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52nd Circuit de la Sarthe - 2.3
France, April 6-9, 2004
Stage 1 - April 6: Saint-Jean-de-Monts - Vallet, 181.6 km
Franck Bouyer: A hunter at home
By Jean-François Quénet in Vallet
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A local win made the crowd happy and thirsty in the capital of the Muscadet wine as Franck Bouyer, hailing from only 20km away in Beaupréau, scored one of the rare wins of his 10 year career. He has only put his hands up five times before, his main successes being the 2001 Tour du Limousin and the 2002 Tour de Vendée. Luck has evaded him when competing at home, especially in the Cholet-Pays de Loire in which he finished second twice in a row (2002 and 2003).
Bouyer was close to losing again at the end of stage 1 in the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de Loire. Away with Ronny Scholz of Gerolsteiner, he missed his way on the last curve with 300 metres to go, went into a parking lot where his old mentor Lili Besnard yelled at him and showed him the way back on the course. Scholz was so surprised that he looked behind and seemed to wait for Bouyer, who got back on his wheel with 150 metres to go, then he easily won the sprint.
"I thought my teammates, who did a great job for me, would be angry if I lost again," Bouyer commented. "Especially because of a mistake, but this is a relief after the terrible season I had last year."
Bouyer broke his wrist last year at the Tour de Picardie and couldn't start the Tour de France. He also had problems sleeping properly at night and sometimes fell asleep while riding his bike. Thankfully this problem has been rectified.
Bouyer attacked today on his usual training roads with 27 km to go in the côte de la Rouillère behind Scholz. "Franck was very impressive, it was impossible to follow him," Jean-Cyril Robin of FDJeux.com commented.
Bouyer and Scholz made the successful counter-attack after a breakaway group of 11 riders, sparked by Robin's teammate Philippe Gilbert, that had built a maximum lead of three minutes. The move included Christophe Moreau (Crédit Agricole), Michael Rich and Markus Zberg (Gerolsteiner), Sandy Casar (FDJeux.com), Ludovic Turpin (Ag2r-Prévoyance), Krylo Pospeyev (Acqua & Sapone), Vladimir Duma (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago), René Andrle and Luis Sanchez (Liberty Seguros), Maryan Hary (Brioches La Boulangère) and Koos Moerenhout (Lotto-Domo).
It was a good sign for Moreau to be in the break, returning to form slowly after an early season marred by injury. He looked fitter than Jan Ullrich, who finished at the back of the main bunch but didn't seem to worry. Andrea Tafi (Alessio-Bianchi) felt a little better at the finish than at the start. He's still doubtful for this weekend's Paris-Roubaix, a race he won in 1999, because of the cyst he developed after Milan-San Remo. "I also had a flu and I don't like that at this time of the race", he said.
Stage 2 of the Circuit de la Sarthe is an easy stage on paper, but Bouyer's La Boulangère team will have to work hard to control the race, as 65 riders are still within 36 seconds on the general classification.
Photography
Images by AFP
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) engages in a pre-race staring contest
- Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) on the road to full recovery
- Frank Bouyer (Brioches La Boulangère) wins stage 1 of the Circuit de la Sarthe
Images by Jean-François Quénet
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) is the star attraction at this year's Circuit de la Sarthe
- Jacky Durand (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) took a wrong turn into the FDJeux.com team camper
- Andrea Tafi (Alessio-Bianchi) hopes to recover fitness in time for Paris-Roubaix after a cyst developed at Milan-San Remo
- Franck Bouyer (Brioches La Boulangère) was a worthy winner in stage 1
- Philippe Gilbert (FDJeux.com) took the first climber's jersey
Images by www.velofotopro.fr.st
- Plenty of Erik Zabel fans at the opening stage beginning in Saint-Jean-de-Monts.
- Landbouwkrediet-Colnago are presented to a particularly youthful audience.
- Rolf Aldag (T-Mobile Team) waits for his leader.
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile Team) was happy to sign autographs before the start.
- Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros) looks a little bored.
- The principal 11-man break of the day, being driven by Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole).
- The main break stayed away until 27 kilometres remaining, when Franck Bouyer (Brioches La Boulangere) and Ronny Scholz (Gerolsteiner) launched their race-winning counter-attack.
- Franck Bouyer (Brioches La Boulangere) wins convincingly, outsprinting Ronny Scholz (Gerolsteiner) to take victory in the first stage.
- Andrus Aug (Domina Vacanze) thinks he's won, but someone forgot to tell him about the two riders who arrived 20 seconds before him.
