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55th Circuit de la Sarthe - 2.1
France, April 10-13, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Stage 1 - April 10: La Roche-sur-Yon - Riaillé, 190.90 km
Angelo Furlan scores for Crédit Agricole
By Jean-François Quénet in Riaillé
Angelo Furlan, a double stage winner in the 2002 Tour of Spain under the colors of Alessio, relaunched his career with Crédit Agricole; today, he gave his new French team a second win this year. Earlier this season, he won the opening stage of the Étoile de Bessèges.
"It was a nice day at home under the sun," said Lilian Jégou who stayed away for more than 100 kilometers with Anthony Ravard (Agritubel). The Française des Jeux rider who broke his wrist in a crash during Le Tour de Langkawi in February is giving his season a re-start. "I remembered that some years ago an unexpected breakaway on day one worked out and made Carlos Da Cruz a final winner," Jégou said about when he managed to break clear.
Together with Ravard, they entered the province of Loire-Atlantique, from where they both hail, with a few minutes advantage on the peloton. "We enjoyed it," Jégou added. "We had a lot of fans but we knew that we wouldn't decide whether we'd make it 'til the end or not, it was the decision of the bunch. They got well organized behind and we were facing too much of head wind for staying away."
It was a pretty standard scenario with an Italian win in a bunch sprint, but Furlan brought high the colors of his French sponsor Crédit Agricole. "It was my dream to win with this jersey, he said in a perfect French. I knew there were only two stages for sprinters. But at the beginning, I felt sick. I could hardly breathe. We've had many sick riders in our team and I'm afraid someone has passed it onto me. The doctor gave me something for my throat and sweating on the bike helped me to get better as well."
It was an uphill finish, nothing that would have exactly boosted Furlan's morale. "All of my wins were on the flats before," he said. As the riders crossed the finishing line once before the end, he knew the terrain, and he even decided that he'd sprint on the right side. He ended up sprinting on the left because the Panaria train occupied the part of the road that everyone targeted due to the direction of the wind.
"I say a big thank you to my friend Pietro Caucchioli who made me join Crédit Agricole," Furlan said. "Now I am in a super team with super legs." After a few seasons without many successes - only the Coppa Bernocchi in 2004 - the 30-year-old rode for Selle Italia last year and found a place in the French squad because nowadays, the ProTour makes them race a lot in Italy.
Since he signed for the "green bank," a change has occurred. Thor Hushovd has decided to ride the Tour of Italy and he will probably not finish it because the Dauphiné is also on his program. "I'll go to the Giro as his lead out man and I hope to have a chance to play my own cards in the second or third week," Furlan said.
The man from Vicenza also targets Stage 2 of Circuit de la Sarthe which will finish on Thursday morning in Angers before the afternoon time trial. After that, he'll head to Paris-Roubaix for giving a first hand to Hushovd, hoping that the Norwegian will be totally healthy again for the Hell of the North.
How it unfolded
Sixteen men broke clear early in the stage: Matthieu Ladagnous (Française des Jeux), Stéphane Augé and Rik Verbrugghe (Cofidis), Simon Gerrans (Ag2r), Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole), Johannes Frohlinger (Gerolsteiner), Maxim Gourov (Astana), Michael Albasini (Liquigas), Olivier Bonnaire and Nicolas Crosbie (Bouygues Telecom), Fabien Bacquet and Yukihiro Doi (Skil-Shimano), Vladimir Duma (Flaminia), Sébastien Duret (Bretagne-Armor Lux), Maxime Médérel (Auber 93) and Frédéric Finot (VC Roubaix).
Agritubel and Panaria, who had missed the break, chased hard and caught them after 30km into the race. 47km were covered in the first hour! At 60km, Anthony Ravard (Agritubel) and Lilian Jégou (Française des Jeux) rode away. They reached a maximum lead of 10 minutes 30 seconds in Montrevault at 90km.
