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40th Tour de Bretagne Cycliste - 2.2
France, April 25-May 1, 2006
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Stage 1 - April 25: Saint-Brieuc - Saint-Brieuc, 142 km
David Lelay marks his territory
By Jean-François Quénet in St-Brieuc
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The local continental team of Bretagne-Jean Floc'h, which won the same race last year with Stéphane Pétilleau, leads it again after day 1 with David Lelay. The Ruban Granitier Breton has become the Tour de Bretagne, but the squad that is the equivalent of Euskaltel in the Basque country for the cycling mad region of Brittany remains the best at home. "But instead of having a leader in the team like last time with Pétilleau, we came with six leaders this time," directeur sportif Philippe Dalibard announced prior to the start.
They didn't bring any sprinter, but they won a stage that ended up in sort of a bunch sprint. Not exactly though, because Lelay attacked on the final climb less than two kilometres from the finish, Slovakian promise Peter Velits of Konica-Minolta jumped onto his wheel. They crossed the line in that order with the whole bunch at the same time behind them, with the notable exception of Olympic points race champion Mikhail Ignatiev (Tinkoff), who lost 16 seconds.
"It's a perfect end to claim the stage win after chasing for 80 kilometres behind the breakaway," Lelay said. He's a local rider since he now lives in St-Brieuc. He knew all about the course of the finishing circuit which was in the place where Chris Boardman had a dramatic crash during the prologue of the 1995 Tour de France. Lelay's father Gilbert rode the Tour de France in the '70s and even got to wear the polka dot jersey. This is called cycling tradition...
How it unfolded
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The race started at a high speed with almost 46km covered in the first hour. A superb breakaway of 12 riders took shape with race favourite Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff), last year's runner up Charles Guilbert (Bretagne-Jean Floc'h), Jonathan Dayus (U Nantes-Atlantique), Tyler Butterfield (Vendée U), Peter Latham (Côtes d'Armor-Maître Jacques), Andrey Pchelkin (EC St-Etienne), Kristian House (Recycling.co.uk), Peter Velits (Konica-Minolta), Bjorn Hoeben (Procomm-Van Hemert), Olivier Grammaire (SCO Dijon), Martin Blaha and Michael Mourecek (Dukla Praha).
It looked brilliant with most of the best team in the front, but the young Americans from TIAA-CREF pulled it back. Then three men went away: Grammaire again, with Julien Gonnet (Côtes d'Armor-Maître Jacques) and Milan Kadlec (Dukla Praha), who is a former professional with Lampre and Mobilvetta. They stayed up the road for 80km with a maximum lead of seven minutes but they got caught within the last ten kilometres when the race became an interesting spectacle for the crowd alongside the charming harbour in St-Brieuc.
Lelay and Velits made a difference in the final hill, which allowed them to go for the stage win, eventually awarded to the Breton rider, whilst Viktor Folkesson of Team Mälarenergi ran 3rd. Stage 1 had no major effect on GC but some indications of the form of Brutt, Guilbert and Velits have been noticed. The course will become harder and harder as the race will move towards its 7th day.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- The main breakaway of the day with Olivier Grammaire, Milan Kadlec and Julien Gonnet
- Pete Latham, the bronze medallist of last year's World's for U23 time trial, was a member of the impressive attack from 12 super strong men
- Stage winner David Lelay received a Breton version of Coca Cola from race organiser Christophe Fossani
- Runner up Peter Velits is already the best young rider
- The three leaders of the day are: David Lelay, Olivier Grammaire and Peter Velits
- South African team Konica-Minolta is beginning their European campign in Brittany
Results
1 David Le Lay (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 3.14.19 2 Peter Velits (Svk) Team Konica Minolta 3 Viktor Folkesson (Swe) Team Malarenergi 4 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step 5 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen 6 Cédric Drouet (Fra) U.C Chateauroux 7 Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Procomm -Van Hemert 8 Julien Simon (Fra) Super Sport 35 Acnc 9 Marcel Belma (Ned) Procomm -Van Hemert 10 Cédric Herve (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 11 Médéric Clain (Fra) V.C De Roubaix 12 Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 13 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 14 David Deroo (Fra) V.C De Roubaix 15 Russel Downing (GBr) DFL-Cyclingnews 16 Alexander Serov (Rus) Tinkoff Restaurants 17 Matthieu Rompion (Fra) Vende U 18 Nico Keinath (Ger) Team Aguti 19 Jérémie Derangere (Fra) S.C.O Dijon Team Lapierre 20 Nicolas Rousseau (Fra) U.C Chateauroux 21 Mickael Cherel (Fra) Cotes D’Armor Cyclisme Maître Jacques 22 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) Team U Nantes Atlantique 23 Anton Mindlin (Rus) Tinkoff Restaurants 24 Martin Velits (Svk) Team Konica Minolta 25 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step 26 Robin Sharman (GBr) Recycling.Co.Uk 27 Charles Guilbert (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 28 John Lee Augustyn (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 29 Andreyi