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52nd Circuit de la Sarthe - 2.3
France, April 6-9, 2004
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Stage 3 - April 8: Montreuil-Juigné - Evron, 189 km
Local hero Brochard doesn't give way to the visitors
By Jean-François Quénet in Évron
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There's a fabulous lineup in the 2.3 category Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire, with big names from the Tour de France such as Jan Ullrich, Erik Zabel, Christophe Moreau, Andrea Tafi and Robbie McEwen, but the local riders from the Pays de la Loire region aren't very keen to give them a warm welcome. They have actually captured all the stage wins! After Franck Bouyer and Ludovic Turpin, Laurent Brochard, hailing from Le Mans where the race will finish on Friday, took stage 3. Just like his Ag2r teammate the day before, he anticipated the bunch sprint in Évron, and again McEwen had no choice but to be satisfied with coming second.
Brochard attacked with 800 metres to go. "I didn't intend to do so," he said. "But I found myself in a good position and Yuriy Krivtsov was right behind me. He stopped the speed of the bunch and I got some advantage."
Quickly Brochard was 50 metres ahead of the peloton and never got caught. "I knew the finale pretty well," he added. "I already won a race as an amateur here but I can't remember which year."
It's been a while, as Brochard, 36, turned pro with Castorama in 1992. It's also common that he wins in Évron. He did it at the Circuit de la Sarthe three years ago and was meant to be the overall winner prior to his crash at the start of the time trial. He has never actually won his 'home race' before and would love to do so on Friday. He remembers that last year he was very bitter to lose the last stage to Allan Davis in a tight finish.
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"I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, I'm already pleased that we won two stages here", he declared. It's Ag2r's 10th win this season. Vincent Lavenu's team is doing really well. And like two years ago when he turned pro with Jean Delatour, Krivtsov took the KOM jersey from Philippe Gilbert, scoring points behind the two men away since km 5: Alessandro Bertolini (Alessio) and Andrea Ferrigato (Acqua e Sapone). They had a maximum lead of 13 min 30 sec at km 33. Ferrigato got dropped at km 142 on the Mont Rochard - no mistake, this is not the Mont Brochard - and Sandy Casar of Fdjeux.com attacked from the bunch and became his new companion in the front. Bertolini and Casar got caught with 13km to go.
The race looked like a sprinter's affair until Brochard destroyed their plans. "The last kilometre was very dangerous and I got blocked in," Davis said. The Australian hoped to score more bonus than the two seconds he got on the way. He knows it will be tight.
"Tomorrow we will not count the seconds," race leader Franck Bouyer reckons. "If I've got the legs I'll maybe win but if the legs aren't good, I'll lose a few minutes. I hope not for my teammates who ride a lot for me and I know what they feel because this is usually my job. I'm upset because I couldn't feel any respect for the yellow jersey in the bunch, and only Fdjeux.com and Gerolsteiner took their responsibilities in the chase. I'm also very worried for tomorrow. Half of the bunch can still win the overall."
The côte de Gazonfier in Le Mans, 300 metres long and 18% steep, to be climbed 4 times, will be very spectacular. "It suits Brochard but not me", Bouyer supposes. The former world champion is now only 16 seconds down on GC.
