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Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Pays de la Loire - 2.1
France, April 8-11, 2008
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 3 - April 10: Angers - Fresnay-sur-Sarthe, 186.5km
Khalilov confirms success in GP Rennes
Voeckler increases his lead with style
By Jean-François Quénet
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Thomas Voeckler has increased his lead in the Circuit de la Sarthe with capturing three seconds bonus en route toward the "Alpes mancelles," the small hills in the north of the Sarthe province. Stage 4 finished in a bunch sprint won by Flaminia's Mikhaylo Khalilov who confirmed his good condition after winning the GP de Rennes on Sunday.
The 33 years old Ukrainian only had three wins on his record book since he turned pro with Selle Italia in 2000. That includes a national title in 2005 and he has added two more in a period of four days in the west of France.
"This stage ending really suited my characteristics," Khalilov explained. "After the re-grouping, I anticipated the bunch sprint 500 metres before the line. As it was uphill, I knew at 100 metres that nobody would catch me."
Freddy Bichot from Agritubel was the last of the four breakaway riders to get caught near the end. Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne), Marcus Zberg (Gerolsteiner) and Maurizio Biondo (Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce) were with him for most of the stage. When the Frenchman took the last intermediate sprint, he was followed by race leader Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) who jumped away from the bunch for getting two more seconds bonus, which made a total of three after he came third in the first hot spot sprint of the day. He now enjoys a four seconds lead over Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream Chipotle - H30).
"It's common to thank our team-mates, but today mines deserve even more praises than helpers usually do," Voeckler commented. "The wind has made the early part of the race very difficult for us. Also the guys away were definitely not average ones. They were doing very well."
Voeckler noticed during the stage that some of his rivals haven't given up the idea of dethroning him on the last day with the famous climb of Gazonfier to be done six times in Le Mans. "It would be a great satisfaction for me to win the Circuit de la Sarthe," Voeckler said. "I'm confident because my legs are good these days, but I'm not serene since many things can happen. 70 riders are still within one minute. I hope that my team-mates will have recovered from today's efforts. But at the difference of today, there won't be sprinters' team like CSF, Agritubel, Slipstream and Volksbank prepared to help us in the final 30 kilometres."
It's going to be a very spectacular finale watched by many fans always ready to cheer for Voeckler since they fell in love with his riding style during the 2004 Tour de France.
How it unfolded
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Vladimir Gusev (Astana) was a non-starter in Angers as he still felt pain since his crash at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. The Slipstream team of runner up Christian Vande Velde was prompt to catch the first attackers of the day: local hero Freddy Bichot (Agritubel), Cyrille Lemoine (Crédit Agricole), Ji Cheng (Skil-Shimano) and Vladimir Duma (Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce).
Tony Gallopin, who is a neo-pro with Auber 93, aged 20, but also the nephew of Astana's directeur sportif Alain Gallopin, went away with Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne). The duo went away at kilometre 16 but didn't have more luck than the first four men in action.
At the intermediate sprint of kilometre 52, Thomas Voeckler finished third behind Tiziano Dall'Antonia and Pierre Rolland. He increased his lead on GC by one second. The sprint was followed by an attack from Pereiro again, and also Marcus Zberg (Gerolsteiner). Sébastien Duret (Bretagne-Armor Lux) tried to join them, but he was victim of the hard chase by Bouygues Telecom. Maurizio Biondo (Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce) and Bichot were luckier as they rejoined Zberg and Pereiro at kilometre 61.
The four men had two minutes lead at kilometre 82 with Biondo being the highest placed just 23 seconds behind Voeckler on GC. The gap went up to 3'25" at kilometre 133. With less than one minute lead remaining, Biondo attacked at kilometre 173. Five kilometres further, it was Bichot alone in the front while Pereiro got caught by the peloton.
The bunch was all together with three kilometres to go and a very active Agritubel team in the head. But Flaminia's Mikhaylo Khalilov won the bunch sprint in front of Maximiliano Richeze (CSF Group Navigare) and Lilian Jégou (Française des Jeux), while Voeckler comfortably kept the yellow jersey.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Régis Garnier/www.velofotopro.com
- Freddy Bichot (Agritubel) grits his teeth as he is the last breakaway rider still ahead of the peloton. All gritting didn't help, though, and he got caught, too.
- Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) was able to quadruple his lead in the GC and is now a staggering four seconds ahead of US American Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream Chipotle - H30)
Results
1 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 4.27.00 (41.91 km/h) 2 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare 3 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 4 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 5 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 6 Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 7 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 8 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 9 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 10 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano 11 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 12 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 13 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 14 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 15 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 16 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 17 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 18 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Volksbank 19 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 20 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 21 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 22 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 23 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 24 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 25 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) Team Volksbank 26 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 27 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 28 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 29 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 30 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 31 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 32 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 33 Matteo Priamo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 34 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 35 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 36 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 37 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 38 Cédric Pineau (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 39 Adriano Angeloni (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 40 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 41 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 42 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 43 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 44 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 45 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 46 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 47 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93 48 Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana 49 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 50 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 51 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Française des Jeux 52 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 53 Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) Astana 54 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 55 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 56 Morgan Chedhomme (Fra) Auber 93 57 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 58 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 59 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia Bossini Doce 60 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 61 Antoine Dalibard (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 62 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 63 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 64 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Astana 65 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 66 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93 67 Florian Stalder (Swi) Team Volksbank 68 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux 0.20 69 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.32 70 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 71 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 72 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 73 Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 74 Umberto Nardecchia (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia Bossini Doce 75 Cycril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 76 Paride Grillo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 1.01 77 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Team Volksbank 78 Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 79 Francesco De Bonis (Ita) Gerolsteiner 80 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 81 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 82 Jonathan Patrick Mc Carty (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 83 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 1.15 84 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 1.28 85 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 86 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 1.47 87 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 88 Daniel Martin (Irl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 6.38 89 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 90 Jin Long (Chn) Skil-Shimano 8.16 91 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 10.01 92 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 93 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom DNF Anthony Charteau (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne DNF Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 93 DNF Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Astana General classification after stage 3 1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 12.01.09 2 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 0.04 3 Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.11 4 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.14 5 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 0.16 6 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.18 7 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 0.19 8 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.20 9 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 10 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 11 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 0.23 12 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 13 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) Team Volksbank 14 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.27 15 Adriano Angeloni (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 0.29 16 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 17 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.31 18 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 0.32 19 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 20 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare 21 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 22 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 0.33 23 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 24 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.34 25 Matteo Priamo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 26 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 27 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia Bossini Doce 0.35 28 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 29 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.36 30 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 31 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.37 32 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 33 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93 34 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 35 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.38 36 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 37 Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) Astana 0.39 38 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 39 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano 40 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.40 41 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 0.41 42 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.43 43 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 44 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 0.45 45 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 0.48 46 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 0.49 47 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 48 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 0.51 49 Morgan Chedhomme (Fra) Auber 93 0.52 50 Cédric Pineau (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.53 51 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93 0.56 52 Florian Stalder (Swi) Team Volksbank 0.57 53 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.58 54 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Astana 1.00 55 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 1.01 56 Antoine Dalibard (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 1.02 57 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.03 58 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Française des Jeux 59 Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana 1.04 60 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Volksbank 1.05 61 Cycril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 1.07 62 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1.10 63 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 1.13 64 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 65 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 1.14 66 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 1.15 67 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 1.21 68 Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 1.29 69 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 1.31 70 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 1.33 71 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 1.38 72 Paride Grillo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 73 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux 1.43 74 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.49 75 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 76 Francesco De Bonis (Ita) Gerolsteiner 1.55 77 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 2.01 78 Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 2.07 79 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 2.15 80 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 2.22 81 Umberto Nardecchia (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia Bossini Doce 2.25 82 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 2.27 83 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2.30 84 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 2.42 85 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Team Volksbank 3.38 86 Daniel Martin (Irl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 7.29 87 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 10.50 88 Jin Long (Chn) Skil-Shimano 10.52 89 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 90 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 10.56 91 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 10.59 92 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 13.19 93 Jonathan Patrick Mc Carty (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 15.04 Points classification 1 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare 48 pts 2 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 39 3 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 38 4 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 34 5 Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 31 6 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 30 7 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 25 8 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 23 9 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 20 10 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 20 11 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 17 12 Paride Grillo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 17 13 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 16 14 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 14 15 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 14 16 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 13 17 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 12 18 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 10 19 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 10 20 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 8 21 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 8 22 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 7 23 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 7 24 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Volksbank 7 25 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 6 26 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano 6 27 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux 6 28 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6 29 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 5 30 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 5 31 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 5 32 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 5 33 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 4 34 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 3 35 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 3 36 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 1 37 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1 38 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 1 Mountains classification 1 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 26 pts 2 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 18 3 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 16 4 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 13 5 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 12 6 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 6 7 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 4 8 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2 9 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 2 10 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 1 11 Cycril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 1 12 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 1 13 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1 U23 classification 1 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 2 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.02 3 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.09 4 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 0.14 5 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 6 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.16 7 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.18 8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93 0.19 9 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.25 10 Morgan Chedhomme (Fra) Auber 93 0.34 11 Cédric Pineau (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.35 12 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Astana 0.42 13 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Française des Jeux 0.45 14 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.55 15 Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 1.11 16 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 1.13 17 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 1.15 18 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 1.43 19 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 2.04 20 Daniel Martin (Irl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 7.11 21 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 13.01 Teams classification 1 Bouygues Telecom 36.04.32 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 Francaise Des Jeux 9 Ceramica Flaminia Bossini Doce 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 Lmondiale 1.02
