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44th Tour de l'Avenir - 2.Ncup
France, September 6-15, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 3 - September 8: Pipriac - Cholet, 138 km
Vandewalle grabs first win, Mollema takes the lead
By Jean-François Quénet in Cholet
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The Tour de l'Avenir might have found its winner earlier than expected as Dutch climber Bauke Mollema took the lead at the end of a flat stage in Cholet. Even if Mollema loses the yellow jersey after Monday's Time Trial, he's likely to get it back during the hilly stages scheduled for the end of the race in the Massif Central. Some of the event's favourites like Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen have already lost more than six minutes due to the side winds in the west of France.
A breakway of 21 riders took shape as early as two kilometers into today's Stage 3, which started in Pipriac. "I attacked from the gun as every day," Frenchman Yoann Offredo explained. Offredo has a goal of his own for the Nation's Cup event - to impress the Française des Jeux ProTour team enough to sign him for 2008.
Offredo didn't listen too much to the instructions of national coach Bernard Bourreau, who told the French guys to not cooperate in the breakaway. The Parisian desperately wanted a stage win, while fellow Frenchman Guillaume Levarlet saw it as a good opportunity to move up on general classification, as he's supposed to be one of the best climbers in the race.
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Bauke Mollema was another of the strong riders in the breakaway and is now the new race leader, taking over from Stéphane Poulhiès who didn't make the break. It was déjà vu seeing the Dutchman Mollema collect his yellow jersey from the same event organisation that operates the Tour de France. Just like Michael Rasmussen, who lead this year's Tour, Mollema also rides for the Rabobank squad. "This is my first year with the team," he said. "I only started competitive cycling three years ago." The man from Groningen has already proven himself to be a pure climber, having won the extremely hilly Circuito Montanes in Spain and finishing third in the Tour de l'Ain.
The closing stages of the Tour de l'Avenir should suit Mollema well, providing he can make it through the next few stages. "I'm afraid of tomorrow's stage because many things like today can happen," he said.
German Tony Martin, who is only 13 seconds down on general classification, shares the same concerns as Mollema. "I'll try to not lose time tomorrow because I want to do very well in the Time Trial on Monday, I want to qualify for the world championships," declared Martin, who won the Regio Tour's Time Trial as a stagiaire for Gerolsteiner.
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While those riders focus on the coming stages Belgian Kristof Vandewalle is busy celebrating his Stage 3 victory. Vandewalle out sprinted Mollema for victory on the 138 kilometre stage, with a group of 15 riders finishing just two seconds behind the duo. "It was a very long sprint," described Vandewalle. "It started from 600 metres but I only gave full gas with 200 metres to go. To win a stage in such a tour, it's the top! I've had many good places this year but I never caught a major win. This one comes at the right time and I hope that some pro teams will see it."
Vandewalle is now the biggest threat to the Netherlands' team-mates leading the race. While Mollema holds a slim two second lead over countryman Tom Leezer, Vandewalle is just a further second back.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- French eternal attacker Yoann Offredo was frustrated after one more missed win.
- German Tony Martin made the right move and hopes to get the lead on Monday after the Time Trial.
- Norwegian star in the making Edvald Boasson Hagen is highly marked on the roads of the Tour de l'Avenir.
- Stage winner Kristof Vandewalle congratulated the maire of Cholet, Gilles Bourdouleix - who is Christian Prudhomme's brother in law.
- The new race leader is Bock Mollemma of the Netherlands.
- The Netherlands' Bock Mollemma also collected the points jersey in Cholet.
- Italian Dario Caledan is the king of the mountains.
- Kristof Vandewalle says he's looking for a pro contract for 2008.
