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Tour du Limousin - 2.1
France, August 21-24, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage
Stage 4 - August 24: Rochechouart – Limoges , 184.8 km
Fedrigo scores second overall win
By Jean-François Quénet in Limoges, France
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Bouygues Telecom's Pierrick Fedrigo has become the third Frenchman to win the Tour du Limousin twice, having emulated the success of Bernard Hinault (1976 and 1977) and Patrice Halgand (2000 and 2002). Unlike last year, where Fredrigo lost the race by a second on the final stage to Colombian Leonardo Duque, the Frenchman has maintained his six second margin over strong challenger Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) to repeat his 2004 victory.
"I'm always motivated when I come to this race," Fedrigo said. "It's a big satisfaction to win it again and it's my first win of the year. I was kind of sick of getting second or third placing - it's a relief to be a winner again. I've proven to be able to win again. Pereiro has tried to beat me but I stayed focus and I never lost his wheel."
Bouygues Telecom's tactic consisted in letting a breakaway go early. Seven riders attacked after 15 kilometres on the first hill of the day - Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel), Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo-Meitan), Paul Moucheraud (Ag2r), Florian Vachon (Roubaix), Jean Mespoulède (Auber 93) and Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne).
Best young rider Clément L'Hotellerie had been left with very little support from his Skil-Shimano team, with most of the Asian riders having pulled out already, but scored a break when Fedrigo and the other main general classification contenders decided to stop and answer the call of the nature. The rider's jersey have been under threat due to the high tempo set early on and had the main guys not stopped the French cyclo-crosser would have never made it across to the bunch after being dropped early on.
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The seven men reached a maximum lead of just over six minutes. On the final circuit in Limoges, the front group split up as Chavanel attacked with Jalabert. Only Arashiro and Rojas made it across, then Arashiro and Jalabert attacked with 15 kilometres remaining while the remaining riders were caught by the Caisse d'Epargne-led bunch. The Spanish squad was pushing hard on the front of the bunch, preparing for one final shot at the general classification victory with its main man Oscar Pereiro.
Jalabert managed to shake Arashiro with only four kilometres to go. The young Japanese rider, who ran third overall last year, was disappointed but still smiling at the end. "I wanted to win this stage badly," said the Japanese national champion.
Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins (Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone) tried a solo attack from the bunch but his efforts were foiled as the stage wound up in a bunch sprint won by Alexandre Usov (Ag2r Prévoyance). The Belarus rider hadn't won a stage in nearly two years, with his last victory the Hessen Rundfahrt's final stage in Germany. "I've been afraid to not be able to sprint for the win," Usov confessed. "There were attacks on the right and on the left side of the road. With 200 metres to go I managed to get out of the box and pass Rodriguez, Feillu and Fofonov. Now I'm going to ride the Vuelta. I believe it's not impossible to beat Petacchi or Boonen in a sprint, it depends on how it goes, at least this win gives me confidence before going to Spain."
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Before the final bunch sprint, Caisse d'Epargne had put Bouygues Telecom under pressure with attacks from Xavier Zandio and Joaquin Rodriguez. "We have done anything we could, so Fedrigo deserves his win, he's a very good rider," Pereiro commented.
The second placed Spaniard had no regrets but France's third placed Anthony Charteau (Crédit Agricole) was bitter at the end. "I came to this race just with the idea of re-starting after the Tour de France and the Clasica San Sebastian," the Tour de Langkawi winner said. "I didn't think I had the level for doing something good but I was wrong. Then I thought I was happy with third place overall but now I regret that I didn't take more initiatives for trying and win because I believe it was possible."
Charteau is still on form after working hard at the Tour de France and he's hoping for a spot in the French National Team for the World Championship. Fedrigo also hopes to stay at the top for the world's in Stuttgart, Germany at the end of September.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Régis Garnier/www.velofotopro.com
- Alexandre Usov (AG2R Prévoyance) won the Tour's final stage, the 184.8 kilometre Stage 4.
- Pierrick Fédrigo (Bouygues Telecom) held on to win the Tour du Limousin 2007 by six seconds from Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne).
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- Ji Cheng (Skil - Shimano) was the only Chinese rider to contest the Tour du Limousin.
- King of the Mountains Sébastien Duret (Bretagne - Armor Lux) in front of the famous castle of Rochechouart.
- Spanish champion Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne) was ready to help team-mate Oscar Pereiro for the win.
