Laurent Jalabert was at the start line .... to press flesh, smile and sign autographs. The last press report had it that his knee was a bit better, but not enough to start this race. I don't know how far into the race they are (a couple of hours?), but Fabrizio Bontempi (It, Brescialat) escaped at 13km on the first climb and has a lead of 41 secs on Francisque Teyssier (Fr, Aubervilliers 93-Peugeot), and 1.15 ahead of the peloton where Andersson and Mariano Rojas (Sp, ONCE) are prominent at the front.
1600GMT
With 5km to go the peloton is all together, with GAN at the head of affairs (as Liggett would say). GAN's Chris Boardman has already collected 3 secs bonification in an intermediate sprint. Casino's new signing Armand De Las Cuevas has abandoned the race.
1605GMT
As the peloton goes through the 1km to go mark, GAN is leading out for its sprinter Frederic Moncassin. Chris Boardman is towing him along -- but it's former GAN rider Christophe Capelle (Fr, ForceSud) who snatches the sprint.
GAN took up the chase and the peloton caught Teyssier and then Bontempi at km148. GAN continued to work hard at the front of the peloton on behalf of Boardman and Frederic Moncassin but in the sprint it was Christophe Capelle (Fr, ForceSud) who emerged.
1. Christophe Capelle (Fra) Forcesud 4.47.10 (39,91 km/h) 2. Franck Vandenbroucke (Bel) Mapei-GB 3. Frederic Moncassin (Fra) Gan 4. Lauri Aus (Est) Mutuelle 5. Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 6. Marcel Wust (Ger) MX Onda 7. Mauro Gianetti (Sch) Team Polti 8. Stephane Heulot (Fra) Gan 9. Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Mutuelle 10. Michel Lafis (Swe) Telekom 11. Marie (Fra) 12. Ullrich (All) 13. Piccoli (Ita) 14. Brochard (Fra) 15. Noe (Ita) 16. Saugrain (Fra) 17. Nazon (Fra) 18. Richard (Sui) 19. Fleischer (All) 20. Talmant (Fra) 21. Boardman (G-B) all s.t.
1. Christophe Capelle (Fra) Forcesud 4.47.00 2. Franck Vandenbroucke (Bel) Mapei-GB + 0.04 3. Frederic Moncassin (Fra) Gan + 0.05 4. Chris Boardman (Eng) Gan + 0.07 5. Heulot (Fra) Intermediate time bonuses: Bontempi 7 secs Teyssier 6 secs Boardman 3 secs Moncassin 1 sec Heulot 1 sec (Non-starters: Bernard - Agrigel; Pena - Mapei) (Abandons: Bincoletto, Vermote - Agrigel; Sabatier, Rezze - Aki; De Las Cuevas - Petit Casino; Sjoberg - Collstrop; Morras - ONCE)
The final half stage, a 6.5km time trial at Castres, takes place this afternoon. Boardman is now well placed.
Coming into the afternoon time trial (after this morning's stage up to a "glacial" Pic de Nore -- reportedly 60 riders finished outside the time limit, but this needs confirmation) the overall standings are:
Luc Leblanc (Fr, Team Polti) stretched out the peloton in the first of the three climbs, the Col de Fontbruno. At the summit of the second climb, the Cote de Triby (58.5km), where race leader Christophe Capelle (Fr, ForceSud) went off the back, Mauro Gianetti (Swi, Team Polti) attacked, with an almost immediate counter-attack from Michele Coppolillo (It, MG-Technogym).
Towards the bottom of the descent, Didier Rous (Fr, GAN) took off in pursuit of them, quickly being joined by his team-leader Chris Boardman and Pascal Richard (Swi, MG). The three pursuers caught Gianetti and Coppolillo at the foot of the final climb to the Pic de Nore, and by 10km from the summit, the five leaders had 34 seconds on th next group.
With 5km to go Gianetti attacked and stayed away.
