Tuesday 7 May Stage 1 Dunkerque - Fontaine-au-Pire 183 km
Wednesday 8 May Stage 2 Arras - Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise 86 km
Stage 3 ITT in Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise 25 km
Thursday 9 May Stage 4 Fruges - Boulogne-sur-Mer 159 km
Friday 10 May Stage 5 Boulogne-sur-Mer - Grande Synthe 175 km
Saturday 11 May Stage 6 Loon-Plage - Cassel 180 km
Sunday 12 May Stage 7 Gravelines - Dunkerque 178 km
FESTINA: Michaelsen, Hodge, Goubert, Boscardin, Halgand TVM: Blijlevens, Nijdam, Roux TELEKOM: Zabel, Ludwig AKI: Zanette,Rezze, Mentheour GAN: Boardman, Seigneur, Moncassin Desbiens, Moreau, Vasseur LOTTO: Frison, Corvers AUBERVILLIERS: Gouvenou, Teyssier, Talmant MUTUELLE DE SEINE-ET-MARNE: Pillon, Lamour, Maignan, Cueff CEDICO: Hennebert, Rokia, F. Van den Abbeele BRESCIALAT: Bontempi, Strazzer PETIT CASINO: Kasputis, Kirsipuu, Mengin, Chanteur, De Las Cuevas AGRIGEL: Durand, Colotti, Thierry Marie, Laurent, Vermote, Bernard FORCESUD: Bourguignon, Arnould, Lance, Rinero, Arroyo US POSTAL: Gerlach, Jemison FORELDORADO-GOLFF: Bouwmans, Veenstra COLLSTROP: Capiot
1. Olaf Ludwig (Ger) Telekom 4.19.02 2. Philippe Gaumont (Fra) Gan s.t. 3. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Gan s.t. 4. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom + 0.07 5. Denis Zanette (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme 6. Arturas Kasputis (Lit) Petit-Casino 7. Marco Milesi (Ita) Brescialat 8. Cedric Vasseur (Fra) Gan 9. Frederic Moncassin (Fra) Gan all s.t. 10. Michelangelo Cauz (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme + 0.11 11. Oleg Kozlitine (Kaz, Lotto) + 0.26 12. Gilles Talmant (Fr, Aubervilliers 93-Peugeot) + 1.25 13. Stephane Cueff (Fr, La Mutuelle de Seine-et-Marne) s.t. 14. ????? Baranowski (Pol, US Postal) + 1.32 15. Fabrizio Bontempi (It, Brescialat) 16. Gilles Maignan (Fr, La Mutuelle de Seine-et-Marne) 17. Frank Corvers (Bel, Lotto) 18. Paul Van Hyfte (Bel, Lotto) 19. Calude Lamour (Fr, La Mutuelle de Seine-et-Marne) 20. Pascal Chanteur (Fr, Petit Casino-C'est votre equipe) also 28. Chris Boardman (GB, GAN) 29. Francis Moreau (Fr, GAN) all s.t. .... 111. Eddy Seigneur (Fr, GAN) +10.33 .... 117 Erwan Mentheour (Fr, Aki-Gipemme) +24.48 (123 on the start list, 117 classified) Non-starters: Bassons (Festina), Boscardin (Festina) Abandons: De Las Cuevas (Petit Casino), Sabatier and Meulemans (Aki), Vermote (Agrigel), Henry and Lance (ForceSud)
1. Olaf Ludwig (Ger) Telekom 4.18.52 2. Philippe Gaumont (Fra) Gan + 0.04 3. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Gan + 0.06 4. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom + 0.17 5. Denis Zanette (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme 6. Arturas Kasputis (Lit) Petit-Casino 7. Marco Milesi (Ita) Brescialat 8. Cedric Vasseur (Fra) Gan 9. Frederic Moncassin (Fra) Gan all s.t. 10. Michelangelo Cauz (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme + 0.21
All this took no account of the violently windy conditions nor of the short stretches of cobbles that the organizers had added to the final part of the stage, notably at Saint-Hilaire, part of the Paris-Roubaix course.
