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52nd Circuit de la Sarthe - 2.3
France, April 6-9, 2004
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Stage 4 - April 9: Evron - Le Mans, 181 km
A champion is born: Thomas Lövkvist
By Jean-François Quénet in Le Mans
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Until today, two riders had won the Circuit de la Sarthe aged 20: Bernard Hinault in 1975 and Greg LeMond in 1980. Now, the world of cycling welcomes Thomas Lövkvist! The Swede turned 20 last Sunday and celebrated his birthday in a typical bowls players society of the Loire valley, writing in the golden book: "I'm happy to discover another side of France."
Since he joined French outfit Fdjeux.com, his life has been full of new experiences: he discovered the big cycling pro world in Australia at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, set himself with Australian stars Brad McGee, Baden Cooke, Matt Wilson and Mark Renshaw in Nice and made his debut in Paris-Nice, something unusual for neo-professionals.
Marc Madiot is already fond of him. "Physically and mentally, this guy has all the qualities to become a super champion", he said. The boss of Fdjeux.com got to know him at the Tour de l'Avenir last year where he finished 6th overall after wearing the yellow jersey. Before that, with Team Bianchi Scandinavia directed by Tommy Prim, he had won the Circuit des Ardennes, which was almost his first race after the junior category! Later he came 4th at the U23 world championship time trial.
Lövkvist won the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire in a 171 km breakaway, covering 150 alone after getting rid of his companion, the first attacker of the day who was no less but Christophe Moreau. "He wasn't going fast enough", Lövkvist commented. The tall Swede hailing from the island of Gotland had a maximum lead of 13 minutes and still had 5'30 advantage on the bunch when he reached the final circuit of Le Mans, where he had to climb the gruelling côte de Gazonfier four times.
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"The last time, I almost fell, I was so tired," he explained. "I went backwards I think. Then I looked in direction to the top and I said to myself: 'yes, you can do it'." Everyone was impressed by his courage. He was also very clever not to put his hands up before he crossed the line because he was able to win the overall as well as the stage. He knew it would be tight.
Strangely there was a lot of misunderstanding in the chasing group with La Boulangère not getting much of help from the other teams. "I'll remember it in the future, a bitter former race leader Franck Bouyer commented. But I pass on my congratulations to the winner, what he did was great."
It's a huge breath of fresh air for French cycling to see a pure young talent winning in a great manner when the headlines are only made of doping affairs. "With all the tests we have to do now, I hope the sport will be clean very soon," Lövkvist declared. "From my side, the only thing I can do is to keep riding drug free."
If the future is based around athletes like Lövkvist, cycling has a few fabulous years coming up.
Photography
Images by AFP Photo
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile Team) next to teammate Erik Zabel during the final stage
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile Team) powering away
- Thomas Lövkvist (FDJeux.com) in action during the final stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe
- Thomas Lövkvist (FDJeux.com) feels the pain of the final climbs
- Thomas Lövkvist (FDJeux.com) crosses the line to win the stage and the overall
- Thomas Lövkvist (FDJeux.com) on the podium as the overall winner
Images by Jean-François Quénet
- Thomas Lövkvist (FDJeux.com) collapsed after the finish, as Philippe Gilbert came over to congratulate him
- Thomas Lövkvist (FDJeux.com) on the podium with his winner's bouquet
- Franck Bouyer (Brioches La Boulangère) got the consolation prize: the Fair Play trophy
- Yuriy Krivstov (Ag2r) took home the mountains jersey
- Thomas Lövkvist (FDJeux.com) also won the U23 rider classification
- Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) didn't win a stage, but took home the green points jersey
- Thomas Lövkvist (FDJeux.com) on the podium in yellow
- The various jersey wearers: McEwen (points), Krivstov (mountains) and Lovkvist (GC) on the podium
Results
1 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 4.34.06 2 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 0.27 3 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto Domo 0.32 4 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 5 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 6 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 7 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 8 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 9 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 10 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 11 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 12 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 13 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 14 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 15 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 16 Ruslan Gryschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 17 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 18 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 19 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 20 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Lotto Domo 21 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 22 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 23 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 24 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 25 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 26 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 27 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 28 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto Domo 29 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 30 Paolo Salvodelli (Ita) T-Mobile Team 31 Sergiy Adyeyev (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 32 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 33 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole 34 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 35 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Credit Agricole 36 Jef Peeters (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 37 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 38 Aketza Pena (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.27 39 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 40 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1.30 41 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 2.18 42 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 2.48 43 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 2.54 44 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 4.38 45 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 5.13 46 Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 47 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 48 Klaus Mutschler (Ger) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 49 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros 50 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros DNF Frédéric Finot (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover DNF Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance DNF Eddy Seigneur (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover DNF Bruno Thibout (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover DNF Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole DNF Jacky Durand (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago DNF Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo DNF Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team