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12th Classique des Alpes - 1.1/1.8
France, June 8, 2002
2001 Results Elite results Juniors Main page
Kelme duo overcomes sponsor troubles for Classique triumph
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Kelme riders Santiago Botero and Oscar Sevilla showed that despite its sponsor troubles their squad still has the right stuff on the road when they won today's 12th edition of the Classique des Alpes, crossing the line together after Botero animated the race with a 112km breakaway.
The 164km race challenged the riders with six significant climbs: the Côte de Saint Pierre de Chartreuse, Col de Cucheron, Col du Granier, Col des Près, Col de Plainpalais and Col du Revard. However, the planned ascent of the Col des Mille Martyrs was dropped when the organisers reduced the race from 197km because of the heavy rain that has fallen in recent days.
The shorter parcours didn't change the plans of Kelme-Costa Blanca. The team rode an aggressive race, sending out the first attack after just five kilometres when Antonio Tauler went away.
The 28 year old Spaniard was first over the Côte de Saint Pierre de Chartreuse and the Col du Cucheron before being caught by the peloton at the 51km mark, on the descent of the Cucheron.
Next it was the turn of a five-man group as Jorgen-Bo Petersen (EDS-Fakta) exploded off the front, taking with him David Moncoutié (Cofidis), David Latasa (iBanesto.com) and Kelme-Costa Blanca's José-Enrique Gutierrez and Santiago Botero.
With two Kelme riders in the lead group and the peloton chasing hard there was tension in the break as to who should work, but when Gutierrez dropped off the pace on the Col du Granier, the remaining four settled their differences and worked together.
Latasa lost contact after a puncture at the foot of the Col des Prés, and Petersen was unable to hold the pace on the climb, leaving just the mountain men Moncoutié and Botero.
On the next climb, the Col de Plainpalais, the Colombian demonstrated the ascending power that won him the polka dot jersey in the 2000 Tour de France, and rode away from a tiring Moncoutié. Botero soloed on, apparently unconcerned by events further back in the race.
Meanwhile, Botero's team-mate Oscar Sevilla was on the attack, three minutes behind. A few hundred metres from the top of the final major ascent, the Col du Reward, Sevilla launched a violent attack and finally joined Botero on the descent into Aix-les Bains.
It was a sweet victory for the Kelme duo who have not been paid for the last two months. Botero crossed the line first, a much-deserved triumph after a 100km breakaway, followed by Sevilla. Petersen followed them in at 1:55.
Afterwards, Botero outlined his team's tactics. Kelme-Costa Blanca was fresh from a training camp in the Alps and Pyrenees, so the whole team had its climbing legs on. "We chose an aggressive tactic from the beginning," said Botero.
"I was told on the radio that Oscar was catching me near the end, but I was also assured that he would give me the victory because I had worked the most. I did not eat enough and, consequently, I suffered from hunger knock in the last ten kilometres.
"This victory is a gift for the sponsor. I cannot believe that a team that has existed for 22 years, and that has achieved so many results, may not survive because of lack of money."
For Sevilla, the Classique was preparation and an indicatior for the team's next big challenge. "The Classique was a significant test for us from the point of view of the Tour de France. We trained all last week on this course. I felt in very good form and so was ready to join Santiago toward the end."
Disappointingly, the race had a number of notable absences: Lance Armstrong's US Postal team chose to skip the Classique in order to prepare for Sunday's prologue stage of the Dauphiné, and Laurent Jalabert (CSC-Tiscali) made the same decision.
