Thomas Voeckler narrowly missed out on his first win for more than a year when he finished last in the 3-rider sprint at the end of the second stage of the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe.

"We did not have 36000 possible ways to get there," he told Cyclingpro.net. "We had to wait for the circuit to go full gas. We worked well rogether three and had a good gap which only came down at the end when we started to look at each other. I wanted to win and am disappointed, maybe the young guy (Jauregui who was second, ed.) is happy. I have good legs and I gave a good show, but to finish third out of three is not great. I am disappointed. Now Anthony Roux has all the cards. He has already won the Circuit de la Sarthe (in 2011, ed.) as well as the key stage in Pré-en-Pail even though it did not end at the top of the climb like it will do tomorrow."