- Franck Bouyer (Brioches La Boulangere), the first leader of the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Results
1 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 3.58.32 2 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 3 Andrus Aug (Est) Domina Vacanze 0.21 4 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto Domo 5 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 6 Fred Rodriguez (Usa) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 7 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 8 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 9 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 10 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 11 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 12 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 13 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 14 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 15 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 16 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 17 Denis Bertoloni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 18 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Gerolsteiner 19 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 20 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 21 Jacky Durand (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 22 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 23 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Lotto Domo 24 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 25 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 26 Rolf Aldag (Ger) T-Mobile Team 27 Mickaël Pichon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 0.26 28 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 29 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 30 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 31 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 32 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 33 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Credit Agricole 34 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 35 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 36 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 37 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 38 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 39 Sergiy Adyeyev (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 40 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 41 Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 42 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 43 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 44 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 45 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 46 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole 47 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 48 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 49 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 50 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 51 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 52 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 53 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 54 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto Domo 55 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 56 Tomas Konecny (Cze) T-Mobile Team 57 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 58 Martin Derganc (Slo) Domina Vacanze 59 Paolo Salvodelli (Ita) T-Mobile Team 60 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 61 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 62 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros 63 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Domina Vacanze 64 Frédéric Finot (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 65 Marcel Straus (Swi) Gerolsteiner 66 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 2.20 67 Michael Rich (Ger) Gerolsteiner 68 Ruslan Gryschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 69 Bruno Thibout (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 70 Dmitri Muravyev (Kaz) Credit Agricole 71 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto Domo 72 Aketza Pena (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 73 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 74 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 75 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 76 Claus Michael Moller (Den) Alessio - Bianchi 77 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto Domo 78 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 79 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros 80 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 81 Crescenzo D'amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 3.07 82 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 4.17 83 Nicolas Reynaud (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 84 Jef Peeters (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 11.20 85 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 86 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) T-Mobile Team 87 Klaus Mutschler (Ger) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 88 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Lotto Domo 89 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 90 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi DNF Phillipe Koehler (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com - Palmans General classification after stage 1 1 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 3.58.22 2 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.04 3 Andrus Aug (Est) Domina Vacanze 0.27 4 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 0.28 5 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 0.30 6 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto Domo 0.31 7 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 8 Fred Rodriguez (Usa) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 9 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 11 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 12 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 13 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 14 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 15 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 16 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 17 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 18 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 19 Denis Bertoloni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 20 Olaf Pollack (Ger) Gerolsteiner 21 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 22 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 23 Jacky Durand (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 24 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 25 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Lotto Domo 26 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 27 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 28 Rolf Aldag (Ger) T-Mobile Team 29 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 0.34 30 Mickaël Pichon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 0.36 31 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 32 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 33 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 34 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 35 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 36 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Credit Agricole 37 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 38 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 39 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 40 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 41 Sergiy Adyeyev (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 42 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 43 Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 44 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 45 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 46 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 47 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole 48 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 49 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 50 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 51 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 52 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 53 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 54 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto Domo 55 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 56 Tomas Konecny (Cze) T-Mobile Team 57 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 58 Martin Derganc (Slo) Domina Vacanze 59 Paolo Salvodelli (Ita) T-Mobile Team 60 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 61 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 62 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros 63 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Domina Vacanze 64 Frédéric Finot (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 65 Marcel Straus (Swi) Gerolsteiner 66 Michael Rich (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2.29 67 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 68 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 2.30 69 Ruslan Gryschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 70 Bruno Thibout (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 71 Dmitri Muravyev (Kaz) Credit Agricole 72 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto Domo 73 Aketza Pena (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 74 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 75 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 76 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 77 Claus Michael Moller (Den) Alessio - Bianchi 78 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto Domo 79 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 80 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros 81 Crescenzo D'amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 3.27 82 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 4.27 83 Nicolas Reynaud (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 84 Jef Peeters (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 11.30 85 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 86 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) T-Mobile Team 87 Klaus Mutschler (Ger) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 88 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Lotto Domo 89 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 90 Josu Silloniz (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi Points classification 1 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 25 pts 2 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 20 3 Andrus Aug (Est) Domina Vacanze 16 4 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto Domo 14 5 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 13 6 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 12 7 Fred Rodriguez (Usa) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 10 8 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 9 9 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 9 10 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 8 11 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 7 12 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 6 13 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 5 14 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 4 15 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 3 16 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 3 17 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 2 18 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 1 19 Michael Rich (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1 20 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1 Mountains classification 1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 8 pts 2 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6 3 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 4 4 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 4 5 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 4 6 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 3 7 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2 8 Jacky Durand (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1 9 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 1 U23 classification 1 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 3.58.53 2 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 3 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 4 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 5 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 6 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 7 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 0.05 8 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 9 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 10 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 11 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 12 Ruslan Gryschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1.59 13 Aketza Pena (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 14 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 15 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros 16 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 10.59
