Prix du Leon - 1.5

France, August 5, 2000

Robin scores one for Bonjour

The second last race in the Mi Aout series was the Prix du Leon, held on an 11.5 kilometre circuit with a 3 kilometre climb to finish each lap. On the fifth of fourteen laps, a gorup of seven riders escaped, including Zampieri (Manheim-Mercury), Robin, Gabriel (Bonjour), and Chris Thebault (Nantes). With 5 of Bonjour's 11(!) riders in the break, Big Mat and Jean Delatour went to the front and kept the gap at just under 1 minute.

With 2 laps to go, a group of 17 riders went in pursuit. The group included Landis, Drew (Manheim-Mercury), Le Boulanger (Cofidis) and Heulot (FDJ). The group was just 20 seconds from catching the leaders when Zampieri attacked with Robin. These two riders left the others and quickly opened the gap. A strong push by Thebault and Gabriel cut the the group to four at the base of the climb with 3k to go, and the 17 chasers were not able to close the gap.

Zampieri attacked as soon as the road started to climb and again only Robin was able to go with him. In the end, Robin was the better sprinter and took the victory.

Results - 161 km

1. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel
2. Steve Zampieri (USA) Manheim Auctions-Mercury
3. Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel
4. Chris Thebault (Fra) Nantes
5. Noan Lelarge (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel
6. Stephane Heulot (Fra) Francaise des Jeux
7. Denis Leproux (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93
8. Floyd Landis (USA) Manheim Auctions-Mercury
9. Dimitri Fofonov (Kaz) Besson Chaussures
10. Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) Cofidis
11. Jamie Drew (Aus) Manheim Auctions-Mercury
General classification  after race 4:

1. Jamie Drew (Aus) Manheim Auctions-Mercury
2. Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Bonjour-Toupargel

Past Winners

1999 Thor Hushovd (Nor)

Past winners by Mario Stiehl, Berlin