It's Almost Here -- Season OpenerUp to their eyeballs in EPO or not, the European professional peloton will be on the road in just two weeks -- so let joy be unconfined. In the theoretically balmy south of France (tell that to the riders who battled last year with snow, icy rain and wind) the season kicks off with the traditional opener, the one-day Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise on February 4, followed immediately by the five-stage Etoile de Besseges (February 5-9). Both races will be contested by 16 teams, including all seven French squads. The GP d'Ouverture follows a new route between Vitrolles and Aubagne.Results, Vitrolles-Aubagne: 136 km1. Richard Virenque (France, Festina) 3.24.29 (41.58 km/h) 2. Gilles Bouvard (France, Festina) 7.03 3. Jan Svorada (Czech Republic, Mapei) 4. Elio Aggiano (Italy, Refin) 5. Servais Knaven (Netherlands, TVM) 6. Yvon Ledanois (France, Gan) 7. Dominique Bozzi (France, Casino) all s.t. 8. Rolf Jaermann (Switzerland, Casino) 9.30 9. Rodolfo Massi (Italy, Casino) s.t. 10. Laurent Pillon (France, Mutuelle) 15:13 11. Pascale Herve (Fra, Festina) s.t. 12. Philippe Gaumont (Fra, Cofidis) 15.31 13. J. De Los Angeles (Spa, Kelme) 16.27 14. Jo Planckaert (Bel, Lotto) 18.53 15. Lauri Aus (Est, Casino) s.t. The peloton arrived with the same time as Lauri Aus. ReportFrenchman Richard Virenque started the 1997 cycling season in style by taking the opening road event, the Grand Prix de La Marseillaise, after an impressive solo ride on Tuesday.Virenque, third in last year's Tour de France, broke away after seven kilometres in the 136-km race from Vitrolles, near Marseille. The pocket-sized climber from the Festina stable built a lead of up to 11 minutes on a lazy peloton and crossed the line seven minutes ahead of a breakaway group of six riders. Frenchman Gilles Bouvard won the sprint from the following group to take second place ahead of Czech Jan Svorada into third place. The pack came in more than nine minutes behind Virenque with Swiss Rolf Jaermann winning the sprint for eighth place. The next race is the five-day Etoile de Besseges, which sets off from Nimes on Wednesday. Svorada, who won it last year, will be among the favourites. Virenque said he would not be taking part. Principal participants (plus some French names not so principal):MAPEI-GB -- Svorada (Cze), Lanfranchi (Ita), Pianegonda (Ita), Nardello (Ita), Jaskula (Pol) GAN -- Ledanois (Fra), Lemarchand (Fra), Moncassin (Fra), O'Grady (Aus), Poli (Ita), Pretot (Fra), Rue (Fra), Langella (Fra) POLTI -- Leblanc (Fra), Celestino (Ita) LOTTO -- Abdujaparov (Uzb), Planckaert (Bel), Tchmil (Rus) COFIDIS -- Fondriest (Ita), Capelle (Fra), Julich (USA), Moncoutie (Fra), Rinero (Fra), Thibout (Fra), Gaumont (Fra), Martin (Fra) POST SWISS TEAM -- Bourquenoud (Swi), R. Meier (Swi), Wirz (Swi) KELME -- Edo (Spa), Serrano (Spa), Rodriguez Garcia (Spa) LA FRANCAISE DES JEUX -- Sciandri (GB), Davy (Fra), Horner (USA), Jan (Fra), Mentheour (Fra), D. Nazon (Fra), J.-P. Nazon (Fra), Vogondy (Fra) BIGMAT AUBER 93 -- Auger (Fra), Hatton (Fra), Lance (Fra), Boussard (Fra), Morin (Fra), Da Cruz (Fra) VLAANDEREN 2002 -- Gerits (Bel), Verheyen (Bel), Verstrepen (Bel) REFIN -- Bettin (Ita), Colage (Ita), Lietti (Ita) LA MUTUELLE DE SEINE-ET-MARNE -- Maignan (Fra), Fraser (Can), Blevin (Fra), Pillon (Fra), Rault (Fra), Cueff (Fra), Chauviere (Fra), Gabriel (Fra) TVM -- Roux (Fra), Petilleau (Fra), Capiot (Bel), Redant (Bel), De Jongh (Neth), Hoffman (Neth), Michaelsen (Den), Knaven (Neth) FESTINA -- Virenque (Fra), Stephens (Aus), Rous (Fra), Herve (Fra), Dufaux (Swi), Bouvard (Fra), C. Moreau (Fra), Laukka (Fin) CASINO -- Richard (Swi), Bordenave (Fra), Bozzi (Fra), Massi (Ita), Aus (Est), Gougot (Fra), Pontier (Fra), Jaermann (Swi) CEDICO -- Heynderickx (Bel), Bouillon (Bel), Kozlitine (Kaz) More ReportingRichard Virenque carried over his end-1996 form (5th in the Olympics, 5th in the Worlds, 1st Giro di Piemonte, 7th Giro di Lombardia) to the traditional season-opener. "I began training three weeks earlier than usual," he said, "because when the season ended I was already keen to start again!"His win yesterday was also in character with his taste for the long break -- not just in the mountains. He was in a 100km freezing break at the beginning of the 1996 season and we shouldn't forget his 146km escape in Paris--Tours last October which took him to within 450 metres of besting the sprinters. Yesterday, on the coast road east of Marseille which takes in the highest cliffs in Europe, he took off at km7, "jokingly -- pulling a bluff". And carried on alone for the next 129km. "It wasn't easy to ride behind guys who don't yet know too much about where they are," Virenque continued. He's newly married to Stephanie, and another view is that his break was essayed as a wedding present for his new bride. Whatever, by the principal difficulty of the day -- the col de Cap Canaille (where the sea cliffs are 362m high) at km86 -- Virenque had a gap of 6.35 over a group of counter-attackers who themselves built a 9.50 lead over the peloton. Both Virenque and the chasers had their climbing boots on -- by the summit of the climb, 3km later, their leads were respectively 11.56 and 7.55. The break, which had formed at km52, consisted of Yvon Ledanois, Philippe Gaumont, Dominique Bozzi, Gilles Bouvard, Aggiano, Servais Knaven and Jan Svorada. Richard Virenque does not ride the Etoile de Besseges stage race the rest of this week, returning to competition for the Tour Mediterraneen (February 12--15).
The Etoile de Besseges, starting today (February 5 and finishing on the 9th) has a field largely the same as the GP d'Ouverture. Some changes are: FESTINA: Brochard, Wust, Boscardin in; Virenque, Bouvard, Rous, Herve and Stephens out CASINO: Massi and Jaermann stay in, but Richard out and Durand, Agnolutto, Barthe, Bessy and David Lefevre in COFIDIS: Martin and Moncoutie are replaced by Van de Laer and Millar BIGMAT AUBER 93: Talmant and Da Cruz join the strength |