Results
1 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Belgium 3.04.50 (44.8 km/h) 2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Netherlands 3 Andre Steensen (Den) Denmark 0.02 4 Tom Leezer (Ned) Netherlands 5 Florian Morizot (Fra) France B 6 Thomas Kvist (Den) Denmark 7 Craig Lewis (USA) US National Team 8 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) France A 9 Frederik Wilmann (Nor) Norway 10 Tony Martin (Ger) Germany 11 Yoann Offredo (Fra) France B 12 Benat Intxausti SPA Spain 13 Andriy Suralyov (Ukr) Ukraine 14 Laurent Beuret SWI Switzerland 15 Herberts Pudans (Lat) Latvia 16 Michael Randin SWI Switzerland 17 Christian Meier (Can) Canada 18 Simon Spilak (Slo) Slovenia 0.07 19 Oscar Sanchez (Col) Mixed 20 Sergey Shcherbakov (Rus) Russia 0.09 21 Andreas Frisch (Den) Denmark 0.29 22 Diego Milan SPA Spain 6.37 23 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland 24 Andrey Klyuev (Rus) Russia 25 Joze Senekovic (Slo) Slovenia 26 Martin Kohler SWI Switzerland 27 Haijun Ma (Alg) Mixed 28 Normunds Lasis (Lat) Latvia 29 Alexandr Kilibaev (Kaz) Kazakhstan 30 Marius Kukta LIT Lithuania 31 Chris Barton (USA) US National Team 32 Abdelkader Belmokhtar (Alg) Mixed 33 Bradley Fairall (Can) Canada 34 Ryan Anderson (Can) Canada 35 Christer Rake (Nor) Norway 36 Blaz Jarc (Slo) Slovenia 37 Pawel Wachnik (Pol) Poland 38 Martins Trautmanis (Lat) Latvia 39 Stijn Neirynck (Bel) Belgium 40 Aleksey Kunshin (Rus) Russia 41 Oleg Chuzhda (Ukr) Ukraine 42 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Netherlands 43 Kristofers Racenajs (Lat) Latvia 44 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) Poland 45 Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Latvia 46 Marcos Garcia SPA Spain 47 Rafaa Chtioui (Tun) Mixed 48 Alexandr Shushemoin (Kaz) Kazakhstan 49 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Mixed 50 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Netherlands 51 Mathias Belka (Ger) Germany 52 Lars Boom (Ned) Netherlands 53 Paul Voss (Ger) Germany 54 Gediminas Kaupas LIT Lithuania 55 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Latvia 56 Rui Costa (Por) Portugal 57 Sondre Sortveit (Nor) Norway 58 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Belgium 59 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Netherlands 60 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Russia 61 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Norway 62 Reto Hollenstein SWI Switzerland 63 Dominic Klemme (Ger) Germany 64 Vitor Rodrigues (Por) Portugal 65 Jonas-Aaen Jörgensen (Den) Denmark 66 Javier Aramendia SPA Spain 67 Evaldas Siskevicius LIT Lithuania 68 José Mendes (Por) Portugal 69 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) France A 70 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) France A 71 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Italy 72 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Norway 73 Simon Geschke (Ger) Germany 74 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Kazakhstan 75 Dalivier Ospina (Col) Mixed 76 Adrian Honkisz (Pol) Poland 77 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Italy 78 Kasper Jebjerg (Den) Denmark 79 Nelson Rocha (Por) Portugal 80 Oleh Opryshko (Ukr) Ukraine 81 Ildar Zakirov (Rus) Russia 82 Jose Herrada SPA Spain 83 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Kazakhstan 84 David Veilleux (Can) Canada 85 Marcel Wyss SWI Switzerland 86 Lukasz Modzelewski (Pol) Poland 87 Andrius Buividas LIT Lithuania 88 Mickael Larpe (Fra) France B 89 Jean-Charles Senac (Fra) France A 90 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Belgium 91 Sébastien Fournet Fayard (Fra) France B 92 Nazar Jumabekov (Kaz) Kazakhstan 6.48 93 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) US National