Laurens Ten Dam of Rabobank won the opening stage of the Criterium International on Saturday, turning an early breakaway into a 10-second win in the 193 km stage from Signy-le-Petit to Charleville-Mézières.

American Ian McKissick of BMC joined Ten Dam in the breakaway just 2 km into the stage, but he faltered with 23 km to go. Still, he was good enough to win the King of the Mountains.

Ten Dam and McKissick built a 17-minute lead before the peloton got its act together and chased. Well, most of the peloton. According to cyclingnews.com, the group was split into three sections, which spoiled the hopes of some of the top riders for the overall classification who didn’t make it into the lead chase.

 The lead chase group of 33 riders finished together, 10 seconds in arrears of Ten Dam. Contenders in that group include Jens Voight of CSC and David Millar of Slipstream-Chipotle/H30.

The Criterium International is one of the races promoted by Amaury Sports Organization, which promotes the Tour de France and banned Astana and defending TdF winner Alberto Contador from all of its races.

–30–