40th Tour de la Manche - 2.6

France, May 6-9, 2004

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Stage 1 - May 6: Donville-les-Bains - La Haye-du-Puits, 161 km

Ruskys scores, Rabobank takes control

By Jean-François Quénet in La Haye-du-Puits

Stage 1 winner
Photo ©: JF Quenet

The Rabobank TT3 is a model for the whole world of cycling. They develop young riders and make them win heaps of races at the same time. Straight after the Circuit des Mines, the golden pair of Joost Posthuma and Jukka Vastaranta came to the Tour de la Manche. Of course, they didn't miss the breakaway of the day.

In groups of two or three, 17 riders gathered in front: Posthuma, Vastaranta and Theo Elkink (Rabobank), Ian McLeod, Nic White and Jamie Ball (HSBC), Ludovic Auger, Yannick Talabardon and David Bréard (Auber 93), Saulius Ruskys and Maxim Gourov (Oktos), Noan Lelarge and Stéphane Arassus (UV Aube), David Arassus (Crédit Agricole), Ludovic Lemaréchal (DIVPA), Sven Renders (De Jong Vlaanderen 2016) and Erik Hoffmann (Stuttgart).

With 25 kilometres to go, McLeod launched an attack, followed by Ruskys, Bréard and Elkink. Then McLeod took profit of an hesitation to go by himself but he was brought back by Bréard while Ruskys was more than happy to stay on his wheel. The Lithuanian from Oktos is a true sprinter. That's why he got contracts with Gerolsteiner and Marlux before going back to his old club of Oktos.

Eventually, the group of 4 was joined by Posthuma, Vastaranta and Talabardon, an excellent move from Rabobank. The Dutch team directed by Frans Maassen didn't the stage because of Ruskys being so fast but they took the best position possible before the 14.5km time trial scheduled for Saturday morning alongside the English Channel. After one stage already, it's difficult to imagine another scenario than one more overall win from either Posthuma or Vastaranta.

Photography

Images by Jean-Francois Quenet

Stage 1 winner and the first race leader is Saulius Ruskys (Oktos)
Jukka Vastaranta (Rabobank TT3) is the best espoir after stage 1
The Rabobank TT3 looks unbeatable again

Results

1 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Oktos                     3.54.13
2 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank
3 Ian McLeod (RSA) HSBC
4 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank
5 Theo Elkink (Ned) Rabobank
6 David Bréard (Fra) Auber 93
7 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Auber 93
8 Ludovic Lemaréchal (Fra) DIVPA                    0.13
9 Ludovic Auger (Fra) Auber 93
10 Sven Renders (Bel) De Jong Vlaanderen 2016
11 Stéphane Arassus (Fra) UV Aube 
12 Maxim Gourov (Kaz) Oktos
13 Erik Hoffmann (Ger) Stuttgart
14 David Arassus (Fra) Crédit Agricole
15 Nicholas White (RSA) HSBC
16 Noan Lelarge (Fra) UV Aube                       0.15
17 Jamie Ball (RSA) HSBC                            3.28
18 Yauheni Hutarovitch (Bel) UV Aube               14.47
19 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) De Jong Vlaanderen 2016
20 Damien Drancourt (Fra) ESG Douai

General classification after stage 1

1 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Oktos                     3.54.13
2 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank                     0.06
3 Ian McLeod (RSA) HSBC                             0.08
4 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Auber 93                 0.09
5 Theo Elkink (Ned) Rabobank                        0.10
6 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank                   0.12
7 David Bréard (Fra) Auber 93
8 Stéphane Arassus (Fra) UV Aube                    0.23
9 Ludovic Lemaréchal (Fra) DIVPA                    0.25
10 Ludovic Auger (Fra) Auber 93
11 Sven Renders (Bel) De Jong Vlaanderen 2016
12 Maxim Gourov (Kaz) Oktos
13 Erik Hoffmann (Ger) Stuttgart
14 David Arassus (Fra) Crédit Agricole
15 Nicholas White (RSA) HSBC
16 Noan Lelarge (Fra) UV Aube                       0.27
17 Jamie Ball (RSA) HSBC                            3.37
18 Yauheni Hutarovitch (Bel) UV Aube               14.59
19 Damien Drancourt (Fra) ESG Douai
20 Aron Husymans (Bel) De Jong Vlaanderen 2016