Gerolsteiner, Ag2r, Panaria and Crédit Agricole got organized in pursuit of the two local boys who ended their day out with 17km to go. Torsten Hieckmann (Gerolsteiner) tried a solo effort in the last 10km, but a bunch sprint was a natural end, with a win by Angelo Furlan (Crédit Agricole) ahead of Robert Förster (Gerolsteiner).
Results
1 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 4.30.42 2 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 3 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 4 Mikel Gaztañaga Echeverria (Spa) Agritubel 5 Andrus Aug (Est) Ceramica Flaminia 6 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 7 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 8 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 9 Adam Wadecki (Pol) Ceramica Flaminia 10 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 11 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 12 Steven Tronet (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 13 Chris Sutton (Aus) Cofidis 14 Steve Chainel (Fra) Auber 15 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 16 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Française Des Jeux 17 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Ag2r Prévoyance 18 Jeremie Galland (Fra) Auber 19 Maxim Gourov (Kaz) Astana 20 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 21 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Liquigas 22 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 23 Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 24 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil-Shimano 25 José Alberto Martínez (Spa) Agritubel 26 Steven Cozza (USA) Slipstream-Chipotle 27 Johan Lindgren (Swe) Française Des Jeux 28 William Frischkorn (USA) Slipstream-Chipotle 29 Piotr Zielinski (Pol) Bretagne-Armor Lux 30 Gianluca Geremia (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia 31 Olivier Bonnaire (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 32 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 33 Taylor Tolleson (USA) Slipstream-Chipotle 34 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 35 Julien Loubet (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 36 David Derepas (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 37 Damien Monier (Fra) Cofidis 38 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 39 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 40 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) Astana 41 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 42 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 43 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 44 Anthony Colin (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 45 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream-Chipotle 46 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 47 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 48 Stefano Boggia (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia 49 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 50 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis 51 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia 52 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 53 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Française Des Jeux 54 Christophe Kern (Fra) Crédit Agricole 55 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française Des Jeux 56 Matej Mugerli (Slo) Liquigas 57 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 58 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 59 Christoph Meschenmoser (Ger) Skil-Shimano 60 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 61 Huub Duyn (Ned) Slipstream-Chipotle 62 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 63 Johannes Frohlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 64 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 65 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 66 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française Des Jeux 67 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis 68 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Astana 69 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Astana 70 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 71 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française Des Jeux 72 Noan Lelarge (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 73 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 74 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 75 Dimitri Champion (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 76 Stéphane Pétilleau (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 77 Philip Deignan (Irl) Ag2r Prévoyance 78 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 79 Paul Brousse (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 80 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia 81 Christian Müller (Ger) Skil-Shimano 82 Tyler Butterfield (Ber) Slipstream-Chipotle 83 Filippo Savini (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 84 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis 85 Maxime Médérel (Fra) Auber 86 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Cofidis 87 Julien Belgy (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 88 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 89 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Crédit Agricole 90 Marcel Strauss (Swi) Gerolsteiner 91 Torsten Hiekmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 92 Nicolas Crosbie (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.36 93 Matteo Priamo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 0.43 94 Antonio Bucciero (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 0.52 Points 1 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 25 pts 2 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 20 3 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 16 4 Mikel Gaztañaga Echeverria (Spa) Agritubel 14 5 Andrus Aug (Est) Ceramica Flaminia 12 6 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream-Chipotle 11 7 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 10 8 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 9 9 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 8 10 Adam Wadecki (Pol) Ceramica Flaminia 7 11 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française Des Jeux 6 12 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 6 13 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française Des Jeux 5 14 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 5 15 Steven Tronet (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 4 16 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 3 17 Chris Sutton (Aus) Cofidis 3 18 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis 2 19 Steve Chainel (Fra) Auber 2 20 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 1 Mountains 1 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 12 pts 2 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française Des Jeux 8 3 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia 4 4 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil-Shimano 