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19th Route Adélie - 1.1
Vitré, France, April 1, 2005
2004 Results Results Past winners
Contrini pays a new winning visit to France
By Jean-François Quénet in Vitré
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It's not often that the first rider who attacks after only one kilometre also wins the race 184km further. It happened to Daniele Contrini in Brittany. Before the start, his directeur sportif Orlando Maini threatened him to turn him into a DS and no more a bike rider if he wouldn't attack. Pretty soon after his move, a group of 17 riders was formed in the front with: Jérémy Roy and Lilian Jégou (Française des Jeux), Frédéric Bessy and Nicolas Inaudi (Cofidis), Vassili Davidenko and David O'Loughlin (Navigators), Mikhailo Khalilov and Contrini (LPR), Christian Müller (CSC), Jérôme Pineau (Bouygues Telecom), Eddy Seigneur (RAGT), Florent Brard (Agritubel), Benoît Poilvet (Crédit Agricole), Ludovic Turpin (Ag2r), Yann Pivois (Bretagne-Jean Floc'h), Moises Chavez (Panaria) and Koji Fukushima (Bridgestone).
13 of the 16 starting teams being represented in the breakaway - Naturino, Auber 93 and MrBookmaker weren't - meant that the leading riders could go far, but for a long time they only had around about 1 minute advantage. With 60km to go, the riders in the bunch looked like having given up, they were 6 minutes down when Anthony Charteau (Bouygues Telecom), Freddy Bichot (FDJ), Christophe Le Mével (Crédit Agricole), Ivan Fanelli (LPR) and Brian Vandborg (CSC) launched a counter-attack. Too late. The pace in the front became too hard for Davidenko, and later for Fukushima who impressed a lot of people by racing so well. Now he's becoming another rider than only the showman of the Asian races like le Tour de Langkawi.
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In the last 20km, Roy, who isn't a full time cyclist but also an engineer student at the age of 21, attacked five times. "It was good to get the same feelings as when I was an amateur again," he said. "At that time, I kept attacking all the way. But I actually suffered cramps and I did attack for not getting dropped in the climbs. I'm happy with my sixth place anyway because these kinds of efforts can only help me improve my condition."
Contrini was more afraid of Pineau, who placed third in last year's GP Zurich. The Bouygues Telecom rider was angry because he read Thursday's edition of French sports daily L'Équipe where CSC's manager Bjarne Riis declared that the French riders train less than the others. "Total bullshit!" Pineau reacted. "Don't believe that I haven't worked a lot to prepare for this season, although I was hoping for better results in the early part." He seems to have now found the right condition.
Contrini countered Roy with 7km to go. Neo-pro Moises Chavez, who comes from the same Mexican club as Julio Perez Cuapio and is known for his wins two years in a row in the GP Capodarco in Italy, tried to bridge the gap but finished second, claiming his first real pro result.
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For Contrini, this is only his fifth win in ten years as a professional. "My best memories of cycling are in France," he said. "In 1997, I won the hardest stage in the Four days of Dunkirk and finished third overall. Then I've mostly raced as a domestique for Davide Rebellin at Liquigas and Gerolsteiner and now I'm happy that the directeurs sportifs at LPR are confident in me winning races although I suffered from an inflamed shoulder for a long time last season. I came close this year at GP Mendrisio when I was second. Winning here makes me just as emotional as eight years ago in Dunkirk. For me, France is the country of cycling. Especially in the west part where I've done the GP Plouay four times before. Look at this fabulous crowd. I thank all of the spectators who came and watch us racing today."
It is LPR's 6th win this year already. "We are the most successful Italian team behind Fassa Bortolo," Contrini added. "Our big goal is to win the Italian championship." On the French side, it's one more loss but Lilian Jégou is the new leader of the French cup after his 14th place in the Route Adélie. He's equal on points with Pierrick Fedrigo, Philippe Gilbert and Laurent Brochard. "I truly hope to score more points at the GP de Rennes on Sunday," he said.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- Daniele Contrini (LPR) congratulated by race organiser Roland Montenat
- Jérémy Roy was awarded as the best climber of the Route Adélie.
