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Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Pays de la Loire - 2.1
France, April 8-11, 2008
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Stage 2b - April 9: Angers - Angers (ITT), 9km
Vande Velde scores Slipstream's first win but misses the overall by one second
Voeckler takes power
By Jean-François Quénet in Angers
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Christian Vande Velde won the individual time trial stage and just missed taking the overall lead by one second. Vande Velde's win was important - the first for his new team Slipstream team after Julian Dean's individual national title in New Zealand in January.
On the 8.3km course, the American preceded French champion Benoît Vaugrenard by an important margin of 10 seconds. Thomas Voeckler assumed the overall lead after he completed the race just 20 seconds behind the American. Going into the stage, the Frenchman had had an advantage of 21 seconds after finishing second in stage one following a long breakaway with Anthony Ravard.
"The yellow jersey has not been played on much at all," Voeckler said. "When I learned the time of [Benoît] Vaugrenard who had the best one at one point, I thought I could maybe get the lead, but I worried as I heard what Vande Velde had done. I kind of believed it was impossible for me to stay within 20 seconds of him. I did a good time trial though."
Time trialing wasn't Voeckler's speciality until he decided to focus on it two years ago. Twice he rode the Chrono des Nations at the end of the season and made the top 10 so he found out that he could perform better on his own than he had thought during his early years as a pro cyclist. Last year he won the Tour de Poitou-Charentes in the same way - battling hard against the clock. "The difference is [that] when I took the lead after the time trial, there was only half a stage to go and I was backed by a team of eight men," he recalled. "Now there are two difficult stages remaining and the Circuit de la Sarthe is contested by teams of six riders. We have a good team but nobody will let us win easily."
Although Slipstream had its first international win to celebrate, the team shared some regret after thinking it may have lost the overall victory in the Circuit de la Sarthe due to a crash with 20 kilometers to go into stage one. That's when Julian Dean had just given the go to his team-mates to chase Voeckler and Ravard. Te team's designated sprinter, Chris Sutton, went down, so the riders stopped their effort.
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"I crashed as well," Vande Velde remembered. "For sure I would have lost less time on Voeckler if that crash didn't take place. Now it's hard to say what's gonna happen in the next two days. With six men per team, it's a very hard race to control. More than tomorrow's stage, I think the last one will be interesting with the steep climb six times on the final circuit."
After coming third in the time trial of the Tour of California and sixth in the same event at the Vuelta Castilla and Leon, Vande Velde finally scored a win. Winning isn't something Vande Velde has become too used to although his reputation as a time trialer is already made. At the age of 32, this is only his third win in eleven professional seasons after the Redlands Classic in 1999 and the Tour of Luxembourg in 2006.
The Slipstream rider was happy that his win happened at the Circuit de la Sarthe. "Here's where I got the first big result of my career in 1999," he recalled. At the time, he was a young team-mate of Lance Armstrong, who won that time trial held in Mulsanne in the Sarthe province on his way to his first Tour de France win. Vande Velde finished fourth then and also fourth overall, finishing in front of Tyler Hamilton in a race won that year by Steffen Kjaergaard from Norway.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Jean-François Quénet / Cyclingnews
- Benoît Vaugrenard (FdJ) had the best time before Christian Vandevelde beat him.
- Rein Taraamae from Estonia is the best young rider after coming 7th in the time trial.
- Thomas Voeckler gained the yellow but just by one second.
- Christian Vande Velde gets Slipstream its first win of the year.
Images by Régis Garnier/www.velofotopro.com
- Ignas Konovalovas (Crédit Agricole) powers along the TT course.
- Stage winner Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream Chipotle - H30) seems to be smiling and happy with his good ride already.
- Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) is not a big fan of time trials.
- Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole) drops his team car after a turn.
