FDJ celebrate first ever Team Time Trial victory at La Méditerranéene

The team has been in existence for almost 20 years, but FDJ have finally been able to call themselves a Team Time Trial winner, having taken victory in the opening stage of La Méditerranéene.

The French outfit finished the 5.5km course in Banyoles in exactly six minutes - half a second quicker than Astana, who started the race with two fewer riders.

Matthieu Ladagnous crossed the line first for FDJ to take the leader's jersey into Friday's stage two, a rolling stage to Port Vendres.

"We had these new bikes developed by Lapierre which we had used in the last stage of the Etoile de Bessèges, and we can confirm they are performing," team manager Marc Madiot told L'Équipe.

"We had also decided to do a real test and we did not miss out. It was a bit special because in the first part of the course we could not go full gas because of the many turns and speed bumps. It was relatively technical. But the lesson had been learned. We had to manage the clock at the end and the riders did that."

Madiot went on to explain his plans to keep hold of the leader's jersey, with a flat finish on stage two possibly giving sprinter Arnaud Démare the chance to take control, with climber Alexandre Geniez one to watch in the relatively mountainous third stage on Saturday.