- Lilian Jégou is the new leader of the French cup
Images by Régis Garnier/www.velofotopro.fr.st
- Christophe Kern (Bouygues Telecom) waits for the start.
- Three sons of champions: Nicolas Roche, Giovanni Bernaudeau and Hervé Duclos-Lasalle
- The Agritubel team before the team presentation.
- Koji Fukushima and Christian Muller lead the break
- The peloton in the grass?!
- Pineau, Seigneur, Aldape Chavez and Muller in the break.
- The escape
- Benoit Poilvet attacks the break.
- A mechanical problem for Julien Laidoun.
- The escape of the day was never brought back.
- Anthony Charteau and Freddy Bichot.
- Daniele Contrini (LPR) the winner of the Route Adélie
- Young rider Jérémy Roy (Francaise des Jeux) finshes 6th
- Jerôme Pineau (Bouygues) finished third.
- The winner Daniele Contrini (LPR) with the race organiser.
- The kiss for Moises Aldape Chaves.
- Benoit Poilvet (Crédit Agricole)
- The final podium: Moises Antonio Aldape Chavez (2nd), Daniele Contrini (1st), Jérôme Pineau (3rd)
- Daniele Contrini a happy winner?
Results
1 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Team LPR 4.19.41 2 Moises Antonio Aldape Chavez (Mex) Ceramica Panaria 0.06 3 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.12 4 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 5 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 6 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.16 7 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 0.20 8 Christian Müller (Ger) Team CSC 0.44 9 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Team LPR 1.33 10 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Crédit Agricole 11 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 12 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2.54 13 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 4.50 14 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 15 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Française des Jeux 5.44 16 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 17 Brian Vandborg (Den) Team CSC 5.49 18 Ivan Fanelli (Ita) Team LPR 5.52 19 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 5.54 20 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 5.57 21 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Crédit Agricole 6.20 22 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor 6.27 23 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel 7.03 24 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel 9.08 25 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Crédit Agricole 26 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 27 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC 28 Cédric Hervé (Fra) Crédit Agricole 29 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 30 John Nilsson (Swe) Auber 93 31 Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 32 Laurent Paumier (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 33 Renaud Dion (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 34 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 35 Julien Mazet (Fra) Auber 93 36 Rémy Di Grégorio (Fra) Française des Jeux 37 Francesco Bellotti (Ita) Crédit Agricole 38 Christophe Rinero (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 39 Alexander Gut (Ger) Lamonta 9.14 40 Alexandre Bazhenov (Rus) Naturino - Sapore di Mare 41 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 42 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 43 Maxime Méderel (Fra) Auber 93 9.21 44 Eric Berthou (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 45 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor 46 Manuel Calvente Gorbas (Spa) Team CSC 9.27 47 Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 48 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 49 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) Française des Jeux 50 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 9.34 51 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 9.36 52 Antoine Dalibard (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 53 Saul Raisin (USA) Crédit Agricole 54 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 55 Christian Vandevelde (USA) Team CSC 9.40 56 Kirk O'Bee (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 57 Nicolas Reynaud (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences 9.42 58 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 59 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 60 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep 61 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Crédit Agricole 62 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team CSC 63 Geert Omloop (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 64 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 10.23 65 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Agritubel 11.45 Coupe de France standings 1 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 50 pts 1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux 50 1 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 50 1 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 50 5 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 32 5 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 32 7 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 25 7 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 25 7 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 25 7 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 25 Teams 1 Française des Jeux 43 pts 2 Bouygues Telecom 29 2 Cofidis 29 4 Agritubel 28 5 Crédit Agricole 27
Past winners
Route Adélie 2004 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère 2003 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Jean Delatour 2002 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Team fakta 2001 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) 2000 Laurent Brochard (Fra) 1999 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) 1998 Jann Kirsipuu (Est) 1997 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Tour d'Armorique 1996 Marc Bouillon (Fra) 1994 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) 1993 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) 1992 Peter De Clercq (Bel) 1991 Jérôme Simon (Fra) 1990 Rober-to Torres (Spa) 1989 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 1988 Sören Lilholt (Den) 1987 Thierry Marie (Fra) 1986 Jörg Müller (Swi) Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com