- Japanese national champion Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada) had a great race again but missed out on a stage win.
- A French escort of Caisse d'Epargne riders formed on the closing circuits, including Mathieu Perget, Florent Brard and Eric Berthou for second placed Oscar Pereiro.
- Alexandre Usov (Ag2r Prévoyance) after his success in Limoges.
- No win but big kisses for second placed Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) in France.
Results
1 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance 4.26.40 2 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 4 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 5 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 6 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 7 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 8 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 9 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 10 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 11 Rémi Cusin (Fra) French National Team 12 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Crédit Agricole 13 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 14 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Intel - Action 15 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 16 Cédric Pineau (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 17 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 18 Anthony Roux (Fra) French National Team 19 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 20 Michael Lange (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 21 Léo Fortin (Fra) French National Team 22 Denis Robin (Fra) Agritubel 23 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 24 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole 25 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 26 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 27 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 28 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 29 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 30 Sébastien Fournet Fayard (Fra) French National Team 31 Clément Lhotellerie (Fra) Skil - Shimano 0.07 32 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 33 Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 34 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 35 Thomas Brigaud (Fra) French National Team 0.19 36 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 0.21 37 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 0.23 38 Peter Stetina (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 0.28 39 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.32 40 Romain Villa (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.33 41 Maxime Méderel (Fra) Auber 0.37 42 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 43 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 0.51 44 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 45 Brice Feillu (Fra) French National Team 46 Tanel Kangert (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 1.05 47 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 1.11 48 David Deroo (Fra) Skil - Shimano 1.19 49 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1.58 50 Renaud Dion (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 2.37 51 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 2.48 52 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 2.55 53 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 3.05 54 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 3.49 55 Carl Naïbo (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 4.08 56 Benoît Sinner (Fra) Agritubel 57 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) Intel - Action 58 Jean-Charles Senac (Fra) French National Team 59 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 60 Kazuki Inoue (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 61 Paul Brousse (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 4.08 62 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 63 Benjamin Johnson (Aus) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 5.31 64 Paul Moucheraud (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 9.18 65 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 66 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Bouygues Telecom DNF Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone DNF Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom DNF Vincent Jérôme (Fra) Bouygues Telecom DNF Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom DNF Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada DNF Yasuharu Nakajima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada DNF Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux DNF Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux DNF Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française des Jeux DNF Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Auber DNF Jean Mespoulède (Fra) Auber DNF Samuel Plouhinec (Fra) Agritubel DNF Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole DNF Eric Berthou (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne DNF Florent Brard (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne DNF Sébastien Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne DNF Arnaud Lesvenan (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole DNF Florian Vachon (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole DNF Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil - Shimano DNF Lukasz Bodnar (Pol) Intel - Action DNF Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Intel - Action DNF Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) Intel - Action DNF Blaise Sonnery (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance DNF Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole Points Oradour-sur-Glane 1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 3 pts 2 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 2 3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1 Limoges 1 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 3 pts 2 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2 3 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 1 Limoges 1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 3 pts 2 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 2 3 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 1 Mountains Côte du Puy de Mallet 1 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4 pts 2 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 2 3 Paul Moucheraud (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 1 Côte de Peyrelade 1 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4 pts 2 Paul Moucheraud (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 2 3 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 1 Côte de Saint-Sauveur 1 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 6 pts 2 Paul Moucheraud (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 4 3 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2 4 Jean Mespoulède (Fra) Auber 1 Teams 1 Caisse d'Epargne 13.20.00 2 Bretagne Armor Lux 3 Credit Agricole 4 Equipe De France 5 Agritubel 6 Bouygues Telecom 7 Cofidis-Le Credit Par Telephone 0.07 8 Auber 93 0.37 9 Francaise Des Jeux 0.39 10 Ag2R Prevoyance 0.51 11 Nippo Corporation 4.20 12 Team Slipstream 5.59 13 Roubaix Lille Metropole 7.57 Final General Classification 1 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 17.59.57 2 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.06 3 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.27 4 Clément Lhotellerie (Fra) Skil - Shimano 0.41 5 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.55 6 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 1.03 7 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.05 8 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 1.12 9 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 