Grand Prix Ouest-France - 1.HC

Plouay, France, September 2, 2001

Complete Live Report

Start Time: 12:00 CEST
Estimated Finish Time: 16:45 CEST
Parcours: 14 laps of a 14.14 km circuit (198 km total)

Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the Grand Prix Ouest-France, held in the normally small town of Plouay in Brittany. A large crowd has already gathered on the 14.14 kilometre circuit Jean-Yves Perron, ready for 14 laps of action in this year's race.

12:00 CEST - Lap 0
It's beautiful day here in Plouay, and all 145 riders have started the race. Jacky Durand (Francaise des Jeux) is the first rider to attack, after just 10 minutes. No surprises here!

12:20 CEST - Lap 1/14.1 km
At the end of the first lap, the peloton is back together, and the pace is reported to be brisk. The first 14.1 kilometres was done in 20'00 (42.3 km/h).

12:40 CEST - Lap 2/28.2 km
The second lap saw a breakway of 17 men: Bernard Eisel, Stijn Devolder (Mapei), Christophe Rinero, Janek Tombak (Cofidis ), Emmanuel Magnien (FdJ), Chris Jenner (CA), Raphael Jeune (CSC), Gorka Gonzalez (Euskaltel), Matt Wilson, Phil Zajiceck (Mercury), Matthe Pronk, Gerben Lowik (Rabobank), Kurt Van Landeghem (Landbouwkrediet), Paolo Bossoni (Tacconi), Eddy Seigneur (Dealtour), Lylian Lebreton, Cyril Saugrain (BigMat).

They 25 seconds lead on the finish line and the chase was organised by Bonjour and Lotto-Adecco. The attack came on the hill with about 3 kilometres to go until the end of the lap. Lap time: 18'41 (45.4 km/h).

13:00 CEST - Lap 3/42.5 km
The 17 man break was caught, and another one went, this time with 13 men led by Marc Lotz (Rabobank). The bunch was only 20 metres behind driven along by the Bonjour team. So far, the pace has been quite high for the first part of this race, and the average speed is around 44 km/h.

13:20 CEST - Lap 4/56.6 km
We have a new breakaway after 4 laps with Michael Rogers (Mapei), Claude Lamour (Cofidis), Mikael Pichon (Bonjour), Frederic Guesdon (FdJ), Ludovic Martin (CA), Stephane Berges (Ag2r), Alexandre Grux (Ag2r), Olivier Trastour and Eddy Seigneur (JD), Lylian Lebreton (BigMat). There is a lone chaser: Christophe Moreau (Festina) and he is at 47 seconds.

Lap time: 18'31 (45.83 km/h). Overall average speed: 44.7 km/h.

13:40 CEST - Lap 5/70.7 km
The same group of 10 riders is still in the lead, but they were caught by Christophe Moreau and Coen Boerman (Rabobank) on the fifth lap, making a total of 12 riders in front. The peloton is at 1'35.

The race is being run similar to the "old style" (pre 1995) when it used to be a French selection race three days before the World's. Thus it was flat out from the gun, much as it has been today. Last year, when it was held just one week after the Tour de France, the pace was quite steady for the first three laps, similar to a World Cup race.

Lap time: 19'03 (44.53 km/h). Overall average speed: 44.66 km/h.

13:58 CEST - Lap 6/84.8 km
The 12 riders have extended their lead, as the peloton sits up for a while. Christophe Brandt (Lotto) is chasing in no-man's land at 2 minutes, while the bunch is at 4'15 led by CSC-Tiscali. Laurent Jalabert's team has realised the danger of letting someone like Moreau get out in front and they have started chasing.

Lap time: 19'36 (43.30 km/h). Overall average speed: 44.318 km/h.

14:20 CEST - Lap 7/99 km
At the halfway point, the situation in the GP Ouest Frances is that we have a 12 man breakaway, setting a solid tempo 3'05 in front of the main peloton. CSC-Tiscali is pretty serious about chasing and the whole team is riding on the front to try and reduce this gap to a manageable level.

