48th Circuit de la Sarthe - 2.4

France, April 4-7, 2000

Main Page     Results

Stage 1 - April 4: Mayenne - Mayenne, 165.6 km

Wüst takes first win for Festina

German sprinter Marcel Wüst (Festina) won the first stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe, 165.6 kilometres starting and finishing in the Northeastern French town of Mayenne. He was quicker than Briton (and occasional traning partner), Jeremy Hunt (Big Mat) with Telekom's Giovanni Lombardi in third. It was the German's first professional victory for the year and also Festina's first and he was delighted with it.

"I felt really good today," said Wüst. "Last year I won a stage and was second a couple of times, so it's a race where I know I can do well". "Towards the end the cross winds where strong but the team worked well, (Angel) SainzDe La Maza lead me up the left side of the group as we approached the uphill finish. With about 400 metres to go, the group sort of relaxed and I took my chance - I saw it afterwards on TV and it looked easy but it wasn't because I started my sprint earlier than usual, but I'm really happy," added Wüst.

The stage was marked by a long break of French rider, Médérick Clain (Besson) and Philippe Bordenave (AG2R). For 100 km they resisted the group before Festina and BigMat Auber started to chase them down.

One of the favourites of the race was Frenchman Laurent Brochard (Jean Delatour) who finished fourth on the first stage, the same time as the winner. However, with the time bonuses gained by others along the way, he is 8th in the classification, nine seconds behind Wüst.

The race also marked the return to racing of team captain Angel Casero, following Achilles tendon surgery over the winter. It was his first race since being forced to retire from last year's Vuelta a Espana with tendonitis.

The second stage tomorrow will take the riders from Mayenne to Châteauneuf-on-Sarthe for 220.8 km.