Team 94 Claudio Apolo (Por) Portugal 95 Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan 96 Stefan Schafer (Ger) Germany 97 Tomasz Krupinski (Pol) Poland 98 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Belgium 99 Peter Salon (USA) US National Team 100 Volodymyr Landyrev (Ukr) Ukraine 101 Stian Sommerseth (Nor) Norway 102 Kristjan Koren (Slo) Slovenia 103 Gasper Svab (Slo) Slovenia 104 Peter Stetina (USA) US National Team 105 Jakob Bering (Den) Denmark 106 Thomas Peterson (USA) US National Team 107 Thomas Brigaud (Fra) France B 108 Mathieu Deschenaux SWI Switzerland 109 Marco Coledan (Ita) Italy 110 Adriano Malori (Ita) Italy 111 Ignatas Konovalovas LIT Lithuania 112 Dmytro Novosad (Ukr) Ukraine 113 Dries Van Der Ginst (Bel) Belgium 114 Fabio Taborre (Ita) Italy 115 Cyril Bessy (Fra) France B 116 Anthony Roux (Fra) France A 117 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) France A 118 Grega Bole (Slo) Slovenia 119 Keven Lacombe (Can) Canada 7.00 120 Eric Boily (Can) Canada 27.44 Sprints Guemene-Penfao - 24.0 Km 1 Andriy Suralyov (Ukr) Ukraine 3 pts 2 Tom Leezer (Ned) Netherlands 2 3 Thomas Kvist (Den) Denmark 1 Ligne - 69.0 Km 1 Tom Leezer (Ned) Netherlands 3 pts 2 Andriy Suralyov (Ukr) Ukraine 2 3 Oscar Sanchez (Col) Mixed 1 Geste - 109.5 Km 1 Tom Leezer (Ned) Netherlands 3 pts 2 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) France A 2 3 Andriy Suralyov (Ukr) Ukraine 1 Cholet - 138.0 Km 1 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Belgium 30 pts 2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Netherlands 27 3 Andre Steensen (Den) Denmark 25 4 Tom Leezer (Ned) Netherlands 23 5 Florian Morizot (Fra) France B 21 6 Thomas Kvist (Den) Denmark 19 7 Craig Lewis (USA) US National Team 17 8 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) France A 15 9 Frederik Wilmann (Nor) Norway 13 10 Tony Martin (Ger) Germany 11 11 Yoann Offredo (Fra) France B 10 12 Benat Intxausti SPA Spain 9 13 Andriy Suralyov (Ukr) Ukraine 8 14 Laurent Beuret SWI Switzerland 7 15 Herberts Pudans (Lat) Latvia 6 16 Michael Randin SWI Switzerland 5 17 Christian Meier (Can) Canada 4 18 Simon Spilak (Slo) Slovenia 3 19 Oscar Sanchez (Col) Mixed 2 20 Sergey Shcherbakov (Rus) Russia 1 Mountains Côte de Champtoceaux - 86.0 Km 1 Christian Meier (Can) Canada 3 pts 2 Sergey Shcherbakov (Rus) Russia 2 3 Oscar Sanchez (Col) Mixed 1 Teams 1 Denmark 9.15.03 2 Netherlands 6.06 3 Switzerland 6.08 4 France B 5 Belgium 12.41 6 Spain 12.43 7 Latvia 8 Canada 9 Norway 10 Germany 11 Ukraine 12 France A 13 Mixed 12.48 14 Slovenia 15 Russia 12.50 16 US National Team 12.54 17 Poland 19.18 18 Kazakhstan 19 Lithuania 20 Portugal 21 Italy 19.29 General classification after stage 3 1 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Netherlands 10.51.50 2 Tom Leezer (Ned) Netherlands 0.02 3 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Belgium 0.03 4 Andre Steensen (Den) Denmark 0.09 5 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) France A 0.13 6 Tony Martin (Ger) Germany 7 Craig Lewis (USA) US National Team 0.18 8 Christian Meier (Can) Canada 9 Laurent Beuret SWI Switzerland 10 Michael Randin SWI Switzerland 11 Frederik Wilmann (Nor) Norway 12 Simon Spilak (Slo) Slovenia 0.23 13 Thomas Kvist (Den) Denmark 0.26 14 Benat Intxausti SPA Spain 15 Yoann Offredo (Fra) France B 0.31 16 Andreas Frisch (Den) Denmark 1.17 17 Sergey Shcherbakov (Rus) Russia 1.33 18 Florian Morizot (Fra) France B 3.51 19 Aleksey Kunshin (Rus) Russia 5.46 20 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) France A 5.51 21 Marcel Wyss SWI Switzerland 5.52 22 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Latvia 6.06 23 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Netherlands 6.08 24 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Italy 