Photography
Images by AFP Photo
- Sandy Casar (FDJ) on the attack during stage 3
- Sandy Casar (FDJ) and Alessandro Bertolini (Alessio) during their long escape
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile Team) during stage 3 of the Circuit de la Sarthe
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile Team) rides in the middle of the pack
- Laurent Brochard (Ag2r) wins the third stage
- Laurent Brochard (Ag2r) with his trophy
Images by Jean-François Quénet
- Laurent Brochard (Ag2r) went on stage with his daughters Bianca and Lolita
- Alessandro Bertolini (Alessio-Bianchi) was given the most aggressive rider award in stage 3
- Franck Bouyer (Brioches La Boulangère) has doubts about tomorrow
Results
1 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 4.44.12 2 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto Domo 0.05 3 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 4 Fred Rodriguez (Usa) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 5 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 6 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 7 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 8 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 9 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 10 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 11 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 12 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 13 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 14 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 15 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 16 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 17 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 18 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Credit Agricole 19 Ruslan Gryschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 20 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 21 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 22 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 23 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 24 Dmitri Muravyev (Kaz) Credit Agricole 25 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 26 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 27 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 28 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 29 Sergiy Adyeyev (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 30 Martin Derganc (Slo) Domina Vacanze 31 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 32 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 33 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 34 Aketza Pena (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 35 Denis Bertoloni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 36 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 37 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto Domo 38 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 39 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 40 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 41 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 42 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 43 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 44 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 45 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 46 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Lotto Domo 47 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 48 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 49 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 50 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 51 Frédéric Finot (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 52 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 53 Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 54 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto Domo 55 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Lotto Domo 56 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 57 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 58 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto Domo 59 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 60 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros 61 Jef Peeters (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 62 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 63 Paolo Salvodelli (Ita) T-Mobile Team 64 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) T-Mobile Team 65 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 66 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole 67 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 68 Tomas Konecny (Cze) T-Mobile Team 69 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Domina Vacanze 70 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros 71 Mickaël Pichon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 72 Klaus Mutschler (Ger) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 73 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 74 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 75 Bruno Thibout (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 76 Marcel Straus (Swi) Gerolsteiner 77 Jacky Durand (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 78 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 79 Crescenzo D'amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 0.19 80 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 0.20 81 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 3.26 82 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 3.43 83 Nicolas Reynaud (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 84 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 18.08 DNF Michael Rich (Ger) Gerolsteiner DNF Rolf Aldag (Ger) T-Mobile Team DNF Andrus Aug (Est) Domina Vacanze General classification after stage 3 1 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 13.29.14 2 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.04 3 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.16 4 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto Domo 0.18 5 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.21 6 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 0.22 7 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 8 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 0.23 9 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 10 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 11 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.25 12 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 0.27 13 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 0.29 14 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 0.30 15 Fred Rodriguez (Usa) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 0.31 16 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 17 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 18 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 19 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 20 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 21 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 22 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 23 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 24 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 25 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 26 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Credit Agricole 27 Sergiy Adyeyev (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 28 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 29 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 30 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 31 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 32 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 33 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Lotto Domo 34 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 35 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 36 Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 37 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 38 Martin Derganc (Slo) Domina Vacanze 39 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 40 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 41 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 42 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 43 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 44 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 45 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto Domo 46 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 47 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 48 Mickaël Pichon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 49 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole 50 Jacky Durand (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 51 Paolo Salvodelli (Ita) T-Mobile Team 52 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros 53 Marcel Straus (Swi) Gerolsteiner 54 Frédéric Finot (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 55 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Domina Vacanze 56 Tomas Konecny (Cze) T-Mobile Team 57 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 58 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 59 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 1.31 60 Denis Bertoloni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 1.55 61 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 2.14 62 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 2.26 63 Ruslan Gryschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 2.30 64 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto Domo 65 Aketza Pena (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 66 Dmitri Muravyev (Kaz) Credit Agricole 67 Bruno Thibout (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 68 Andrea Tafi (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 69 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 70 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 71 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto Domo 72 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros 2.53 73 Crescenzo D'amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 3.41 74 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 4.27 75 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 5.02 76 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 7.44 77 Nicolas Reynaud (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 8.05 78 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Lotto Domo 11.30 79 Klaus Mutschler (Ger) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 80 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) T-Mobile Team 81 Jef Peeters (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 11.53 82 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 12.08 83 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 14.51 84 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 28.59 Points classification 1 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto Domo 55 pts 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 44 3 Fred Rodriguez (Usa) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 38 4 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 34 5 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 31 6 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 26 7 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 25 8 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 20 9 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 20 10 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 20 11 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 18 12 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 18 13 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 17 14 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 15 15 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 15 16 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 14 17 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 13 18 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 9 19 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 8 20 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 7 21 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 7 22 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 6 23 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 5 24 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 5 25 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 5 26 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 3 27 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 3 28 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 2 29 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1 Mountains classification 1 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 23 pts 2 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 22 3 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 12 4 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 12 5 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 11 6 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 8 7 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 7 8 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 6 9 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 6 10 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 4 11 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 4 12 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 4 13 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 4 14 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 2 15 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2 16 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 1 17 Jacky Durand (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1 U23 classification 1 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 13.29.36 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 0.01 3 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 0.08 4 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 0.09 5 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 6 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 7 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 8 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 9 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 10 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 11 Ruslan Gryschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 2.08 12 Aketza Pena (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 13 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 14 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros 2.31 15 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 11.46 16 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 28.37
