Rolland gives Team Europcar its first win of 2012

Pierre Rolland defied the cold and the chas­ing pelo­ton at the Etoile de Bessèges to give Team Europcar its first win of the 2012 season.

Rolland was the rev­e­la­tion of the 2011 Tour de France, win­ning the stage to L’Alpe d’Huez and the best young rider’s white jer­sey. He used his class and excel­lent early sea­son form to ensure his Colnago C59 was first over the line.

Rolland raced with con­fi­dence. He secured a place in the eight-rider break­away that shaped the stage; then while other rid­ers strug­gled and were left behind, he and Franck Vermeulen man­aged to hold off the chas­ing pelo­ton on the fin­ish­ing cir­cuits and then Rolland won the two-rider sprint.

“All the guys rode really well,” Team Europcar directeur sportif Ishmael Mottier explained. “We placed two rid­ers in the first break of 13 rid­ers and then when they came back, Pierre made the race hard and forced the break. He’s had a good win­ter, he’s con­fi­dent of his form and you can see it in the way he’s rac­ing. He wanted to pay back the other guys in the team for their work.”

Thanks to his stage vic­tory, Rolland now has an excel­lent chance of over­all vic­tory in the early sea­son stage race.