6.29 25 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Russia 6.39 26 Rafaa Chtioui (Tun) Mixed 6.45 27 Andrius Buividas LIT Lithuania 6.48 28 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Netherlands 6.50 29 José Mendes (Por) Portugal 30 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland 6.51 31 Pawel Wachnik (Pol) Poland 6.53 32 Haijun Ma (Alg) Mixed 33 Dominic Klemme (Ger) Germany 34 Oleg Chuzhda (Ukr) Ukraine 35 Alexandr Kilibaev (Kaz) Kazakhstan 36 Nelson Rocha (Por) Portugal 37 Javier Aramendia SPA Spain 38 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Belgium 39 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Norway 40 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) France A 41 Vitor Rodrigues (Por) Portugal 42 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Kazakhstan 43 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Belgium 6.56 44 Ignatas Konovalovas LIT Lithuania 7.01 45 Peter Stetina (USA) US National Team 7.04 46 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) US National Team 47 Gasper Svab (Slo) Slovenia 48 Stian Sommerseth (Nor) Norway 49 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Netherlands 7.05 50 Jose Herrada SPA Spain 51 Simon Geschke (Ger) Germany 52 Diego Milan SPA Spain 7.09 53 Dalivier Ospina (Col) Mixed 7.10 54 Sondre Sortveit (Nor) Norway 55 Rui Costa (Por) Portugal 56 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) France A 57 Jakob Bering (Den) Denmark 7.12 58 Martin Kohler SWI Switzerland 7.14 59 Adrian Honkisz (Pol) Poland 60 Lars Boom (Ned) Netherlands 7.15 61 Dries Van Der Ginst (Bel) Belgium 62 Thomas Peterson (USA) US National Team 7.16 63 Ryan Anderson (Can) Canada 7.17 64 Bradley Fairall (Can) Canada 7.21 65 Abdelkader Belmokhtar (Alg) Mixed 7.22 66 Fabio Taborre (Ita) Italy 7.23 67 Dmytro Novosad (Ukr) Ukraine 7.25 68 Mathias Belka (Ger) Germany 7.26 69 Herberts Pudans (Lat) Latvia 70 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Norway 7.32 71 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Italy 7.33 72 Ildar Zakirov (Rus) Russia 73 Jean-Charles Senac (Fra) France A 74 Sébastien Fournet Fayard (Fra) France B 7.35 75 Andrey Klyuev (Rus) Russia 7.36 76 Evaldas Siskevicius LIT Lithuania 7.38 77 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) Poland 7.39 78 Mickael Larpe (Fra) France B 7.46 79 Reto Hollenstein SWI Switzerland 7.50 80 Marius Kukta LIT Lithuania 7.51 81 Marcos Garcia SPA Spain 82 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Belgium 8.02 83 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Kazakhstan 8.05 84 Christer Rake (Nor) Norway 8.14 85 Normunds Lasis (Lat) Latvia 8.34 86 Nazar Jumabekov (Kaz) Kazakhstan 8.48 87 Jonas-Aaen Jörgensen (Den) Denmark 8.50 88 Volodymyr Landyrev (Ukr) Ukraine 9.06 89 Marco Coledan (Ita) Italy 9.15 90 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Mixed 9.17 91 Lukasz Modzelewski (Pol) Poland 9.49 92 Anthony Roux (Fra) France A 9.58 93 Stijn Neirynck (Bel) Belgium 10.09 94 Adriano Malori (Ita) Italy 10.23 95 Paul Voss (Ger) Germany 10.24 96 David Veilleux (Can) Canada 10.54 97 Cyril Bessy (Fra) France B 10.58 98 Kasper Jebjerg (Den) Denmark 12.02 99 Mathieu Deschenaux SWI Switzerland 12.06 100 Andriy Suralyov (Ukr) Ukraine 12.17 101 Oscar Sanchez (Col) Mixed 12.28 102 Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Latvia 13.34 103 Grega Bole (Slo) Slovenia 13.45 104 Oleh Opryshko (Ukr) Ukraine 13.58 105 Thomas Brigaud (Fra) France B 14.06 106 Tomasz Krupinski (Pol) Poland 14.16 107 Chris Barton (USA) US National Team 14.23 108 Keven Lacombe (Can) Canada 14.28 109 Stefan Schafer (Ger) Germany 14.47 110 Kristofers Racenajs (Lat) Latvia 16.06 111 Blaz Jarc (Slo) Slovenia 16.51 112 Kristjan Koren (Slo) Slovenia 19.23 113 