Pchelkin (Rus) Espoir Cycliste Saint Etienne 30 Romain Mary (Fra) S.C.O Dijon Team Lapierre 31 Johannes Kachelhoffer (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 32 Grzegorz Kwiatkowski (Pol) V.C De Roubaix 33 Stephen Greger (Ger) Team Aguti 34 Arnaud Lesnevan (Fra) Cotes D’Armor Cyclisme Maître Jacques 35 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff Restaurants 36 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step 37 Robert Partridge (GBr) Recycling.Co.Uk 38 Dale Appleby (GBr) Recycling.Co.Uk 39 Roy Curvers (Ned) Procomm -Van Hemert 40 Gleen Poleunis (Bel) Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen 41 Paul Brousse (Fra) V.C De Roubaix 42 Rolf Hobauer (Ger) Team Aguti 43 Sven Van Den Houte (Bel) Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen 44 Jean Marc Bideau (Fra) Super Sport 35 Acnc 45 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen 46 Sergey Klimov (Rus) Tinkoff Restaurants 47 Peter Schmid (Ger) Team Aguti 48 Alexandr Dymovskikh (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 49 Kristian House (GBr) Recycling.Co.Uk 50 Marnus Potgieter (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 51 Michael Stevensson (Swe) Team Malarenergi 52 Dimitri Champion (Fra) Vende U 53 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Recycling.Co.Uk 54 Tamo Raudsepp (Fra) Team U Nantes Atlantique 55 Noan Lelarge (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 56 Mike Creed (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 57 Jérome Bonnace (Fra) U.C Chateauroux 58 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Konica Minolta 59 Jeroen Boelen (Ned) Procomm -Van Hemert 60 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step 61 Maarten Neyens (Bel) Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen 62 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Team U Nantes Atlantique 63 Alexis Merle (Fra) Espoir Cycliste Saint Etienne 64 Taylor Tolleson (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 65 Alexey Zaitsev (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 66 Guillaume Le Floch (Fra) Super Sport 35 Acnc 67 Alexandre Bousseau (Fra) Vende U 68 Jeremy Vennel (NZl) DFL-Cyclingnews 69 Sébastien Duret (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 70 Mickael Mourecek (Cze) A.S.C Dukla Praha 71 Charles Bradley Huff (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 72 Gaylord Cumont (Fra) Espoir Cycliste Saint Etienne 73 Olivier Nari (Fra) S.C.O Dijon Team Lapierre 74 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Super Sport 35 Acnc 75 Julien Belgy (Fra) Vende U 76 Christopher Newton (GBr) Recycling.Co.Uk 77 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Vende U 78 Fabrice Jandesboz (Fra) Cotes D’Armor Cyclisme Maître Jacques 79 Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 80 Dean Downing (Aus) DFL-Cyclingnews 81 Pete Latham (NZl) Cotes D’Armor Cyclisme Maître Jacques 82 Lucas Persson (Swe) Team Malarenergi 83 Nikolay Trussov (Rus) Tinkoff Restaurants 84 Steven De Neef (Bel) Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen 85 Tyler Butterfield (Ber) Vende U 86 Bjorn Hoeben (Ned) Procomm -Van Hemert 87 Anthony Boyer (Fra) U.C Chateauroux 88 Marcus Svensson (Swe) Team Malarenergi 89 Mario Ickx (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step 90 Tony Goossens (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step 91 Pavel Subrt (Cze) A.S.C Dukla Praha 92 Fabrice Billard (Fra) Espoir Cycliste Saint Etienne 93 Cyrille Noel (Fra) Cotes D’Armor Cyclisme Maître Jacques 94 Milan Kadlec (Cze) A.S.C Dukla Praha 95 Brice Monnerais (Fra) Team U Nantes Atlantique 96 Sylvain Cheval (Fra) U.C Chateauroux 97 Jean Zen (Fra) VC Roubaix 98 Florent Roussy (Fra) U.C Chateauroux 99 Jos Pronk (Ned) Procomm -Van Hemert 0.16 100 Jan Kunta (Cze) A.S.C Dukla Praha 101 Daniel Fleeman (Fra) Espoir Cycliste Saint Etienne 102 Abel Fragua Falagan (Spa) Enypesa Lambea El Mundo 103 François Parisien (Can) Team TIAA-CREF 104 David Burgy (Fra) S.C.O Dijon Team Lapierre 105 Manuel Garcia Machuca (Spa) Enypesa Lambea El Mundo 106 Peter Lundblad (Swe) Team Malarenergi 107 Kane Oakley (Aus) DFL-Cyclingnews 108 Alex Coutts (GBr) DFL-Cyclingnews 109 Petr Lazar (Cze) A.S.C Dukla Praha 110 Jérôme Bouchet (Fra) V.C De Roubaix 111 Timothée Lefrancois (Fra) Team U Nantes Atlantique 112 Florian Guillou (Fra) Super Sport 35 Acnc 113 Stephan Lageler (Ger) Team Aguti 114 Pierre Bernard Vaillant (Fra) Super Sport 35 Acnc 115 Martin Blaha (Cze) A.S.C Dukla Praha 116 Olivier Grammaire (Fra) S.C.O Dijon Team Lapierre 117 Benoit Geoffroy (Fra) S.C.O Dijon Team Lapierre 118 Vadim Vdovinov (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 119 Mikhail Ignatev (Rus) Tinkoff Restaurants 120 Peter Stetina (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 121 Christoph Kindle (Ger) Team Aguti 122 Michael Friedman (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 123 ? ? 124 Josue Guttierrez Calzado (Spa) Enypesa Lambea El Mundo 125 Julien Gonnet (Fra) Cotes D’Armor Cyclisme Maître Jacques 126 Markku Ainsalu (Est) Espoir Cycliste Saint Etienne 0.48 127 Juan José Sanchez Munoz (Spa) Enypesa Lambea El Mundo 1.07 128 David Harrigan (Aus) DFL-Cyclingnews 1.55 129 Ruben Perez Perez (Spa) Enypesa Lambea El Mundo 5.07 130 Mattias Westling (Swe) Team Malarenergi 8.17 DNF Luis Martin Perez (Spa) Enypesa Lambea El Mundo DNF Valentin Iglinskiy (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec
