35th Tour de l'Avenir, Cat 2.5

France, September 3-12, 1998


1997 Results     Past Winners     Complete Starting List

Brief

Le Tour has come down to a race between three riders who took more than 7 minutes out of the peloton yesterday. Today's final stage there are two major difficulties: the Col de la Madeleine (hors category) and the snow... which is now on the mountains above 1500 metres.

Christophe Rinero (Cofidis) won the final stage and took the overall GC victory after a storming finish in the 149 kms stage from La Terrasse to Courchevel. The climbing revelation of the Tour de France confirmed his status of favourite for the race and finished his season with a win just a month short of his 25th birthday.

He arrived at Courchevel with a 5.59 lead on GC over the Spaniard Txema Del Olmo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) winner of Stage 8 who came in second on this stage. Del Olmo's teammate, Joseba Beloki, who was leading the Tour at the start of the day who attacked on the Col de la Madeleine but then lost ground badly in the mountains around Courchevel, was 17.22 behind at the end.

The two Spaniard of the Basque team Euskaltel-Euskadi launched the first attacks in the mountain that constituted the main difficulty of the day. But it was Christophe Rinero who went hard down the other side. At the bottom, Rinero was 1.05 and was leading the Tour on the road.

Of the 119 riders who started, the terrible conditions (rain, snow and ice) led to only 52 finishing.

Stage 9, La Terrasse - Courchevel, 149 kms:

 1. Christophe Rinero (Fra) Cofidis                                  4.55.18 (30.274)
 2. Txema Del Olmo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                              5.06
 3. Thierry Loder (Fra) France                                          6.22
 4. Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002                             7.48
 5. Bram De Groot (Ned) Netherlands                                     8.53
 6. Peter Wuyts (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002                                   9.56
 7. Thomas Muhlbacher (Aut) Austria                                     9.58
 8. Sven Montgomery (Swi) Post Swiss Team                              11.46
 9. Marcel Gono (Aus) Credit Agricole                                  15.10
10. Michele Ferti (Ita) Amore e Vita                                   15.11
11. Tom Stremersch (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002                               17.11
12. Joseba Beloki (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                              17.22
13. Mathias Buxhofer (Aut) Austria                                     19.10
14. Benoît Luminet (Fra) France                                        21.28
15. Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                            21.28
16. Jérome Delbove (Fra) Cofidis                                       26.05
17. Mickaël Pichon (Fra) Vendee U Pays de la Loire                     27.36
18. Igor Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                                29.38
19. Oleg Joukov (Rus) Big Mat-Auber 93                                 30.07
20. Peter Wrolich (Aut) Austria                                        30.47
21. Cyrille Prise (Fra) CC Etupes                                      34.24
22. Steve Rover (Can) Mercury Cycling team                             37.51
23. Benoît Joachim (Lux) Luxembourg                                    38.12
24. Laurent Paumier (Fra) Jean Floc'h-Mantes                           39.52
25. Aitor Bugallo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                              41.06
26. Matthé Pronk (Ned) Netherlands                                     41.06
27. Janeck Tombak (Est) Cofidis                                        42.33
28. Renaud Boxus (Bel) Belgium                                         42.33
29. Gaël Moreau (Fra) Cofidis                                          42.33
30. Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) France                                       42.44
31. Ludovic Vanhee (Fra) Bretagne                                      42.59
32. David Clinger (USA) Mercury Cycling team                           46.05
33. Russel Downing (GB) Great Britain                                  46.31
34. Charly Wegelius (GB) Great Britain                                 46.31
35. Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Jean Floc'h-Mantes                            46.40
36. Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux                           48.00
37. Franck Renier (Fra) Vendee U Pays de la Loire                      49.16
38. Marc Vanacker (Lux) Luxembourg                                     49.16
39. Uwe Hardter (Ger) Luxembourg                                       49.16
40. Pierre Elias (Fra) France                                          49.52
41. Christophe Guillome (Fra) Bretagne                                 51.47
42. Darren Barclay (GB) Great Britain                                  52.43
43. Kiril Pospeyev (Ukr) Urkaine                                       54.45
44. Alexandre Rotar (Ukr) Urkaine                                      54.47
45. Karsteen Kroon (Ned) Netherlands                                   56.16
46. Addy Engels (Ned) Netherlands                                      56.16
47. Freddy Ravaleu (Fra) Jean Floc'h-Mantes                            56.16
48. Christophe Gauthier (Fra) France                                   56.16
49. Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) Bretagne                                  56.16
50. Stefan Van Dyck (Ned) Netherlands                                  58.19
51. Mathew Hayman (Aus) Netherlands                                    59.21
52. Julian Dean (NZ) Mercury Cycling team                              59.22