The first attack of the day came from Paul Van Hyfte (Bel, Lotto) who was followed away by Arturas Kasputis (Lith, Petit Casino). The break provoked a general explosion in the peloton which left 11 riders in front - including three teams each equipped with a sprinter: GAN, with Frederic Moncassin protected by Philippe Gaumont, Laurent Desbiens and Cedric Vasseur; Telekom's two fast men Olaf Ludwig and Erik Zabel; and Aki's Michelangelo Cauz nursing sprinter Denis Zanette.
With Boardman and Seigneur caught further back, Moncassin looked like GAN's man for the day, but 12km from the finish, when a chase group was getting dangerously close to the break, Moncassin told his team-mates that he didn't feel up to the sprint and that they should play their own cards. Five kilometres farther on, Desbiens launched a sudden attack, to the bafflement of many of the non-GAN in the group, who were expecting Moncassin to be led to the finish by his team.
Olaf Ludwig (an old fox of 36 as L'Equipe put it) responded first, scrambling up to Desbien's wheel , with Gaumont on his. GAN still had a theoretical advantage, but now more restricted with the German on their tail.
"My situation was ideal," said Ludwig, the race's overall winner in 1992. "I could soft-pedal - it was up to the two Frenchmen to make the pace. Truth to tell, I didn't fear either of them. I knew that there'd have to be a catastrophe before I lost the sprint."
1. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom 2.17.00 2. John Talen (Ned) Foreldorado-Golff 3. Frederic Moncassin (Fra) Gan 4. Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Brescialat 5. Jann Kirsipuu (Est) Petit-Casino all s.t. 6. Olaf Ludwig (Ger, Telekom) 7. Lars Michaelsen (Den, Festina) 8. Thierry Gouvenou (Aubervillers 93-Peugeot) 9. Johan Capiot (Bel, Collstrop) 10. Michelangelo Cauz (It, Aki-Gipiemme) all s.t. down to 98th (115 classified; Chauviere finished outside the time limit)
1. Olaf Ludwig (Ger, Telekom) 2. Philippe Gaumont (Fr, GAN) + 4 secs 3. Laurent Desbiens (Fr, GAN) + 6 4. Erik Zabel (Ger, Telekom) +11 5. Frederic Moncassin (Fr, GAN) +15
1. Chris Boardman (Eng) Gan 33.11 2. Denis Zanette (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme +0.03 3. Michelangelo Cauz (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme +0.41 4. Philippe Gaumont (Fra) Gan +0.44 5. Olaf Ludwig (Ger) Telekom +0.56 6. Arturas Kasputis (Lith, Petit Casino-C'est votre equipe) +1.02 7. Marco Milesi (It, Brescialat) +1.10 8. Frank Corvers (Bel, Lotto) +1.23 9. Laurent Desbiens (Fr, GAN) +1.24 10. Jacky Durand (Fr, Agrigel-La Creuse) +1.24 11. Francis Moreau (Fr, GAN) +1.32 12. Daniele Contrini (It, Brescialat) +1.35 13. Federico De Beni (It, Brescialat) +1.45 14. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol, US Postal) +1.57 15. Eddy Seigneur (Fr, GAN) s.t. (114 classified Abandon: Anti)
1. Denis Zanette (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme 6.53.38 2. Philippe Gaumont (Fra) Gan + 0.30 3. Olaf Ludwig (Ger) Telekom + 0.38 4. Michelangelo Cauz (Ita) Aki-Gipiemme + 0.44 5. Arturas Kasputis (Lit) Petit-Casino + 1.01 6. Marco Milesi (Ita) Brescialat + 1.09 7. Laurent Desbiens (Fra) Gan + 1.12 8. Chris Boardman (Eng) Gan + 1.24 9. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom + 2.18 10. Jacky Durand (Fra) Agrigel-La Creuse + 2.46 11. Farnk Corvers (Bel, Lotto) + 2.47 12. Francis Moreau (Fr, GAN) + 2.56 13. Frederic Moncassin (Fr, GAN) + 3.00 14. Cedric Vasseur (Fr, GAN) + 3.03 15. Oleg Kozlitine (Kaz, Lotto) + 3.04 16. Stephane Cueff (Fr. La Mutuelle de Seine) + 3.14