Results

1 Marcel  Wust (Ger) Festina-Lotus                            4.19.36
2 Jeremy Hunt (GBr)  Big Mat - Auber 93                              
3 Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Deutsche Telekom                           
4 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour                               
5 Arvis Piziks (Lat) Memory Card Jack&Jones                          
6 Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Française des Jeux                           
7 Alain Turicchia (Ita) Amica Chips                                  
8 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Amica Chips                                     
9 Crescenzo D'amore (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                           
10 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner                           
11 François Simon (Fra) Bonjour                                      
12 Dimitri Fofonov (Kaz) Besson Chaussures                           
13 Alberto Benito (Spa) Banesto                                      
14 Angel Sainz De La Maza (Spa) Festina-Lotus                        
15 Christophe Capelle (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93                       
16 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina-Lotus                             
17 Daniele Galli (Ita) Amica Chips                                   
18 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) La Française des Jeux                      
19 Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour                                         
20 Andreas Sauerborn (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner                         
21 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Cofidis                                     
22 Stéphane Heulot (Fra) La Française des Jeux                       
23 Jens Voigt (Ger) Crédit Agricole                                  
24 Martin Rittsel (Swi) Memory Card Jack&Jones                       
25 Chris Boardman (GBr) Crédit Agricole                              
26 David Canada (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank                             
27 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis                                  
28 Frédéric Mainguenaud (Fra) Bonjour                                
29 Médéric Clain (Fra) Besson Chaussures                             
30 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                           
31 David Millar (GBr) Cofidis                                        
32 Bobby Julich (Usa) Crédit Agricole                                
33 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance                              
34 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) ONCE-Deutsche Bank                         
35 Isaac Galvez (Spa) Kelme-Costablanca                              
36 Scott Mcgrory  (Aus) Team Gerolsteiner                            
37 Jens Heppner (Ger) Deutsche Telekom                               
38 Bradley Mcgee (Aus) La Française des Jeux                         
39 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                           
40 Ruben Galvan (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank                             
41 Roberto Laiseka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                           
42 Antoni Rizzi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                               
43 Bo Hamburger (Den) Memory Card Jack&Jones                         
44 Francisque Teyssier (Fra) Jean Delatour                           
45 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Memory Card Jack&Jones                     
46 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour                                 
47 Jose-Ivan Guterriez (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank                      
48 Jonathan Vaughters (Usa) Crédit Agricole                          
49 Mikel Pradera (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                             
50 Pascal Derame (Fra) Bonjour                                       
51 Angel Vidal (Spa) Kelme-Costablanca                               
52 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93                            
53 Davy Delme (Bel) Tönissteiner                                     
54 Stefan Schreck (Ger) Deutsche Telekom                             
55 Jorn Reuss (Ger) Deutsche Telekom                                 
56 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour                                 
57 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Banesto                                       
58 Gorka Arrizabalanga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                       
59 Mikael Holst Kyneb (Den) Memory card                              
60 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Besson Chaussures                          
61 Benoît Salmon (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance                               
62 Isidro Nozal (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank                             
63 Arturas Kasputis (Lit) AG2R-Prevoyance                            
64 Rafael Diaz (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank                              
65 Bert Roesems (Bel) Tönissteiner                                   
66 Francisco Cabello (Spa) Kelme-Costablanca                         
67 Christophe Gauthier (Fra) Besson Chaussures                       
68 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Amica Chips                                
69 Francisco Leon (Spa) Kelme-Costablanca                            
70 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                           
71 Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Cofidis                                    
72 Eladio Jimenez (Spa) Banesto                                      
73 Uwe Peschel (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner                               
74 Branko Filip (Slo) Team Gerolsteiner                              
75 Denis Menchov (Rus) Banesto                                       
76 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big Mat-Auber 93                             
77 Fabrice Gougot (Fra) Crédit Agricole                              
78 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Bonjour                                    
79 Gilles Maignan (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance                              
80 Christopher Jenner (Nzl) Crédit Agricole                          
81 Rafael Schweda (Ger) Deutsche Telekom mixte                       
82 Jérôme Bernard (Fra) Jean Delatour                                
83 Fabio Malberti (Ita) Amica Chips                                  
84 Pascal Lino (Fra) Festina-Lotus                                   
85 Thierry Gouvenou (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93                           
86 Ramon Gonzalez Arrieta (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                    
87 David Delrieu (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance                               
88 Marcos Serrano (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank                           
89 Sven Montgomery (Swi) La Française des Jeux                       
90 Mickaël Pichon (Fra) Bonjour                                      
91 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Banesto                                    
92 Leif Hoste (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step                                 
93 Rafael Casero (Spa) Festina-Lotus                                 
94 Charly Wegelius (GBr) Mapei-Quick Step                            
95 Loïc Lamouller (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93                             
96 Matthias Kessler (Ger) Deutsche Telekom mixte                     
97 Kees Hopmans (Ned) Tönissteiner                                   
98 Uwe Hardter (Ger) Team Gerolsteiner                               
99 Nicolas Chesini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                            
100 Davide Scalmana (Ita) Amica Chips                                
101 Marc Chanoine (Bel) Tönissteiner                                 
102 Jakob Storm Piil (Den) Memory Card Jack&Jones                    
103 Cesar Solaun (Spa) Banesto                                       
104 Sandy Casar (Fra) La Française des Jeux                          
105 Sébastien Laroche (Fra) Besson Chaussures                        
106 Philippe Bordenave (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance                         
107 Francis Moreau (Fra) Cofidis                                     
108 Nicolas Coudray (Swi) Tönissteiner                               
109 Roland Meier (Swi) Cofidis                                       
110 Nicolas Dumont (Fra) Besson Chaussures                           
111 Angel-Luis Casero (Spa) Festina-Lotus                            
112 Jonas Emmanuelson (Swi) Tönissteiner                             0.22

General classification after stage 1:

1 Marcel Wust (Ger) Festina-Lotus                                 4.19.26
2 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Big Mat - Auber 93                               0.04
3 Médéric Clain (Fra) Besson Chaussures                              
4 Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Deutsche Telekom                           0.06
5 Philippe Bordenave (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance                           
6 Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Française des Jeux                           0.07
7 Alain Turicchia (Ita) Amica Chips                                  0.08
8 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour                               0.09
9 Arvis Piziks (Lat) Memory Card Jack&Jones                          
10 Jens Voigt (Ger) Crédit Agricole                                  

Climbs classification:

1 Médéric Clain (Fra) Besson Chaussures                                12 pts
2 Philippe Bordenave (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance                              6
3 Pascal Lino (Fra) Festina-Lotus                                       1
3 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour                                     1
3 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis                                      1

Points:

1 Médéric Clain (Fra) Besson Chaussures                                10 pts
2 Philippe Bordenave (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance                              6
3 Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Française des Jeux                              5
4 Alain Turicchia (Ita) Amica Chips                                     3
5 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour                                  1
5 Arvis Piziks (Lat) Memory Card Jack&Jones                             1
5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Crédit Agricole                                      1

U23 Classification:

1 Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Française des Jeux  
2 D'amore Crescenzo (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step                           0.03
3 Angel Sainz De La Maza(Spa) Festina-Lotus                          

Results courtesy of Velomania