DNF Tomas Konecny (Cze) T-Mobile Team DNF Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto Domo DNF Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner DNF Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) T-Mobile Team DNF Marcel Straus (Swi) Gerolsteiner DNF Fred Rodriguez (Usa) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo DNF Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Lotto Domo DNF Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere DNF Mickaël Pichon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere DNF Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere DNF Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere DNF Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere DNF Murilo Fischer (Bra) Domina Vacanze DNF Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans DNF Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto Domo DNF Andrea Tafi (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi DNF Dmitri Muravyev (Kaz) Credit Agricole DNF Björn Leukemans (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans DNF Crescenzo D'amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo DNF Denis Bertoloni (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo DNF Martin Derganc (Slo) Domina Vacanze DNF Pieter Mertens (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim DNF Nicolas Reynaud (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover DNF Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi Final general classification 1 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 18.03.33 2 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 0.19 3 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.23 4 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto Domo 0.33 5 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.35 6 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 0.39 7 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 8 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 9 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.40 10 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.41 11 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 12 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 0.42 13 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 0.44 14 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.50 15 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 16 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 17 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 18 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 19 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 20 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 21 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Credit Agricole 22 Sergiy Adyeyev (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 23 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 24 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 25 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Credit Agricole 26 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 27 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Lotto Domo 28 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 29 Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 30 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 31 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole 32 Paolo Salvodelli (Ita) T-Mobile Team 33 Rafael Diaz (Spa) Liberty Seguros 2.36 34 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 2.45 35 Ruslan Gryschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 2.49 36 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 37 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 3.05 38 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 3.12 39 Aketza Pena (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 3.44 40 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 4.46 41 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 4.56 42 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 5.31 43 Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 44 René Andrle (Cze) Liberty Seguros 45 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 6.19 46 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 7.30 47 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros 7.53 48 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Lotto Domo 11.49 49 Jef Peeters (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 12.12 50 Klaus Mutschler (Ger) R.A.G.T.Semences-Mg Rover 16.30 51 Inigo Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 19.51 Points classification 1 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto Domo 71 pts 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 57 3 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 40 4 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 38 5 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 32 6 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 31 7 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 28 8 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 26 9 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 22 10 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 21 11 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 20 12 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 20 13 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 17 14 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 17 15 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 16 16 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 15 17 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 15 18 Mikel Artetxe (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 13 19 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 10 20 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 7 21 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 7 22 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 5 23 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 5 24 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 2 25 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 1 Mountains classification 1 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prevoyance 35 pts 2 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 26 3 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 22 4 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 22 5 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 12 6 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 11 7 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 10 8 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 9 9 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.Com 8 10 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 6 11 Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) Liberty Seguros 6 12 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 4 13 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 4 14 Andrea Noe (Ita) Alessio - Bianchi 4 15 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 1 U23 classification 1 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Fdjeux.Com 18.03.33 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 0.39 3 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Liberty Seguros 0.41 4 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 0.50 5 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fdjeux.Com 6 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 7 Ruslan Gryschenko (Ukr) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 2.49 8 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 3.05 9 Mikhail Timochine (Rus) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 3.12 10 Aketza Pena (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 3.44 11 Eddy Lembo (Fra) Mr.Bookmaker.Com-Palmans 5.31 12 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 7.30 13 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros 7.53
