23rd Route du Sud, Cat 2.3France, June 19-22, 1999 |
1998 Results
Past Winners
The Stages:
Preview:Kazak Alexandre Vinokourov, the recent winner of the 51st edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné, is keen to add the Route du Sud to his record. The race goes from Saturday to Tuesday and takes the riders from Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) to the plateau de Beille (Ariège), finishing with a climb to 1789 metres. Like all the races in June, they are considered preparation for the Tour de France which starts (maybe) on July 3.There are 104 riders starting in the 23rd edition of the Route du Sud. The 13 teams will contest the GC over 4 stages. The number of riders is down on last year as a result of a backlash against the actions that have followed the Tour de France in 1998. There are very few top riders entered. British rider Chris Boardman, Frenchmen Frédéric Moncassin, Cédric Vasseur and Christophe Rinero, together with American Lance Armstrong are the exceptions. The teams entered are Banesto (Spa), Rabobank (Ned), Lotto-Mobistar (Bel), Home Market-Charleroi (Bel), Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spa), Mapei-Quick Step (Ita), US Postal (USA) and the French teams of Crédit Agricole, Casino, Festina, Cofidis, La Française des Jeux and Big Mat-Auber 93. Vinokourov (Casino) aims to succeed French rider Armand De Las Cuevas (Banesto) who won last year. Stage 1a, Montauban - Montauban, 107 kms:Christophe Moreau (Festina) is the overnight leader of the Route du Sud after the two stages on Saturday. He won the ITT at Montauban in the afternoon after Australian Robbie McEwen won the mass sprint in the morning. Moreau finished in 21st place in the morning race. He was a member of the 1998 Festina team which was expelled from the Tour de France and was suspended by the French Cycling Federation until the end of April for his admissions during the investigations that followed the Tour de France. He returned to racing in May at the GP Frankfurt.The Festina team, like the American team US Postal had 3 riders in the top ten of the ITT. Ex-world champion Laurent Brochard, who stood out of cycling after the other Festina riders were suspended finished 10th. The specialist time triallers Chris Boardman (Crédit agricole) was 7th just behind the favourite Alexandre Vinokourov (Casino).
1. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Rabobank 2.36.49 (40.94 km/h) 2. Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Française des Jeux 3. Glenn Magnusson (Swe) US Postal Service 4. Christophe Capelle (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 5. Frédéric Moncassin (Fra) Crédit Agricole 6. Adriano Baffi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 7. Stéphane Barthe (Fra) Casino 8. Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Cofidis 9. Jay Sweet (Aus) Big Mat-Auber 93 10. Gorka Gerrikagoitia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi s.t. Stage 1b, Montauban - Montauban, ITT, 11.1 kms:1. Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 14.03.48 (47.375 km/h) 2. Tyler Hamilton (USA) US Postal 0.01 3. Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 0.02 4. Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal 0.03 5. Patrick Jonker (Ned) Rabobank 0.04 6. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Casino 0.06 7. Chris Boardman (GB) Crédit Agricole 0.08 8. Laurent Lefèvre (Fra) Festina 0.10 9. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) US Postal 0.11 10. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Festina 0.14 GC after Stage 1
1. Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 2.50.52 2. Tyler Hamilton (USA) US Postal 0.01 3. Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 0.02 4. Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal 0.03 5. Patrick Jonker (Ned) Rabobank 0.04 6. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Casino 0.06 7. Chris Boardman (GB) Crédit Agricole 0.08 8. Laurent Lefèvre (Fra) Festina 0.10 9. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) US Postal 0.11 10. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Festina 0.14 Stage 2, Montauban - Mazamet, 216 kms:Belgian Geert Verheyen (Lotto) won the 2nd stage of the Route du Sud which was raced over 216 kms between Montauban and Mazamet. This stage took the riders on a relatively straightforward route over the road of the Tarm and was marked by a very long escape by 19 riders. French rider Christophe Moreau (Festina) retained the leader's jersey in front of Australian Patrick Jonker. Moreau took the jersey in the ITT the day before.There was a mix-up in the leading group which required a judgement from the Jury. All the riders in the leading group were given the same time after Moreau and 14 others took a wrong turn with 3 kms to go. The 15 arrived slightly behind the other 4 who had taken the right route at the roundabout. The attack was motivated initially by Laurent Desbiens (Cofidis) who created the move after only 70 kms. The 18 other riders joined in and this created apathy in the peloton because all the major teams were represented. The other incident in the stage was the fall of Nicolas Vogondy (who abandoned at km 173). The leading group went on to finish more than 30 minutes in front of the peloton.
