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Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Adecco) confirmed his excellent early season form by winning the first stage of the Etoile de Bessèges in Marseille today. McEwen, winner of the Australian road championship and four stages of the Tour Down Under, outsprinted Jaan Kirsipuu (Ag2r) and Sebastien Joly (Bonjour) at the end of the 133 kilometres stage. He therefore took the first leader's jersey in the five day event.
The stage started with an attack by Aitor Silloniz (Euskaltel) who escaped on a small climb after 15 kilometres. Silloniz stayed away for the next 110 kilometres, taking all the intermediate sprints and mountain primes. He reached a maximum lead of 6'21 before the peloton chased him down, with Credit Agricole particularly active in the hunt.
Silloniz was caught at 5 kilometres to go, and following a few late attacks by Médéric Clain, Fabrice Salanson, Stéphane Berges, Alberto Martinez, Nicolas Fritcsh and Jürgen Vermeersch, the peloton came together for a bunch sprint. McEwen was too fast for everyone, as he has been for the past month.
1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco 3.25.05 (37.507 km/h) 2 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2r Prévoyance 3 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Bonjour 4 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis 5 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour 6 Oscar Cavagnis (Swi) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 7 Andrea Brognara (Ita) Alessio 8 Michel Vanhaecke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 9 Endrio Leoni (Ita) Alessio 10 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 11 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 12 Marcus Ljunqvist (Swe) Team Fakta 13 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Team Telekom 14 Roman Peter (Swi) Oktos-St-Quentin 15 François Simon (Fra) Bonjour 16 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast 17 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team Coast 18 Alberto Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 19 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis 20 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 21 James Vanlandshoot (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 22 Christophe Capelle (Bel) Big Mat-Auber 93 23 Rolf Huser (Swi) Team Coast 24 Yuriy Metluschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 25 Raphaël Jeune (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 26 Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour 27 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 28 Chris Peers (Bel) Cofidis 29 Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel) Ag2r Prévoyance 30 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Crédit Agricole 31 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Jean Delatour 32 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis 33 Igor Kranjec (Slo) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 34 Franck Pencole (Fra) La Française des Jeux 35 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 36 Roger Hammond (GBr) Palmans-Collstrop 37 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 38 Jean-Michel Tessier (Fra) Cofidis 39 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Telekom 40 Christopher Jenner (NZl) Crédit Agricole 41 Sébastien Talabardon (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 42 Tom Flammang (Lux) Cofidis 43 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) La Française des Jeux 44 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Coast 45 Pascal Derame (Fra) Bonjour 46 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 47 Thierry Gouvenou (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 48 Stefan Schreck (Ger) Team Telekom 49 Bobby Julich (USA) Team Telekom 50 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Jean Delatour 51 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) CSC-Tiscali 52 Martin Hvastija (Slo) Alessio 53 Jurgen Guns (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 54 Ruslan Ivanov (Mda) Alessio 55 Robert Sassone (Fra) Cofidis 56 Rossano Brasi (Ita) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 57 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 58 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 59 Ludovic Auger (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 60 Bert Dewaele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 61 Stefano Casagranda (Ita) Alessio 62 Udo Bolts (Ger) Team Telekom 63 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 64 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 65 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team Fakta 66 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 67 Marc Streel (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 68 Régis Lhuillier (Fra) La Française des Jeux 69 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Big Mat-Auber 93 70 Raphaël Schweda (Ger) Team Coast 71 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 72 Mauro Gianetti (Swi) Team Coast 73 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 74 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Lotto-Adecco 75 Médéric Clain (Fra) Cofidis 76 Bekim Christensen (Den) Team Coast 77 Kurt Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team Fakta 78 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 79 Cesar Solaun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 80 