1. Mauro Gianetti (Swi, Team Polti) 80km in 2.12.02 2. Michele Coppolillo (It, MG-Technogym) + 0.06 secs 3. Chris Boardman (GB, GAN) + 0.18 4. Franck Vandenbroucke (Bel, Mapei-GB) + 0.57 5. Luc Leblanc (Fr, Team Polti) 6. Neil Stephens (Australia, ONCE) 7. Angel Luis Casero (Sp, Banesto) 8. Richard Virenque (Fr, Festina) 9. Andrea Noe (It, Mapei-GB) 10. Aitor Garmendia (Sp, ONCE) s.t. 11. Didier Rous (Fr, GAN) + 1.11 12. Laurent Brochard (Fr, Festina) + 1.27 13. Stefano Della Santa (It, Mapei-GB) + 1.45 14. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Sp, ONCE) + 2.03 15. Pascal Richard (Swi, MG-Technogym) + 2.30 16. Patrick Jonker (Australia, ONCE) + 2.38 17. Mariano Rojas (Sp, ONCE) + 3.00 18. Luca Gelfi (It, Brescialat) + 4.14 19. Martinez Manuel Beltran (Sp, Mapei) 20. Davide Rebellin (It, Team Polti) all s.t. also.... 65. Frederic Moncassin (Fr, GAN) +12.41 66th was the last finisher to be classified, the remainder (including race leader Christophe Capelle) finishing outside the time limit.
1. Gianetti 2. Coppolillo + 0.06 secs 3. Boardman + 0.15 4. Vandenbroucke + 0.51 5. Noe + 0.57
1. Didier Rous (Fr, GAN) 7min 44.77 secs (50.43kph) 2. Chris Boardman (GB, GAN) + 0.03 secs 3. Neil Stephens (Australia, ONCE) + 0.07 4. Aitor Garmendia (Sp, ONCE) + 0.11 5. Laurent Brochard (Fr, Festina) + 0.12 6. Franck Vandenbroucke (Bel, Mapei-GB) + 0.14 7. Erwan Mentheour (Fr, Aki-Gipiemme) + 0.15 8. Patrick Joncker (Australia, ONCE) + 0.16 9. Michele Coppolillo (It, MG-Technogym)+ 0.17 10. Angel Luis Casero (Sp, Banesto) + 0.18 11. Santos Gonzalez Capilla (Sp, Kelme) s.t. 12. Andrei Teteriuk (Kaz, Aki-Gipiemme) + 0.20 13. Mariano Rojas (Sp, ONCE) + 0.21 14. Alv Gonzalez (Sp, Euskadi) + 0.22 15. ???????? Faustini (It, Aki-Gipiemme) s.t. 16. Eddy Seigneur (Fr, GAN) + 0.23 also 19. Mauro Gianetti (Swi, Team Polti) + 0.26 20. Richard Virenque (Fr, Festina) + 0.27 ........ 24. Luc Leblanc (Fr, Team Polti) + 0.34
1. Chris Boardman (Eng) Gan 7.07.14 2. Michele Coppolillo (Ita) MG-Technogym + 0.05 3. Mauro Gianetti (Sch) Team Polti + 0.08 4. Franck Vandenbroucke (Bel) Mapei-GB + 0.47 5. Neil Stephens (Aus) Once + 0.48 6. Aitor Garmendia (Spa) Once + 0.50 7. Didier Rous (Fra) Gan + 0.53 8. Angel Luis Casero (Spa) Banesto + 0.57 9. Andrea Noe (Ita) Mapei-GB + 1.03 10. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina + 1.06 11. Brochard + 1.21 12. Leblanc + 1.51 13. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Sp, ONCE) + 2.16 14. Stefano Della Santa (It, Mapei-GB) + 2.24 15. Joncker + 2.36 16. Pascal Richard (Swi, MG-Technogym) + 2.54 17. Rojas + 3.03 18. Davide Rebellin (It, Team Polti) + 4.27 19. Giuseppe Guerini (It, Team Polti) + 4.31 20. \luca Gelfi (It, Brescialat) + 4.35 (65 classified) Mountains: Fabrizio Bontempi (Ita) Brescialat Points: Franck Vandenbroucke (Bel) Mapei-GB