1.15 10 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.27 11 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 1.32 12 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 1.36 13 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 5.17 14 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 5.33 15 Romain Villa (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 7.19 16 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 7.49 17 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 8.16 18 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 8.19 19 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 9.01 20 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 10.16 21 Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 11.40 22 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 11.49 23 Michael Lange (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 11.57 24 Cédric Pineau (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 12.00 25 Denis Robin (Fra) Agritubel 12.04 26 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole 27 Rémi Cusin (Fra) French National Team 12.09 28 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Intel - Action 12.12 29 Sébastien Fournet Fayard (Fra) French National Team 12.14 30 Maxime Méderel (Fra) Auber 12.51 31 Tanel Kangert (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 13.02 32 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 13.31 33 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 13.49 34 Anthony Roux (Fra) French National Team 15.00 35 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 36 Carl Naïbo (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 15.04 37 Thomas Brigaud (Fra) French National Team 15.06 38 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance 15.34 39 David Deroo (Fra) Skil - Shimano 16.00 40 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 16.35 41 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 16.39 42 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 16.53 43 Paul Brousse (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 18.49 44 Benoît Sinner (Fra) Agritubel 19.31 45 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 19.56 46 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Crédit Agricole 20.50 47 Charles Guilbert (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 21.19 48 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 21.42 49 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 21.44 50 Renaud Dion (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 21.51 51 Léo Fortin (Fra) French National Team 22.08 52 Jean-Charles Senac (Fra) French National Team 22.43 53 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 23.33 54 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 24.14 55 Benjamin Johnson (Aus) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 24.46 56 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 25.56 57 Brice Feillu (Fra) French National Team 26.31 58 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 27.45 59 Peter Stetina (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 28.16 60 Paul Moucheraud (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 28.20 61 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 28.46 62 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 29.48 63 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 32.53 64 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) Intel - Action 37.41 65 Kazuki Inoue (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 45.53 66 Kazuya Okazaki (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 47.02 Points classification 1 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 8 pts 2 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 8 3 Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 8 4 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 6 5 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 5 6 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 4 7 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 3 8 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 3 9 Romain Villa (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 3 10 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 2 11 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance 2 12 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 2 13 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1 14 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 1 15 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 1 Mountains classification 1 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 24 pts 2 Clément Lhotellerie (Fra) Skil - Shimano 21 3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 14 4 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 10 5 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 8 6 Paul Moucheraud (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 7 7 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 6 8 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 5 9 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 4 10 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 3 11 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 3 12 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 2 13 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2 14 Sébastien Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 2 15 Rémi Cusin (Fra) French National Team 2 16 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 2 17 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1 18 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1 19 Jean Mespoulède (Fra) Auber 1 20 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 1 21 Cédric Pineau (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 1 Young rider classification 1 Clément Lhotellerie (Fra) Skil - Shimano 18.00.38 2 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.46 3 Romain Villa (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 6.38 4 Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 10.59 5 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 11.08 6 Michael Lange (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 11.16 7 Cédric Pineau (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 11.19 8 Rémi Cusin (Fra) French National Team 11.28 9 Sébastien Fournet Fayard (Fra) French National Team 11.33 10 Tanel Kangert (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 12.21 11 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 12.50 12 Anthony Roux (Fra) French National Team 14.19 13 Thomas Brigaud (Fra) French National Team 14.25 14 David Deroo (Fra) Skil - Shimano 15.19 15 Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Auber 15.54 16 Paul Brousse (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 18.08 17 Benoît Sinner (Fra) Agritubel 18.50 18 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Crédit Agricole 20.09 19 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 21.01 20 Léo Fortin (Fra) French National Team 21.27 21 Jean-Charles Senac (Fra) French National Team 22.02 22 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 22.52 23 Benjamin Johnson (Aus) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 24.05 24 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 25.15 25 Brice Feillu (Fra) French National Team 25.50 26 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 27.04 27 Peter Stetina (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 27.35 28 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 29.07 Teams Classification 1 Credit Agricole 53.53.02 2 Cofidis-Le Credit Par Telephone 5.37 3 Bouygues Telecom 9.31 4 Bretagne Armor Lux 10.17 5 Caisse d'Epargne 12.03 6 Francaise Des Jeux 12.29 7 Ag2R Prevoyance 15.46 8 Agritubel 21.34 9 Auber 93 37.19 10 Equipe De France 43.28 11 Roubaix Lille Metropole 55.04 12 Team Slipstream 1.11.48 13 Nippo Corporation 1.23.38