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 81 Jimmy Casper (Fra) La Française des Jeux 82 Glenn D'hollander (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 83 Jurgen Vermeersch (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 84 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 85 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 86 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Jean Delatour 87 Frack Bouyer (Fra) Bonjour 88 Manu L'hoir (Bel) Team Fakta 89 Arturas Kasputis (Ltu) Ag2r Prévoyance 90 Vincent Bader (Swi) Oktos-St-Quentin 91 Bart Leysen (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 92 Geert Omloop (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 93 Kris Gerits (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 94 Lander Euba (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 95 Laurent Paumier (Fra) Oktos-St-Quentin 96 Bjarke Nielsen (Den) CSC-Tiscali 97 Thomas Brun Eriksen (Den) CSC-Tiscali 98 Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2r Prévoyance 99 Allan Johansen (Den) Team Fakta 100 Stefan Van Dyck (Ned) Lotto-Adecco 101 Ruslan Pidgorny (Ukr) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 102 Kevin Livingston (USA) Team Telekom 103 Bert Roesems (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 104 Andrus Aug (Est) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 105 Roberto Lochowski (Ger) Team Fakta 106 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Alessio 107 Anthony Langella (Fra) Crédit Agricole 108 Steven Van Malderghem (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 109 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Jean Delatour 110 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 111 Stefan Adamsson (Swe) Team Coast 112 Ondrej Fadrny (Cze) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 113 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 114 Davide Casarotto (Ita) Alessio 115 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Jean Delatour 116 Michael Skelde (Den) Team Fakta 117 Alberto Vinale (Ita) Alessio 118 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) La Française des Jeux 119 Ludovic Capelle (Bel) Ag2r Prévoyance 120 Anthony Morin (Fra) Crédit Agricole 121 Florent Brard (Fra) Crédit Agricole 122 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Crédit Agricole 123 Frédéric Mainguenaud (Fra) Bonjour 124 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 125 Mikel Artexte (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 126 Jonathan Vaughters (USA) Crédit Agricole 127 Kristof Trouve (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 128 Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) La Française des Jeux 129 Damien Nazon (Fra) Bonjour 130 Franck Perque (Fra) La Française des Jeux 131 Jehudi Schoonacker (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 0.52 132 Jakob Piil (Den) CSC-Tiscali 0.58 133 Fabrice Salanson (Fra) Bonjour 1.13 134 Philippe Koehler (Fra) Oktos-St-Quentin 135 Vincent Templier (Fra) Oktos-St-Quentin 136 Gorka Arrizabalaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 137 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 138 Alberto Lopez De Munain (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.31 139 Aitor Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 140 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) La Française des Jeux 141 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big Mat-Auber 93 2.45 142 Alexandre Chouffe (Fra) Oktos-St-Quentin 3.10 143 Sergey Krushevskiy (Rus) Oktos-St-Quentin 4.32 144 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 8.32 145 Martin Przadnovsky De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 146 Olivier Asmaker (Fra) CSC-Tiscali 147 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Team Telekom DNF Julian Dean (NZl) CSC-Tiscali DNF Arnaud Pretot (Fra) Oktos-St-Quentin DNS Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Jean Delatour DNS Loïc Lamouller (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 General classification after stage 1 1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco 3.24.53 2 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2r Prévoyance 0.06 3 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Bonjour 0.08 4 Kurt Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team Fakta 0.10 5 Marcus Ljunqvist (Swe) Team Fakta 0.11 6 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team Fakta 7 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis 0.12 8 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour 9 Oscar Cavagnis (Swi) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 10 Andrea Brognara (Ita) Alessio 11 Michel Vanhaecke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 12 Endrio Leoni (Ita) Alessio 13 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 14 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 15 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Team Telekom 16 Roman Peter (Swi) Oktos-St-Quentin 17 François Simon (Fra) Bonjour 18 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast 19 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team Coast 20 Alberto Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 21 Nico Mattan (Bel) Cofidis 22 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 23 James Vanlandshoot (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 24 Christophe Capelle (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 25 Rolf Huser (Swi) Team Coast Courtesy of velomania.net