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Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Pays de la Loire - 2.1
France, April 8-11, 2008
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Stage 2a - April 9: Varades - Angers, 99.8km
Dumoulin maintains the length of one bike over the peloton
Anthony Ravard stays in yellow before the time trial
By Jean-François Quénet in Angers
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Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) scored his first win since the stage to Chauffailles in the Dauphiné two years ago as he preceded his breakaway companions Christophe Diguet (Auber 93) and Christophe Edaleine (Ag2r) to the line just as the peloton was about to catch them on the finishing line in Angers.
"For two days in a row, it works to go in a breakaway," a satisfied Dumoulin commented. "When we heard that we had 40 seconds lead over the bunch with one lap (8.3km) to go, we started going flat out again," he pursued. "We didn't watch each other and the slightly uphill finish was perfect for me."
Just like the day before when the friendship between Anthony Ravard and Thomas Voeckler helped the duo to work together till the end, Dumoulin and Edaleine being good mates has favored the success while Diguet was also a good help for them.
"Edaleine was going really well all the way," noticed the Auber 93 rider who is almost a local in Angers. "In the final sprint, we felt that the peloton was on our shoulders but we kept going. I was in Dumoulin's wheel and I never managed to overtake him. He was stronger than me so he deserves the stage win. I'm disappointed to miss it but at the same time I'm happy to see my form coming back because I've struggled a lot since the start of the season with most of the races happening under the rain."
"It's a relief to win again," Dumoulin observed. "In the past two years, I've had a few placing but that never replaces the great feeling of winning." The short sprinter from Lyon had a bad crash with a complicated broken collarbone last year at the Tour of Catalunya. It prevented him from riding the Tour de France and it affected his whole season.
His move from Ag2r to Cofidis also helped him to find a new motivation. "We have a great team this year," he said. "We're all good friends. Everybody goes well and finds the right inspiration. Cofidis kept confidence in me after Paris-Nice, this is my first race since. I didn't know how good my condition was and I wanted to test myself. I thought the best was to do it during this morning stage with only 100 kilometers to cover. It's good to attack and be rewarded for taking such an initiative."
Ravard has maintained his lead but he knows that the yellow jersey will change shoulder after the time trial scheduled in Angers during the afternoon.
How it unfolded
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Three men attacked after 10 kilometers: Christophe Diguet (Auber 93), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) and Christophe Edaleine (Ag2r). They got a gap of 2.40 and could never take it higher as the Agritubel team of race leader Anthony Ravard set the pace in front of the bunch until the end of the first lap on the final circuit.
With 25km to go, the advantage of the three leaders was 55 seconds. CSF-Navigare took over the chase, Crédit Agricole also helped in front of the race but the chances of the breakaway riders increased when the gap of 23 seconds moved up again with 40 seconds with one lap (of 8.3km) to go.
The peloton almost caught the leaders in the final curve 250 meters before the finishing line but Dumoulin and Diguet had started sprinting. Only Maximiliano Richeze (CSF) managed to steal the third place from Edaleine. The Argentinian crossed the line very disappointed about the unfinished job.
Photography
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Images by Jean-François Quénet / Cyclingnews
- Christophe Diguet (Auber 93) was a disappointed second at the end of stage 2 in the Circuit de la Sarthe.
- Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) on the podium after taking stage 2a, his first win in two years.