Claudio Apolo (Por) Portugal 20.13 114 Martins Trautmanis (Lat) Latvia 22.22 115 Alexandr Shushemoin (Kaz) Kazakhstan 116 Peter Salon (USA) US National Team 22.46 117 Joze Senekovic (Slo) Slovenia 23.08 118 Gediminas Kaupas LIT Lithuania 26.09 119 Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan 45.34 120 Eric Boily (Can) Canada 1.03.45 Points classification 1 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Netherlands 61 pts 2 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Italy 49 3 Tom Leezer (Ned) Netherlands 49 4 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Belgium 38 5 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Belgium 38 6 Andre Steensen (Den) Denmark 36 7 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) France A 35 8 Rafaa Chtioui (Tun) Mixed 34 9 Aleksey Kunshin (Rus) Russia 32 10 Marcel Wyss SWI Switzerland 27 11 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Netherlands 27 12 Kristjan Koren (Slo) Slovenia 27 13 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) France A 26 14 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Russia 25 15 Tony Martin (Ger) Germany 24 16 Thomas Kvist (Den) Denmark 23 17 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Latvia 22 18 Florian Morizot (Fra) France B 21 19 Andrius Buividas LIT Lithuania 20 20 Craig Lewis (USA) US National Team 17 21 Yoann Offredo (Fra) France B 16 22 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) Poland 15 23 Andriy Suralyov (Ukr) Ukraine 14 24 Frederik Wilmann (Nor) Norway 13 25 Jonas-Aaen Jörgensen (Den) Denmark 13 26 José Mendes (Por) Portugal 12 27 Dominic Klemme (Ger) Germany 10 28 Benat Intxausti SPA Spain 9 29 Nelson Rocha (Por) Portugal 8 30 Keven Lacombe (Can) Canada 8 31 Laurent Beuret SWI Switzerland 7 32 Pawel Wachnik (Pol) Poland 7 33 Herberts Pudans (Lat) Latvia 7 34 Kasper Jebjerg (Den) Denmark 6 35 Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Netherlands 6 36 Lars Boom (Ned) Netherlands 6 37 Michael Randin SWI Switzerland 5 38 Ignatas Konovalovas LIT Lithuania 5 39 Christian Meier (Can) Canada 4 40 Marco Coledan (Ita) Italy 4 41 Simon Spilak (Slo) Slovenia 3 42 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Netherlands 3 43 Oscar Sanchez (Col) Mixed 3 44 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland 2 45 Evaldas Siskevicius LIT Lithuania 2 46 Sergey Shcherbakov (Rus) Russia 1 47 Diego Milan SPA Spain 1 48 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Italy 1 Mountains classification 1 Marco Coledan (Ita) Italy 18 pts 2 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Italy 8 3 Kasper Jebjerg (Den) Denmark 8 4 Marcel Wyss SWI Switzerland 7 5 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Poland 5 6 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) France A 4 7 Christian Meier (Can) Canada 3 8 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Russia 3 9 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) France A 3 10 Kristjan Koren (Slo) Slovenia 3 11 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Netherlands 2 12 Sergey Shcherbakov (Rus) Russia 2 13 Aleksey Kunshin (Rus) Russia 2 14 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Netherlands 2 15 José Mendes (Por) Portugal 2 16 Adrian Honkisz (Pol) Poland 2 17 Herberts Pudans (Lat) Latvia 2 18 Yoann Offredo (Fra) France B 1 19 Andrey Klyuev (Rus) Russia 1 20 Oscar Sanchez (Col) Mixed 1 Team classification 1 Denmark 32.37.06 2 Netherlands 4.32 3 Switzerland 4.52 4 France B 7.26 5 France A 11.27 6 Russia 11.57 7 Belgium 12.15 8 Slovenia 12.23 9 Norway 12.28 10 Germany 12.35 11 US National Team 12.39 12 Mixed 12.42 13 Spain 12.48 14 Canada 12.56 15 Latvia 13.32 16 Ukraine 13.47 17 Poland 18.58 18 Portugal 19.00 19 Lithuania 19.27 20 Italy 20.00 21 Kazakhstan 20.15
