Prix des Bles d'Or - 1.5

France, August 6, 2000

Cooke wins finale, Drew overall

Manheim Auctions/Mercury kept their winning European form intact when they won their first stage race in the new team colours, the Mi Aout series in Northeastern France. Australian Baden Cooke took the final stage, with Australian Olympic team reserve, Jamie Drew winning the overall from Frederic Gabriel (Bonjour).

In the 168 kilometre road race, the action started in the first 3 kilometres. Again the Bonjour riders started with 11 riders (of a maximum of 6...) in the hopes of breaking the lead of Drew. However, a group of 6 went clear including Manheim's Will Frischkorn as a policeman. A larger group of 16 soon went across and the gap went up to 55 seconds in just 5 kilometres. The group included Landis, Cooke, Frischkorn from Manheim, Chavenal (Bonjour), Plouhinec (Delatour), Le Breton (Big Mat), Kemna (Batavus), and Fofonov (Besson). The group rode well together until 3 laps to go, and importantly for Manheim, only two Bonjour riders made the group.

In the last 35 km, the attacks were fast and furious. First was the Big Mat rider Le Breton. As soon as he was caught, Seweryn Kohut (Amore e Vita) tried his luck. He was caught quickly and then it was Cooke and Chavenal who went clear. That was to be the decisive move. With the group behind tiring, and Landis keeping everyone under his eye, The duo built a lead that would provide the winner.

In the end, Cooke was too fast for the Bonjour rider in a a reversal of yesterday's race which saw the same 2 teams decide the result. This time it was Manheim Auctions/Mercury who took the victory.

Results - 161 km

1 Baden Cooke (Aus) Manheim-Mercury                    4.04.41
2 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel                0.02
3 Dimitri Fofonov (Kaz) Besson Chaussures                 0.19
4 Samuel Plouhinec (Fra) Jean Delatour                    0.22
5 Seweryn Kohut (Pol) Amore & Vita                        0.50
6 Floyd Landis (USA) Manheim-Mercury                      0.55
7 Dominique Rault (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93                  3.19
8 William Frischkorn (USA) Manheim-Mercury                3.20
9 Lylian Lebreton (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93                  3.54
10 Rudy Kemna (Ned) Bankgiroloterij-Batavus               4.59
11 Stéphane Conan (Fra) Plouvien U 29                     6.01
12 Fabrice Salanson (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel               8.09
13 Ludovic Martin (Fra) Jean Floc'h-Mantes
14 Sinishi Fukushima (Jap) CC Nogent-sur-Oise
15 Fabrice Chabenat (Fra) 23 La Creuse
16 Sébastien Rainaud (Fra) Bataillon de Joinville
17 Marc Feipeler (Fra) Team Seat Sport VC Dinan
18 Cédric Vanoverschelde (Fra) Bataillon de Joinville
19 Harry Lodge (GBr) Amore & Vita
20 Frédéric Delalande (Fra) Jean Floc'h-Mantes
21 Guillaume Judas (Fra) Jean Floc'h-Mantes 

Final classification:

1 Jamie Drew (Aus) Manheim-Mercury                         191 pts
2 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel                 172
3 Samuel Plouhinec (Fra) Jean Delatour                     165
4 Baden Cooke (Aus) Manheim-Mercury                        161
5 Steve Zampieri (Swi) Manheim-Mercury                     139
6 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel                 128
7 William Frischkorn (USA) Manheim-Mercury                 122
8 Floyd Landis (USA) Manheim-Mercury                       120
9 Marc Vanacker (Lux) Luxembourg                           109
10 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel                107

Past Winners

1998 Frédéric Bessy (Fra)
1999 Anthony Morin (Fra)
2000 Baden Cooke (Aus)

Overall Mi Aout series winners:

1992 Francois Simon (Fra)
1995 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra)
1996 David Delrieu  (Fra) Amateur
1997 Anthony Morin (Fra)
1998 Jean-Michel Tessier (Fra) Elite
1999 Stéphane Ravaleu (Fra) Elite

Past winners by Mario Stiehl, Berlin