Hervé Raoul Mba is the first in the pack to cross the line and takes the final mountain point.
Tanovitchii wins the last intermediate sprint ahead of Ndayisenga and Marco Corti. As we prepare for the final 50 kilometers, the gap is down to 2'45".
Things start to get interesting now as four riders goes for an early move! It is Santo Anza, Mauricio Soler, Joaquin Rodriquez Oliver and René Mandri who tries their luck 45 kilometers away from the finish line.
The four attackers quickly catch up with the break of the day, making it a group of six riders two minutes up the road in front of the bunch where Jaguar - Eritel now are doing most of the work.
The peloton are meeting gradients above 10% with just a little more than 25 kilometers more to race. Steep gradients combined with fast speeds cause the peloton to stretch out on a long line. It is a worrying situation for Ben Nasser, Serry, Barrio, Bellis and Rabon who are all badly placed far behind in the peloton and exposed to splits.
And it does not take long before a group of 16 has a 40 seconds gap on the main bunch. Of the favorites, it is only Dowsett and Berhane, Van Stayen, Hategeka and Vastaranta who is on the right side of the split! The group quickly turns into 17 as Ndayisenga can't manage to stay with the earlier attackers and is caught by the Dowsett-group.
Hassen Ben Nasser and several other riders can draw a breath of relief, as last year's winner Sander Armee manages to close the gap to the group ahead for his captain Pieter Serry. 15 kilometers to go!
Natnael Berhane attacks just as Tanovitchii also is caught! Despiting trying hard, the Modovian could not keep up with the other escapies any longer. Alexandre Shushemoin, Gasore Hategeka, Hassen Ben Nasser, Jonathan Bellis, Michael Van Stayen and Jonathan McEvoy all sense the danger in the Berhane-attack and follows. It is all for nothing, though, as everything soon comes back together.
The action is not over, as Dowsett now makes his move! Hategeka, Shushemoin, Van Stayen, Ben Nasser and Jukka Vastaranta follows. Five kilometers to go!
The aforementioned riders are getting away, while Julien Simon and Bellis tries to bridge the gap. Sergio Barrio is pacing in the peloton.
The Dowsett-group can't agree on who is to pace and Hategeka sees his chance to attack! It is just 3 kilometers to go for the leaders, and the group of four is still a minute ahead. Can he manage to chase them down in such as short amount of time?
It looks unlikely as the early attackers now starts to prepare for the sprint. Anza is leading out Mandri, followed by Soler and Rodriguez.
The riders can see the finish line ahead of them as they pass under the flamme rouge. Mandri and Anza opens their sprint, while Rodriguez looks like he is out of fuel.
Mandri is clearly the faster man. As they close in on the finish line, he is building up a nice lead. Soler is closing in on Anza, while Rodriguez looks like he will have to settle for fourth.
René Mandri wins the first stage of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo! Santo Anza just manages to hold onto 2nd. Soler is 3rd with Rodrigues following in 4th.
Shushemoin surprisingly sprints to 5th, leaving the places from 6th-10th for Ben Nasser, Hategeka, Van Stayen, Vastaranta and Dowsett. They are all 44 seconds behind the winner.
Jonathan Bellis loses 1'32" today, while the rest of the favorites comes in with the peloton losing 1'54".