Results
1 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 10.00 (53.948 km/h) 2 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.10 3 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 0.12 4 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.14 5 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 0.15 6 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.16 7 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 8 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 9 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 0.19 11 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) Team Volksbank 12 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.20 13 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.23 14 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Astana 0.25 15 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 16 Adriano Angeloni (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 17 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.27 18 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 0.28 19 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 20 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 21 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 0.29 22 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 23 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 24 Matteo Priamo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.30 25 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 26 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 0.31 27 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 28 Cycril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 29 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 30 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 93 31 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 32 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.32 33 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 34 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.33 35 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 36 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93 37 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 38 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.34 39 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 40 Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) Astana 0.35 41 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 42 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 43 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano 44 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 0.37 45 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare 46 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 0.38 47 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.39 48 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 49 Paride Grillo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 50 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 51 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.44 52 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 53 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.45 54 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 55 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 56 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 57 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 0.47 58 Daniel Martin (Irl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 59 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 60 Morgan Chedhomme (Fra) Auber 93 0.48 61 Cédric Pineau (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.49 62 Francesco De Bonis (Ita) Gerolsteiner 0.50 63 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.51 64 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93 0.52 65 Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.53 66 Florian Stalder (Swi) Team Volksbank 67 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.54 68 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 0.55 69 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Astana 0.56 70 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.57 71 Antoine Dalibard (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 0.58 72 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 73 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 0.59 74 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Française des Jeux 75 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 1.00 76 Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana 77 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Volksbank 1.01 78 Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 1.02 79 Sylvain Calzatti (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 80 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.03 81 Patrick Mc Carthy (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 1.04 82 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 1.09 83 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 84 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 85 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 1.10 86 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 1.11 87 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 1.12 88 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 1.13 89 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 1.17 90 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux 1.22 91 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 1.25 92 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 1.27 93 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 1.37 94 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Team Volksbank 1.46 95 Umberto Nardecchia (Ita) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 1.49 96 Jin Long (Chn) Skil-Shimano 2.12 General classification after stage 2b 1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 7.34.12 2 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 0.01 3 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.11 4 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.12 5 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 0.13 6 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 0.16 7 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.17 8 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 9 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 10 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 11 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 0.20 12 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) Team Volksbank 13 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.24 14 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Astana 0.26 15 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 16 Adriano Angeloni (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 17 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.28 18 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 0.29 19 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 20 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 21 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 22 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 0.30 23 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 24 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 25 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.31 26 Matteo Priamo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 27 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 28 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 0.32 29 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 30 Cycril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 31 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 32 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 93 33 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.33 34 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 35 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.34 36 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 37 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93 38 Paride Grillo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 39 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 40 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare 0.35 41 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 42 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 43 Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) Astana 0.36 44 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 45 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 46 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano 47 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.37 48 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 0.38 49 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 0.39 50 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.40 51 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 52 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 0.42 53 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.45 54 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 55 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 56 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.46 57 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 58 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 59 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 0.48 60 Daniel Martin (Irl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 61 Morgan Chedhomme (Fra) Auber 93 0.49 62 Cédric Pineau (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.50 63 Francesco De Bonis (Ita) Gerolsteiner 0.51 64 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.52 65 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93 0.53 66 Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.54 67 Florian Stalder (Swi) Team Volksbank 68 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.55 69 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 70 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Astana 0.57 71 Antoine Dalibard (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 0.59 72 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 73 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 1.00 74 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Française des Jeux 75 Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana 1.01 76 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Volksbank 1.02 77 Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 1.03 78 Sylvain Calzatti (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 79 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.04 80 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 1.10 81 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 82 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 1.11 83 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 84 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 1.12 85 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 1.13 86 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 1.18 87 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux 1.20 88 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 1.26 89 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 1.28 90 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 1.30 91 Umberto Nardecchia (Ita) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 1.50 92 Jin Long (Chn) Skil-Shimano 2.33 93 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Team Volksbank 2.34 94 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 6.38 95 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 10.49 96 Patrick Mc Carthy (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 14.00 Points classification 1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 35 pts 2 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 34 3 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare 28 4 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 26 5 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 25 6 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 20 7 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 17 8 Paride Grillo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 17 9 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 16 10 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux 16 11 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 15 12 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 10 13 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 10 14 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 10 15 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 9 16 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 8 17 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 8 18 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Volksbank 7 19 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 6 20 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6 21 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 6 22 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 5 23 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 5 24 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 5 25 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 5 26 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 4 27 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 4 28 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 3 29 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 2 30 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 2 31 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 1 32 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 1 Mountains classification 1 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 12 pts 2 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 6 3 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 4 4 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2 5 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 1 6 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 1 7 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 1 8 Cycril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 1 U23 classification 1 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 3 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.07 4 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 0.12 5 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 6 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.14 7 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.15 8 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 93 9 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.16 10 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93 0.17 11 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.23 12 Daniel Martin (Irl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 0.31 13 Morgan Chedhomme (Fra) Auber 93 0.32 14 Cédric Pineau (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.33 15 Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.37 16 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Astana 0.40 17 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Française des Jeux 0.43 18 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.53 19 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 1.09 20 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 1.11 21 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 1.13 22 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 6.21 Teams classification 1 Bouygues Telecom 22.43.32 2 Credit Agricole 0.07 3 Cofidis, le Credit Par Telephone 0.11 4 CSF Group Navigare 0.13 5 Astana 0.15 6 Slipstream Chipotle 0.17 7 Agritubel 0.21 8 Française Des Jeux 9 Ceramica Flamina Bossini Docce 0.29 10 Caisse d'Epargne 0.42 11 Gerolsteiner 0.45 12 Skil - Shimano 0.48 13 Bretagne Armor Lux 0.53 14 Team Volksbank 0.56 15 Auber 93 16 AG2R La Mondiale 1.02