Results
1 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2.34.19 (38.803 km/h) 2 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 3 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare 4 Paride Grillo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 5 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 6 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 7 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 8 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 9 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux 10 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 11 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 0.03 12 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 13 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 14 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 15 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 16 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Volksbank 17 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 18 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 19 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 20 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 21 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 22 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 23 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 24 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 25 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 26 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 27 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 28 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 29 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 30 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano 31 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 32 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 33 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 34 Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana 35 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 36 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 37 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 38 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 39 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 40 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 41 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 42 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 43 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 44 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 45 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 46 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 47 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 48 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 49 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 50 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Astana 51 Matteo Priamo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 52 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 53 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 54 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) Team Volksbank 55 Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 56 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 57 Cycril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 58 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 59 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Team Volksbank 60 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 61 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 62 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 63 Daniel Martin (Irl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 64 Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) Astana 65 Morgan Chedhomme (Fra) Auber 93 66 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 67 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 68 Cédric Pineau (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 69 Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 70 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 71 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 72 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 73 Adriano Angeloni (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 74 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Astana 75 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 76 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 77 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 78 Antoine Dalibard (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 79 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 80 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 81 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Française des Jeux 82 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 83 Florian Stalder (Swi) Team Volksbank 84 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 85 Francesco De Bonis (Ita) Gerolsteiner 86 Jin Long (Chn) Skil-Shimano 87 Umberto Nardecchia (Ita) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 88 Patrick Mc Carthy (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 89 Sylvain Calzatti (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 90 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93 91 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 92 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 93 93 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93 94 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 95 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 96 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 0.36 General classification after stage 2a 1 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel 7.23.51 2 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.01 3 Paride Grillo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 0.16 4 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 0.18 5 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) CSF Group Navigare 0.19 6 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Agritubel 7 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 8 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux 9 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 10 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 11 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 12 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 93 13 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 14 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.22 15 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Volksbank 16 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 17 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 18 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 19 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 20 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 21 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 22 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 23 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 24 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 25 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 26 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 27 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 28 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 29 Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom 30 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 31 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 32 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 33 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 34 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 35 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 36 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano 37 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 38 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 39 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 40 Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana 41 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 42 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 43 Vladimir Duma (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 44 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 45 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 46 Leonardo Giordani (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 47 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 48 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 49 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 50 Matteo Priamo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 51 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 52 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 53 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 54 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 55 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Astana 56 Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) Astana 57 Cédric Pineau (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 58 Umberto Nardecchia (Ita) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 59 Adriano Angeloni (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 60 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 61 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 62 Antoine Dalibard (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 63 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 64 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 65 Daniel Martin (Irl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 66 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 67 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 68 Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 69 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 70 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 71 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93 72 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 73 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 74 Andreas Dietziker (Swi) Team Volksbank 75 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Française des Jeux 76 Cycril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 77 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 78 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 79 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Astana 80 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 81 Morgan Chedhomme (Fra) Auber 93 82 Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux 83 Florian Stalder (Swi) Team Volksbank 84 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 85 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 93 86 Francesco De Bonis (Ita) Gerolsteiner 87 Sylvain Calzatti (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 88 Kilian Patour (Fra) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 89 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 90 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93 91 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 0.42 92 Jin Long (Chn) Skil-Shimano 93 Gerrit Glomser (Aut) Team Volksbank 1.09 94 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 5.22 95 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 10.10 96 Patrick Mc Carthy (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 13.17 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 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 Paride Grillo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 17 8 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 17 9 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Crédit Agricole 16 10 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux 16 11 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 10 12 René Weissinger (Ger) Team Volksbank 10 13 Tiziano dall'Antonia (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 8 14 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 8 15 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Team Volksbank 7 16 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6 17 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 6 18 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 5 19 Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Col) Caisse d'Epargne 5 20 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 5 21 Jérémie Galland (Fra) Auber 93 4 22 Maurizio Biondo (Ita) Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 2 23 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 1 Best young rider classification 1 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Gerolsteiner 7.24.13 2 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 3 Thomas Frei (Swi) Astana 4 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 5 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 6 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 7 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Française des Jeux 8 Cédric Pineau (Fra) AG2r - La Mondiale 9 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 10 Mathias Frank (Swi) Gerolsteiner 11 Daniel Martin (Irl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30 12 Francesco Tomei (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 13 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 14 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93 15 Filippo Savini (Ita) CSF Group Navigare 16 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Française des Jeux 17 Ignas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 18 Berik Kupeshov (Kaz) Astana 19 Morgan Chedhomme (Fra) Auber 93 20 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 93 21 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil-Shimano 0.20 22 Ji Cheng (Chn) Skil-Shimano 5.00 Team classification 1 CSF Group Navigare 22.12.30 2 Agritubel 3 Bouygues Telecom 0.03 4 AG2r La Mondiale 5 Gerolsteiner 0.06 6 Française des Jeux 7 Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 8 Auber 93 9 Team Volksbank 0.09 10 Caisse d'Epargne 11 Cermica Flaminia Bossini Doce 12 Crédit Agricole 13 Bretagne Armor Lux 14 Skil - Shimano 15 Astana 16 Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