4 5 Dimitri Champion (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 3 6 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) Astana 2 Young rider 1 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française Des Jeux 4.30.38 2 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 0.04 3 Steven Tronet (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 4 Chris Sutton (Aus) Cofidis 5 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 7 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 8 Steven Cozza (USA) Slipstream-Chipotle 9 Johan Lindgren (Swe) Française Des Jeux 10 Piotr Zielinski (Pol) Bretagne-Armor Lux 11 Taylor Tolleson (USA) Slipstream-Chipotle 12 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 13 Julien Loubet (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 14 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 15 Anthony Colin (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 16 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 17 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Française Des Jeux 18 Huub Duyn (Ned) Slipstream-Chipotle 19 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 20 Johannes Frohlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 21 Filippo Savini (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 22 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Crédit Agricole Teams 1 Skil-Shimano 13.32.06 2 Ceramica Flaminia 3 Ag2r Prévoyance 4 Roubaix Lille Metropole 5 Bouygues Telecom 6 Auber 7 Crédit Agricole 8 Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 9 Gerolsteiner 10 Agritubel 11 Slipstream-Chipotle 12 Astana 13 Française Des Jeux 14 Liquigas 15 Cofidis 16 Bretagne-Armor General classification after stage 1 1 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 2 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream-Chipotle 0.03 3 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.04 4 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 0.06 5 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française Des Jeux 6 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française Des Jeux 0.07 7 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 0.08 8 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis 9 Mikel Gaztañaga Echeverria (Spa) Agritubel 0.10 10 Andrus Aug (Est) Ceramica Flaminia 11 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 12 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 13 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 14 Adam Wadecki (Pol) Ceramica Flaminia 15 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 16 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 17 Steven Tronet (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 18 Chris Sutton (Aus) Cofidis 19 Steve Chainel (Fra) Auber 20 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 21 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Française Des Jeux 22 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Ag2r Prévoyance 23 Jeremie Galland (Fra) Auber 24 Maxim Gourov (Kaz) Astana 25 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 26 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Liquigas 27 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 28 Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 29 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil-Shimano 30 José Alberto Martínez (Spa) Agritubel 31 Steven Cozza (USA) Slipstream-Chipotle 32 Johan Lindgren (Swe) Française Des Jeux 33 William Frischkorn (USA) Slipstream-Chipotle 34 Piotr Zielinski (Pol) Bretagne-Armor Lux 35 Gianluca Geremia (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia 36 Olivier Bonnaire (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 37 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 38 Taylor Tolleson (USA) Slipstream-Chipotle 39 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 40 Julien Loubet (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 41 David Derepas (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 42 Damien Monier (Fra) Cofidis 43 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 44 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 45 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) Astana 46 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 47 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 48 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 49 Anthony Colin (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 50 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 51 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 52 Stefano Boggia (Ita) Ceramica Flaminia 53 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 54 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis 55 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia 56 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 57 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Française Des Jeux 58 Christophe Kern (Fra) Crédit Agricole 59 Matej Mugerli (Slo) Liquigas 60 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 61 Christoph Meschenmoser (Ger) Skil-Shimano 62 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 63 Huub Duyn (Ned) Slipstream-Chipotle 64 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 65 Johannes Frohlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 66 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel 67 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 68 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Astana 69 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Astana 70 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 71 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française Des Jeux 72 Noan Lelarge (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 73 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 74 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil-Shimano 75 Dimitri Champion (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 76 Stéphane Pétilleau (Fra) Bretagne-Armor Lux 77 Philip Deignan (Irl) Ag2r Prévoyance 78 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 79 Paul Brousse (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 80 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia 81 Christian Müller (Ger) Skil-Shimano 82 Tyler Butterfield (Ber) Slipstream-Chipotle 83 Filippo Savini (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 84 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis 85 Maxime Médérel (Fra) Auber 86 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Cofidis 87 Julien Belgy (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 88 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 89 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Crédit Agricole 90 Marcel Strauss (Swi) Gerolsteiner 91 Torsten Hiekmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 92 Nicolas Crosbie (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.46 93 Matteo Priamo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 0.53 94 Antonio Bucciero (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 1.02