GC after Stage 9

 1. Christophe Rinero (Fra) Cofidis                                 38.47.42
 2. Txema Del Olmo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                              5.59
 3. Thierry Loder (Fra) France                                          8.29
 4. Thomas Muhlbacher (Aut) Austria                                    14.20
 5. Joseba Beloki (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                              16.38
 6. Peter Wuyts (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002                                  16.57
 7. Bram De Groot (Ned) Netherlands                                    24.01
 8. Mathias Buxhofer (Aut) Austria                                     31.40
 9. Tom Stremersch (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002                               32.48
10. Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                            35.47
11. Sven Montgomery (Swi) Post Swiss Team                              39.06
12. Laurent Paumier (Fra) Jean Floc'h-Mantes                           54.06
13. Marcel Gono (Aus) Credit Agricole                                  54.08
14. Benoît Luminet (Fra) France                                        55.26
15. David Clinger (USA) Mercury Cycling team                           56.04
16. Cyrille Prise (Fra) CC Etupes                                      56.54
17. Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Vlaanderen 2002                            57.40
18. Matthé Pronk (Ned) Netherlands                                   1.00.34
19. Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) France                                     1.02.12
20. Mickaël Pichon (Fra) Vendee U Pays de la Loire                   1.08.07
21. Jérome Delbove (Fra) Cofidis                                     1.09.42
22. Christophe Guillome (Fra) Bretagne                               1.09.50
23. Oleg Joukov (Rus) Big Mat-Auber 93                               1.10.49
24. Igor Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                              1.15.10
25. Benoît Joachim (Lux) Luxembourg                                  1.21.41
26. Pierre Elias (Fra) France                                        1.34.50
27. Peter Wrolich (Aut) Austria                                      1.37.47
28. Michele Ferti (Ita) Amore e Vita                                 1.44.12
29. Aitor Bugallo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                            1.44.33
30. Renaud Boxus (Bel) Belgium                                       1.48.31
31. Ludovic Vanhee (Fra) Bretagne                                    1.49.00
32. Charly Wegelius (GB) Great Britain                               1.50.49
33. Addy Engels (Ned) Netherlands                                    1.51.27
34. Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Jean Floc'h-Mantes                          1.52.00
35. Janeck Tombak (Est) Cofidis                                      1.57.21
36. Kiril Pospeyev (Ukr) Urkaine                                     2.00.37
37. Alexandre Rotar (Ukr) Urkaine                                    2.01.56
38. Franck Renier (Fra) Vendee U Pays de la Loire                    2.03.39
39. Steve Rover (Can) Mercury Cycling team                           2.06.30
40. Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) Bretagne                                2.08.53
41. Freddy Ravaleu (Fra) Jean Floc'h-Mantes                          2.12.16
42. Karsteen Kroon (Ned) Netherlands                                 2.20.30
43. Gaël Moreau (Fra) Cofidis                                        2.24.04
44. Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux                         2.24.19
45. Christophe Gauthier (Fra) France                                 2.24.41
46. Uwe Hardter (Ger) Luxembourg                                     2.33.21
47. Marc Vanacker (Lux) Luxembourg                                   2.40.21
48. Stefan Van Dyck (Ned) Netherlands                                2.43.31
49. Darren Barclay (GB) Great Britain                                2.43.32
50. Julian Dean (NZ) Mercury Cycling team                            2.53.24
51. Russel Downing (GB) Great Britain                                2.56.37
52. Mathew Hayman (Aus) Netherlands                                  3.05.42