1. Geert Verheyen (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 5.29.10 (41,741 km/h) 2. Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big Mat-Auber 93 3. Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 4. Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi 5. Bobby Julich (USA) Cofidis 6. Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Casino 7. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) La Française des Jeux 8. Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole 9. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) US Postal 10. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Cofidis s.t. GC after Stage 2
1. Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 8.01.18 2. Patrick Jonker (Ned) Rabobank 0.07 3. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) US Postal 0.14 4. Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 0.31 5. Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank 0.37 6. ChanN McRae (USA) Mapei-Quick Step 0.39 7. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) La Française des Jeux 0.45 8. Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Casino 0.46 9. Bobby Julich (USA) Cofidis 0.47 10. Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi 0.53 Stage 3, Mazamet - Auzat, 181.3 kms:German Jens Voigt (Crédit Agricole) easily won the third stage of the Route du Sud. He was 54 seconds in front of Spaniard Aitor Silloniz (Euskatel-Eusakdi) and more than a minute in front of Anthony Morin (La Française des Jeux). French rider Christophe Moreau (Festina), who finished 14th at 11.36 retained his leader's orange and white jersey in front of Australian Patrick Jonker (at 0.07).The stage did not present any major difficulties and was marked by a number of riders abandoning the race. Among the leading riders pulling out was Kazak Alexandre Vinokourov (Casino), recent winner of the Critérium du Dauphiné, Cofidis riders Francis Moncoutier and Christophe Rinero, Steve De Wolf and Nicolas Jalabert, La Française des Jeux riders Jimmy Casper and Stéphane Heulot.
1. Jens Voigt (Ger) Crédit Agricole 4.33.25 (40.817 km/h) 2. Aitor Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.54 3. Anthony Morin (Fra) La Française des Jeux 1.07 4. Adriano Baffi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1.13 5. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Rabobank 1.13 6. Peter Wuyts (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 1.13 7. Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Casino 1.13 8. Charles Gilbert (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi 1.15 9. Cyril Saugrain (Fra) La Française des Jeux 1.34 10. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Cofidis 11.36 GC after Stage 3
1. Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 12.46.19 2. Patrick Jonker (Ned) Rabobank 0.07 3. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) US Postal 0.18 4. Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 0.35 5. Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank 0.37 6. Chann McRae (USA) Mapei-Quick Step 0.39 7. Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Casino 0.46 8. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) La Française des Jeux 0.49 9. Bobby Julich (USA) Cofidis 0.51 10. Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi 0.56 Stage 4, Aston - Plateau de Beille, 106.1 kms:American Jonathan Vaughters (US Postal) won the Route du Sud after he and teammate Lance Armstrong stormed away to take 1-2 for the Stage. Lance Armstrong was first. The final stage required the riders to climb 3 Cat 2 Mountains in the Aude and Ariège departments in Southern France. The final climb was the 1789 metre, 16 kms climb to the Plateau de Beille. The two Americans took command of the race with overnight leader Christophe Moreau being unable to match the efforts.US Postal dominated the stage with 4 of its riders in the top 10. In the last 10 kms, Vaughters and Armstrong rode away slowly but surely from the chasing group and finished 1.56 up at the end of a group of 5. Armstrong won the sprint. It is considered by pundits as the best preparation for the Tour de France.
1. Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal 3.28.07 (35.605 km/h) 2. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) US Postal 3. Geert Verheyen (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 1.56 4. Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi 1.56 5. Patrick Jonker (Ned) Rabobank 1.56 6. Andrea Noe (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1.56 7. Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 1.56 8. Kurt Van de Wouwer (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 2.00 9. Kevin Livingston (USA) US Postal 2.41 10. Tyler Hamilton (USA) US Postal 2.48 Final GC after Stage 4
1. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) US Postal, 643,6 Km in 16.14.38 (40,104 km/h) 2. Patrick Jonker (Ned) Rabobank 1.51 3. Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 2.16 4. Geert Verheyen (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar 2.36 5. Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Home Market-Charleroi 2.41 6. Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 3.08 7. Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank 3.31 8. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) La Française des Jeux 4.25 9. Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Casino 5.28 10. Bobby Julich (USA) Cofidis 5.33 Past WinnersThe Route du Sud began officially in 1988 as a Cat 2.4 event. It was previously known as the Tour du Tarn (1977-81) and then Tour Midi-Pyrénees (1982-87). |