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Tour du Limousin - 2.1
France, August 21-24, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Stage 1 - August 21: Limoges – La Souterraine , 160.8 km
A relief for Philippe Gilbert
By Jean-François Quénet
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Last year's winner of Belgian opening classic Het Volk Philippe Gilbert had been forced to wait for eight months before collecting his first win of the season, but it finally came on stage one in the Tour du Limousin. Gilbert outsprinted Pierrick Fedrigo (Bouygues Telecom), Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne), Clément L'Hôtellerie (Skil-Shimano) and Anthony Charteau (Crédit Agricole).
The Belgian from Française des Jeux had a rough summer: he suffered a virus during the Tour de France, and then was a non-starter in the Pyrénées after a day in hell alone in front of the broom wagon. He recovered well enough to claim the silver medal in the Belgian time trial championship despite a crash in the finale. All of those pains were lifted as he raised his arms in victory, except for one which became apparent during his victory salute. "My shoulder is still painful", he said after winning in La Souterraine.
The day was full of attacks at the beginning of the stage but a group of 19 riders managed to break away. They made a gap of two minutes for themselves but the bunch came close just 15 seconds behind under the action of Bouygues Telecom, who wasn't happy to have only Fedrigo in the lead. As Jérôme Pineau jumped across, the move became 20 riders and coalesced into the move of the day with Fedrigo and Pineau (Bouygues Telecom), L'Hôtellerie (Skil-Shimano), Gilbert, Benoît Vaugrenard, Mickaël Delage and Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux), Charteau, Rémi Pauriol, Alexandre Botcharov and Patrice Halgand (Crédit Agricole), Sylvain Chavanel, Maryan Hary and Romain Villa (Cofidis), Pereiro and Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne), David Le Lay and Yann Pivois (Bretagne-Armor Lux), Stéphane Goubert and Carl Naibo (Ag2r) and also Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel).
"With 18 kilometers to go, six of us went away," Gilbert explained. I was fortunate to have Benoît [time trial French champion Vaugrenard] with me. He did a superb job when he led me out 300 meters from the finishing. It wasn't an easy sprint to win. I felt Pereiro was really strong and Fedrigo is also a fast finisher. But I'm really happy with this win."
Tomorrow is another day. "We've got no plan as for now, Gilbert said. I don't know how possible it is to defend the lead. The course looks pretty tricky." The Tour du Limousin features four stages but no time trial for the 40th edition of the event held in the region of ever popular Raymond Poulidor who remains a local idol at the age of 71.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Régis Garnier/www.velofotopro.com
- The escape is led by Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) and Dimitri Fofonov (Crédit Agricole)
- Gilbert is happy in yellow
- Philippe Gilbert (FdJ) wins stage one
- Bradley Wiggins (Cofidis) was on hand to talk to the press.
Results
1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux 3.49.41 (42.057 km/h) 2 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 3 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 5 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 6 Clément Lhotellerie (Fra) Skil-Shimano 0.05 7 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.36 8 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.38 9 Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 10 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 11 Oliver J. Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 12 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 13 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 0.41 14 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 15 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 16 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 17 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.44 18 Carl Naibo (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 19 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.48 20 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.49 21 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 2.29 22 Romain Villa (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 2.59 23 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 9.58 24 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93 11.23 25 Paul Moucheraud (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 26 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Roubaix Lille Metropole 27 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 28 Maxime Bouet (Fra) French National Team 29 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 30 Jean-Charles Senac (Fra) French National Team 31 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 32 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 33 Benoît Sinner (Fra) Agritubel 34 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) Intel-Action 35 Jean Mespoulede (Fra) Auber 93 36 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Intel-Action 37 Fayard S. Fournet (Fra) French National Team 38 Maxime Mederel (Fra) Auber 93 39 Lukasz Bodnar (Pol) Intel-Action 40 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 41 Denis Robin (Fra) Agritubel 42 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 43 Léo Fortin (Fra) French National Team 44 Peter Stetina (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 45 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 46 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 47 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 48 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 49 Blaise Sonnery (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 50 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française des Jeux 51 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 93 52 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française des Jeux 53 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française des Jeux 54 Junya Sano (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 55 Rémi Cusin (Fra) French National Team 56 Vincent Jerome (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 57 David Deroo (Fra) Skil-Shimano 58 Michael Lange (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 59 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 60 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 61 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 62 Benjamin Johnson (Aus) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 63 Paul Brousse (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 64 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 65 Florian Vachon (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 66 Sebastian Skiba (Pol) Intel-Action 67 Cédric Pineau (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 68 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 69 Benoît Salmon (Fra) Agritubel 70 Eric Berthou (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 71 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 72 Renaud Dion (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 73 Florent Brard (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 74 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 75 Thomas Brigaud (Fra) French National Team 76 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance 77 Brice Feillu (Fra) French National Team 78 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 79 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole 80 Arnaud Lesvenan (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 81 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Crédit Agricole 82 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) Intel-Action 83 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 84 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 85 Tanel Kangert (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 86 Sébastien Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 87 Francesco Bellotti (Ita) Crédit Agricole 88 Anthony Roux (Fra) French National Team 89 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Intel-Action 90 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 91 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 92 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux 93 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 94 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 95 Yasuharu Nakajima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 96 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 97 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 98 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 28.30 99 Kazuo Inoue (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 100 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Auber 93 33.26 101 Kilian Patour (Fra) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 102 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 103 Samuel Plouhinec (Fra) Agritubel 104 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 105 Fang Xu (Chn) Skil-Shimano 106 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 107 Alex Howes (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 108 Jin Long (Chn) Skil-Shimano 33.30 DNF Antoine Dalibard (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux DNF Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux DNF Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 DNF Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 DNF Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 93 DNF Frédéric Finot (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole DNF Steven Tronet (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole DNF Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil-Shimano DNF Marcin Osinski (Pol) Intel-Action DNF Francois Parisien (Can) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle DNS Bartosz Huzarski (Pol) Intel-Action General Classification after Stage 1 1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux 3.49.26 2 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.09 3 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.11 4 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.15 5 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 6 Clément Lhotellerie (Fra) Skil-Shimano 0.20 7 Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.45 8 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.51 9 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 10 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.53 11 Oliver J. Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 12 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 13 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 0.56 14 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 15 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 16 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 17 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.59 18 Carl Naibo (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 19 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.03 20 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.04 21 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 2.44 22 Romain Villa (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 3.11 23 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 10.13 24 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93 11.38 25 Paul Moucheraud (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 26 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Roubaix Lille Metropole 27 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 28 Maxime Bouet (Fra) French National Team 29 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 30 Jean-Charles Senac (Fra) French National Team 31 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 32 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 33 Benoît Sinner (Fra) Agritubel 34 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) Intel-Action 35 Jean Mespoulede (Fra) Auber 93 36 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Intel-Action 37 Fayard S. Fournet (Fra) French National Team 38 Maxime Mederel (Fra) Auber 93 39 Lukasz Bodnar (Pol) Intel-Action 40 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 41 Denis Robin (Fra) Agritubel 42 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 43 Léo Fortin (Fra) French National Team 44 Peter Stetina (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 45 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 46 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 47 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 48 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 49 Blaise Sonnery (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 50 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française des Jeux 51 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 93 52 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française des Jeux 53 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française des Jeux 54 Junya Sano (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 55 Rémi Cusin (Fra) French National Team 56 Vincent Jerome (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 57 David Deroo (Fra) Skil-Shimano 58 Michael Lange (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 59 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 60 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 61 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 62 Benjamin Johnson (Aus) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 63 Paul Brousse (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 64 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 65 Florian Vachon (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 66 Sebastian Skiba (Pol) Intel-Action 67 Cédric Pineau (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 68 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 69 Benoît Salmon (Fra) Agritubel 70 Eric Berthou (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 71 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 72 Renaud Dion (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 73 Florent Brard (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 74 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 75 Thomas Brigaud (Fra) French National Team 76 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance 77 Brice Feillu (Fra) French National Team 78 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 79 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole 80 Arnaud Lesvenan (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 81 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Crédit Agricole 82 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) Intel-Action 83 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 84 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 85 Tanel Kangert (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 86 Sébastien Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 87 Francesco Bellotti (Ita) Crédit Agricole 88 Anthony Roux (Fra) French National Team 89 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Intel-Action 90 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 91 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 92 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux 93 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 94 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 95 Yasuharu Nakajima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 96 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 97 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 98 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 28.45 99 Kazuo Inoue (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 100 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Auber 93 33.41 101 Kilian Patour (Fra) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 102 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation-Meitan Honpo Co LTD-Asada 103 Samuel Plouhinec (Fra) Agritubel 104 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 105 Fang Xu (Chn) Skil-Shimano 106 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 107 Alex Howes (USA) Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle 108 Jin Long (Chn) Skil-Shimano 33.45
