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The BigMat Auber 93 team achieved success in its first race on home territory, the GP d'ouverture La Marseillaise held over 144 km between Allauch and Aubagne. Jan profited from a mistake made by his breakaway companion, Alexandre Botcharov (Ag2r), who went off course with 500m to go and had to be content with second place. In third was Cyril Dessel (Jean Delatour), who led a small group of riders home.
The race was quite aggressive from the start, with Robbie McEwen (Lotto) and Christophe Agnolutto (Ag2R) involved in several early breakaways, eventually getting clear. The pair was still away at Cap Canaille (km 120), the day's main climb, but were then caught and dropped by Xavier Jan, Alexandre Botcharov, Peter Farajzin and Jo Planckaert (Cofidis), Lorenzo Bernucci (Landbouwkrediet).
Jan and Botcharov attacked on the last climb (Carnoux, km 131) and stayed clear to win, as the others were caught by the remnants of the peloton. However, Botcharov went off the parcours with 500m to go to hand the win to Jan.
Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) had some bad luck in his first race of the season, when he fell and broke his collarbone. He will be out of action for at least 4 weeks.
1 Xavier Jan (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93 3.27.23 2 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2r Prévoyance 0.07 3 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Jean Delatour 0.27 4 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Alessio 0.28 5 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.30 6 Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis 7 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 8 Oscar Cavagnis (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 9 Paul Van Hyfte (Bel) CSC-Tiscali 10 Pascal Derame (Fra) Bonjour 11 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 12 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 13 Martin Prazdnovsky (Svk) De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa 14 Frédéric Mainguenaud (Fra) Bonjour 15 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Jean Delatour 16 Steven Van Malderghem (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.36 17 Sébastien Demarbaix (Bel) Ag2r Prévoyance 0.38 18 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 0.40 19 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2r Prévoyance 0.41 20 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis 0.46 21 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.47 22 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0.51 23 Anthony Morin (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.58 24 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Bonjour 1.02 25 Jurgen Vermeersch (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 2.58 26 Bert Dewaele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 27 Christophe Mengin (Fra) La Française des Jeux 28 Joona Laukka (Fin) Jean Delatour 29 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 30 Jurgen Guns (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 31 Roger Hammond (GBr) Palmans-Collstrop 32 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team Fakta 33 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) Bonjour 34 Manu L'Hoir (Bel) Team Fakta 35 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r Prévoyance 36 Roberto Lochowski (Ger) Team Fakta 37 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 38 Geoffrey Demeyere (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 39 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 3.06 40 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Domo-Farm Frites 41 Christophe Oriol (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 42 Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 3.14 43 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 44 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Bonjour 45 Alberto Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 46 Patrick Jonker (Aus) Big Mat-Auber 93 5.45 47 Niki Abersold (Swi) Team Coast 8.06 48 Médéric Clain (Fra) Cofidis 49 Rolf Huser (Swi) Team Coast 50 Aitor Kintana Zarate (Spa) Big Mat-Auber 93 51 Sandy Casar (Fra) La Française des Jeux 8.10 Courtesy of velomania.net