France's Nicolas Portal led home Team Sky's riders as they finished together in the peloton on the opening stage of Etoile de Bessèges, which was won by Vacansoleil sprinter Borut Bozic.

The 146km route from Aigues Mortes to Le Grau du Roi proved a straightforward one and, with no wind to contend with, it turned into a bunch sprint after a three-man breakaway was reeled in with around three kilometres to go.

The Vacansoleil squad were prominent at the head of the peloton from that point onwards, putting Bozic in pole position - and the Slovenian made no mistake as he held off Belgium's Niko Eeckhout from the An Post-Sean Kelly outfit.

Arnaud Molmy of Roubaix-Lille Métropole completed the podium positions, with Française des Jeux's Sébastien Chavanel in fourth.

The field - bar nine riders - finished together and were credited with the same time as the winner, with Portal the highest-placed Team Sky rider in 54th.

John-Lee Augustyn was 71st, a place ahead of Michael Barry, while Morris Possoni was 76th, Peter Kennaugh came home in 90th, Sylvain Calzati was 110th and Steve Cummings, a fine fourth at the weekend in the GP Cycliste la Marseillaise, was 129th.

Staying together

It was a solid opening day as Michael Barry explained: "The stage went well for us. As it was pancake flat and would likely be a group sprint we simply stayed out of trouble and stayed together as a team in the group to avoid and major splits and time gaps.

"We don't have sprinter here so this wasn't a stage that suited the team. We will hold tight and will be gunning for one of the upcoming hillier days."

Thursday's second stage sees the riders cover 141km as they race from Nîmes to Saint Ambroix.