Italian Alessandro Petacchi won the opening stage of the five-day Regio Tour.

The Milram sprinter beat out Nikolai Trussov and Claudio Cucinotta in the bunch sprint finale at the end of the 183.3km long stage from Lutterbach to Soultz.

Unibet's Stijn Vandenbergh took his first professional victory in the opening stage of the five-day Tour of Ireland in Cork.

He finished 14 seconds ahead of American Aaron Olson. They were part of a ten-man breakaway that finished over 13 minutes ahead of the peloton and now look likely to contest the overall honours.

20-year-old Pierre Rolland won stage two of the Tour du Limousin after an attack on the Côte de Vigeois with 19km remaining of the 187.4km trek from Droux to Uzerche.

Pierrick Fedrigo and Oscar Pereiro Sio were third and fourth respectively, 2:53 behind, to overtake Philippe Gilbert at the head of the GC with two stages remaining.

Selle-Italia's Alessandro Bertolini took his second consecutive win in the Coppa Ugo Agostini after an attack on the Côte de Vigeois with 19km remaining.

The Italian was edged out into second in the Tre Valli Varesine on Tuesday, though made up for the disappointment by jumping away from fellow escapees Luca Mazzanti and Christian Pfannberger to take a solo win.

Predictor-Lotto's Roy Sentjens, meanwhile, claimed his first win of the year by triumphing in the Druivenkoers-Overijse.

Eurosport