The biggest name in the break is Christophe Moreau (Festina), but there are several other strong riders there as well (Trastour, Rogers, Berges).

14:38 CEST - Lap 8/113.1 km
Christophe Moreau attacked the front group, and this has eliminated Boerman and Berges, meaning that there are now 10 riders in the lead. The gap has been reduced to 2'30 by CSC's determined chase. They are trying to set up Laurent Jalabert, or possibly Jakob Piil for the win.

Lap time: 19'39 (43.185 km/h). Overall average speed: 43.863 km/h

14:57 CEST - Lap 9/127.3 km
The gap to the 10 leaders is now down to just 1'36, and it looks as though they'll get caught within two laps. The race is set up perfectly now for the last 45 kilometres. The question is: How strong is Jalabert? He has sacrificed his team to chase down these riders, while others can profit.

Lap time: 19'52 (42.714 km/h). Overall average speed: 43.72 km/h

15:17 CEST - Lap 10/141.4 km
With four laps to go, the gap to Moreau's 10 men has been reduced to 1'06 by the main peloton. After the finish line, there was an attack in the front group from Ludovic Martin (Credit Agricole), who is a local rider and doesn't want the bunch to come back. However, Andrei Tchmil has his Lotto cohorts working in the peloton now, along with Rabobank and CSC.

Lap time: 19'42 (43.075 km/h)

15:38 CEST - Lap 11/155.5 km
With three laps to go, the gap to the leaders is down to 43 seconds. The chase behind is not as organised as it was, otherwise they would have been caught by now.

In the peloton, Tchmil (Lotto) and Celestino (Saeco) are looking very strong. An attack by Vincent Cali (Collstrop) went nowhere.

Lape time: 19'30 (43.52 km/h). Overall average speed: 43.673 km/h

15:55 CEST - Lap 12/169.7 km
The break was caught with 34 km to go. Then a new attack went with Mattan and Moncoutie (Cofids), Salmon (Ag2r), Cali (Collstrop), Mario Aerts and Serge Baguet (Lotto), Stephane Goubert (Delatour) and Patrick Jonker (BigMat). At the finish of the 12th lap they had 10 seconds advantage on a group of 7 with Bouyer (Bonjour), Fritsch (FdJ), Lotz (Raobank), Tchmil (Lotto), Hauptman (Tacconi), Halgand (Delatour), and Heulot (Big Mat). The real race is on!

Lap time: 18'44 (45.298 km/h). Overall average speed: 43.803 km/h

16:14 CEST - Lap 13/183.8 km
"Dernier tour" (One lap to go), the voice of Daniel Mangeas greets the riders as they come past the start/finish for the second last time. There are eight men in front. Patrice Halgand (Delatour) came across as his Stephane Goubert dropped back to help him on the last lap. The others here are Mattan, Moncoutie, Salmon, Cali, Aerts, Baguet, Goubert and Jonker.

The have 30 seconds advantage on a six man chasing group with Tchmil, and 1'05 to the peloton. Mario Aerts (Lotto) has been dropped from the leaders but gets back on.

Lap time: 19'08 (44.662 km/h). Overall average speed: 43.868 km/h

16:32 CEST - Lap 14/198 km
Nico Mattan wins the GP Ouest France in Plouay! With 3 km to go, Patrice Halgand (Delatour) attacked and looked certain to win. But there was a counter by by Jonker and Mattan. The two came across to Halgand with 300m to go. Mattan sprinted hard and won easily, Halgand second and Jonker third.

Results

1 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis
2 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour
3 Patrick Jonker (Ned) BigMat-Auber 93
4 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
5 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco
6 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis)
7 Vincent Cali (Fra) Collstrop-Palmans
8 Benoit Salmon (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
9 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis
10 Beat Zberg.(Swi) Rabobank

Overall average speed: 43.9 km/h.

Full Results