Grand Prix Ouest-France - 1.HCPlouay, France, September 2, 20012000 Results Live Report Results Preview and Start list Huge win for MattanBy Jeff Jones
"With two kilometers to go, I told Patrick Jonker that I didn't want to take any turns with him behind Halgand. I accepted the risk of losing for taking a huge win. If Jonker didn't want to ride anymore, I would have finished 2nd, the same as last year behind Bartoli." Those were the words of Belgian Nico Mattan (Cofidis) shortly after winning the 2001 GP Ouest-France, the most significant victory of his eight year professional career. Mattan surprised the more favoured Patrice Halgand (Jean Delatour), who had attacked the leading break with 3 kilometres to go. Mattan combined with Patrick Jonker (BigMat) to chase down Halgand with 300m to go, before launching a powerful sprint that neither could match. Halgand had to be content with second and Jonker third. The race was held over 14 laps of the 14.14 kilometre Circuit Jean Yves Perron, with recent resurfacing in parts making it a very fast parcours. The riders chose to race accordingly, and after a first lap at 42.3 km/h, things only got quicker. The combination of a peloton hungry for success, a big crowd and 175 UCI points for the winner contributed to the high pace, and several attacks went in the opening laps before one finally stuck. During the fourth lap, a group containing Michael Rogers (Mapei), Claude Lamour (Cofidis), Mikael Pichon (Bonjour), Frederic Guesdon (FdJ), Ludovic Martin (CA), Stéphane Berges (Ag2r), Alexandre Grux (Ag2r), Olivier Trastour and Eddy Seigneur (Jean Delatour), Lilian Lebreton (BigMat) established a lead, and they were joined by the dangerous Christophe Moreau (Festina) and Coen Boerman (Rabobank) on the fifth lap.
The peloton decided to have a rest, and at the end of the sixth lap the 12 riders' lead had leapt to 4'15 and it was time to chase. The first team to do so was Laurent Jalabert's CSC-Tiscali team, all of whom got to the front in an attempt to limit the damage caused by Moreau and co. The chase had its desired effect, albeit costing the strength of Jaja's team, and the gap came down to 1'06 with four laps (56 km) to go. By this stage, Boerman and Berges had been dropped from the leaders, and Rabobank, Lotto and Saeco were assisting the chase. Andrei Tchmil was looking quite strong and was hungry for revenge on this course after coming so close to winning the World's last year. The break was caught with 34 km to go and almost immediately a new attack went with Nico Mattan and David Moncoutie (Cofidis), Benoît Salmon (Ag2r), Vincent Cali (Collstrop), Mario Aerts and Serge Baguet (Lotto), Stéphane Goubert (Delatour) and Patrick Jonker (BigMat). Goubert dropped back to help his teammate Halgand get up to the break, and that was the final selection despite Tchmil's best efforts to chase them down.
The last cards in Plouay were played on the final lap, with Halgand taking the initiative at the top of the climb with 3 kilometres to go, putting in what seemed like the race winning attack. However, the rest hadn't given up and it was Nico Mattan and Patrick Jonker who set off in pursuit of Halgand, catching him with just 300m to go. Mattan wasted no time in attacking for the win on the slight uphill to the finish, and his acceleration was too much for Halgand and Jonker who finished second and third respectively. "Today, I was very strong," said Mattan. "My team-mate Moncoutié and myself created the final breakaway. Then, I saw Halgand attacking at the same place as Bartoli last year, but I knew that if I followed him straight away, I would have paid for my efforts later. So I think I used the proper tactic...And the right preparation as well: before the race I went on holiday to St-Aygulf on the Mediterranean see with my wife and children, I also got sunburned!" A nice way to prepare for a 198km race at nearly 44km/h! The Belgians enjoyed more success as Lotto's Serge Baguet and Mario Aerts sprinted in for fourth and fifth, while Mattan's teammate Moncoutie took sixth.
Results - 198 km1 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis 4.30.39 (43.894 km/h) 2 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 0.01 3 Patrick Jonker (Ned) BigMat-Auber 93 4 Serge Baguet (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 0.15 5 Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 6 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis 7 Vincent Cali (Fra) Collstrop-Palmans 0.18 8 Benoit Salmon (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 0.25 9 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis 0.59 10 Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 11 Stéphane Heulot (Fra) BigMat Auber 93 12 Andrej Hauptman (Slo) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 13 Marc Lotz (Ned) Rabobank 14 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 15 Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux 16 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) Jean Delatour 17 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 18 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Bonjour 19 Xavier Jan (Fra) BigMat Auber 93 1.02 20 Geert Verheyen (Bel) Rabobank 1.29 21 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Saeco 22 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 1.39 23 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 24 Philippe Koehler (Fra) Mapei-Quick Step 25 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis 26 Fabio Marchesin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 27 Christophe Mengin (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux 28 Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour 29 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Collstrop-Palmans 2.24 30 Roger Hammond (GBr) Collstrop-Palmans 2.26 31 Franck Renier (Fra) Bonjour 32 Matt Wilson (Aus) Mercury* 33 Mauro Radaelli (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 34 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned) Rabobank 35 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Collstrop-Palmans 36 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 37 Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) CSC-Tiscali 38 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) BigMat Auber 93 39 David Debremaeker (Bel) Ville de Charleroi-Newsystems 40 Michel Klinger (Swi) Festina 41 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 42 Iñaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 43 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour 44 David Delrieu (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 45 Daniel Schnider (Swi) La Francaise des Jeux 46 Johan Van Der Berg (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 47 Renaud Boxus (Bel) Ville de Charleroi-Newsystems 48 Dominique Rault (Fra) BigMat Auber 93 49 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 50 Jacky Durand (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux 2.37 51 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Collstrop-Palmans 2.39 52 Alexandre Grux (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 53 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Mercury 2.44 54 Gerben Löwik (Ned) Rabobank 55 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 56 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 57 François Simon (Fra) Bonjour 58 Gianluca Sironi (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 59 Jürgen Landrie (Bel) Ville de Charleroi-Newsystems 60 Sandy Casar (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux 61 Nicolas Andre (Fra) Cofidis 62 Laurent Madouas (Fra) Festina 63 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 64 Pascal Chanteur (Fra) Festina 65 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Jean Delatour 66 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux 67 Michael Rogers (Aus) Mapei-Quick Step 68 Mark Roland (Aus) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 69 Anthony Morin (Fra) Credit Agricole 70 Gabriele Balducci (Ita) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 71 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 72 Patrick Sinkewitz (Ger) Mapei-Quick Step 73 Kurt Van Lancker (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 74 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Credit Agricole 75 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskatel-Euskadi 76 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 77 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Jean Delatour 78 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Jean Delatour 79 Cyril Saugrain (Fra) BigMat Auber 93 80 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Bonjour 81 Arnaud Pretot (Fra) Festina 82 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 83 Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel) Ag2r-Prevoyance 84 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 85 David George (RSA) Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 86 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Bonjour 87 Biagio Conte (Ita) Saeco Macchine per Caffe 88 Fabio Sacchi (Ita) Saeco Macchine per Caffe 89 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 90 Nicola Gavazzi (Ita) Saeco Macchine per Caffe 9.08 91 Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu) Saeco Macchine per Caffe 15.38 92 Coen H. Boerman (Ned) Rabobank 19.27 93 Nicolas Coudray (Swi) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 94 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step *First stagiaire Starters: 145 Finishers: 94 Courtesy of Jean-Francois Quenet |
