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Boucles de la Mayenne - 2.6
France, June 19-22, 2003
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Stage 2 - June 20: Laval - St-Berthevin-Évron, 182 km
Thomas Dekker's quick come back
By Jean-Francois Quenet
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Thomas Dekker from Rabobank has made an impressive impact at the start of the Boucles de la Mayenne, newly upgraded to category 6. "I broke my hand in Waregem in March and I had to keep my arm in plaster for six weeks," he said. "Then I spent most of the following three weeks doing my exams at school. I came back for the Vuelta Lleida last week in Spain and I helped Jukka Vastaranta who came 2nd and won two stages."
Dekker himself won the first stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne on Thursday night ahead of his team-mate Bas Gilling. In stage 2, Rabobank had a lot of work to do along with AVC Aix and Crédit Agricole, who were behind the breakaway formed by 12 riders after 85km. They got a maximum lead of three and a half minutes and were about to be caught by the bunch when seven of them restarted their action with 12km to go. Renaud Dion, 25, from EC St-Etienne, won the sprint.
"It's good to see that the form is back just before the French championship", he said. But some riders like Briton Tom Southam (Nantes 44) did a lot of work for very little bonus at the end.
Photos
Images by Jean-François Quénet
- British rider Tom Southam (Nantes 44 Cyclisme) has been an incessant attacker throughout the race.
- Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) has made an impressive comeback at the Boucles de la Mayenne, and is looking like a solid yellow jersey contender.
- The winners' podium, including stage winner Renaud Dion (EC St-Etienne), who wears the green sprinter's jersey.
1 Renaud Dion (Fra) EC St-Etienne 4.06.03 2 Samuel Bonnet (Fra) CC Nogent-sur-Oise 3 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Ringerike 4 Jean Zen (Fra) Vendée U 5 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Nantes 44 Cyclisme 6 Frédéric Lecrosnier (Fra) Jean Floc’h 7 Tom Southam (GB) Nantes 44 Cyclisme 0.03 8 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Team Ringerike 0.08 9 Geoffroy Lequattre (Fra) Crédit Agricole espoirs 10 Julien Smink (Ned) Van Hermert Groep 11 Karolis Volongevicius (Lit) EC St-Etienne 12 Jonathan Dayus (Fra) Team Ringerike 13 Alexandre Naulleau (Fra) Vendée U 14 Jorg Strauss (Swi) Macandina 15 Samuel Plouhinec (Fra) AVC Aix 16 Vincent Freulon (Fra) Pays de la Loire 17 Camille Bouquet (Fra) VC Roubaix 18 Samuel Gicquel (Fra) Jean Floc’h 19 Bas Giling (Ned) Rabobank 20 Mickael Chicault (Fra) Pays de la Loire General classification after stage 1 1 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 4.14.14 2 Bas Gilling (Ned) Rabobank 0.01 3 Sandro Guttinger (Swi) Macandina 0.04 4 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Ringerike 0.08 5 Tom Southam (Fra) Nantes 44 Cyclisme 0.10 6 Jérôme Neuville (Fra) France pursuit 7 David Lelay (Fra) VC Roubaix 8 Christophe Thébault (Fra) Jean Floc’h 0.11 9 Frédéric Lecrosnier (Fra) Jean Floc’h 10 John Gadret (Fra) VC Roubaix 0.15 11 Samuel Bonnet (Fra) CC Nogent 0.18 12 Denis Robin (Fra) Crédit Agricole espoirs 0.18 13 Franck Champeymont (Fra) AVC Aix 0.19 14 Kees Jeurissen (Ned) Van Hemert Groep 15 Samuel Plouhinec (Fra) AVC Aix 0.21 16 Renaud Dion (Fra) EC St-Etienne 17 Olivier Maignan (Fra) EC St-Etienne 18 Jorg Strauss (Swi) Macandina 0.22 19 Camille Bouquet (Fra) VC Roubaix 20 Jean Zen (Fra) Vendée U