Results - 197 km
1 Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col) Kelme-Costa Blanca 4.25.50 2 Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 3 Jorgen Bo Petersen (Den) EDS-fakta 1.55 4 José Enrique Gutierrez Cataluna (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 5 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis 1.58 6 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 2.43 7 Aitor Kintana (Spa) Bigmat.Auber 93 2.46 8 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 2.51 9 Felix Garcia Casas (Spa) Bigmat.Auber 93 10 Lennie Kristensen (Den) EDS-fakta 11 Andrei Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis 2.53 12 Sandy Casar (Fra) La Francaise Des Jeux 3.31 13 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis 14 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 15 Xavier Jan (Fra) Bigmat.Auber 93 3.32 16 Pierre Bourquenoud (Swi) Saint-Quentin Oktos 3.34 17 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team CSC Tiscali 4.41 18 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Credit Agricole 19 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis 20 Loïc Lamouller (Fra) Bigmat.Auber 93 21 Santiago Perez Fernandez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 4.49 22 Unai Osa Eizaguirre (Spa) iBanesto.com 23 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Ag2R Prevoyance 8.30 24 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 9.16 25 Laurent Paumier (Fra) Saint-Quentin Oktos 10.08 26 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Saint-Quentin Oktos 27 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Saint-Quentin Oktos 13.38 28 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 29 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Credit Agricole 30 Joona Laukka (Fin) Jean Delatour 17.26 31 Gorka Arrizabalaga Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 20.26 32 Christophe Oriol (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 21.09 33 Gorka Gonzalez Larranaga (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 25.00 34 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) RDM-Flanders 26.31
Juniors - 90 km
1 Florian Vachon (Fra) France 2.34.18 2 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Belgium 3 Lars Boom (Ned) Netherlands 4 Andy Schleck (Lux) Luxembourg 5 Mathieu Perget (Fra) France 6 Julien Loubet (Fra) Haute-Garonne 0.19 7 Zil Suray (Bel) WIE 1.49 8 Romain Feillu (Fra) Loir et Cher 9 Jos Harms (Ned) Netherlands 10 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Belgium 11 François Girolami (Fra) Haute-Garonne 12 Stéphane Goncalves (Fra) Rhone Alpes 1.58 13 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) VC La Pomme - Marseille 2.07 14 Marc De Maar (Ned) Netherlands 2.23 15 Marcel Lamberts (Ned) Netherlands 3.20 16 Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra) France 17 Thierry Hupond (Fra) France 18 Julien Barbier (Fra) SAR 3.24 19 Thomas Frei (Swi) Liechtenstein 3.28 20 Julien Pinna (Fra) Haute-Garonne 3.47 21 Nicolas Roche (Irl) OCCV Draguignan 3.54 22 Olivier Lefrancois (Fra) HTM 5.14 23 Julien Bourelly (Fra) VC La Pomme - Marseille 24 David Jean (Fra) Rhone Alpes 25 Julien El Fares (Fra) VC La Pomme - Marseille 5.19 26 Stéphan Kushlev (Bul) VCC 6.27 27 Adrien Gorand (Fra) Rhone Alpes 7.02 28 Onno Gerritsen (Ned) Netherlands 7.09 29 Nicolas Chadefaux (Fra) Auvergne 7.12 30 Laurent Didier (Lux) Luxembourg 7.57 31 Mickaël Suchaud (Fra) Limousin 32 Julien Boyer (Fra) Limousin 33 Wilfried Exertier (Fra) SAV 8.16 34 Romain Sdrigotti (Fra) PCR 8.19 35 Loïc Barre (Fra) Loir et Cher 8.31 36 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Loir et Cher 37 Sylvain Berreteaga (Fra) Languedoc-Rous 8.58 38 Sylvain Cheval (Fra) BRE 9.01 39 Egon Van Kessel (Ned) Netherlands 9.24 40 Ludovic Renard (Fra) Loir et Cher 9.27 41 Sébastien Carreau (Fra) SAR 42 Cyril Desforges (Fra) VCR 9.40 43 Nic Ingels (Bel) Belgium 10.04 44 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) PCR 10.19 45 Frédéric Barbe (Fra) Haute-Garonne 46 Yoann Lucas (Fra) BRE 47 Mickaël Renou (Fra) PCR 48 Vincent Guihard (Fra) PCR 49 Pierre Lusiak (Fra) Rhone Alpes 50 Guillaume Boucheix (Fra) Auvergne 51 Vincent Graczyk (Fra) Loir et Cher 10.25 52 Aurélien Menard (Fra) Loir et Cher 10.33 53 Sébastien Fonlupt (Fra) Auvergne 10.56 54 Bertrand Virat (Fra) EC St-Etienne-Loire 55 Raphaël Junot (Fra) USN 56 Thomas Peyroton (Fra) Haute-Garonne 57 Vincent Barrier (Fra) Limousin 58 Romain Villa (Fra) HTM 59 Maarten Neyens (Bel) WIE 11.25 60 Clément Barbisan (Fra) VC Cheylard 61 Julien Ropert (Fra) BRE 62 Florent Juilly (Fra) France 63 Thomas Lejeune (Fra) US Creteil 64 Christophe Fabri (Bel) Belgium 65 Jean-Christophe Mourier (Fra) EC St-Etienne-Loire 66 Alexandre Coursodon (Fra) VC La Pomme - Marseille 67 Pierre Roussel (Fra) HTM 12.36 68 Vincent Vercruysse (Bel) WIE 69 Ingmar De Poortere (Bel) Belgium 70 Florent Gohier (Fra) SAR 12.40 71 Fabien Roulleau (Fra) VC Cheylard 12.46 72 Mickaël Mallet (Fra) Auvergne 73 Aurélien Ribet (Fra) SAR 13.39 74 Yohan Cauquil (Fra) Languedoc-Rous 14.03 75 Fabien Fabre (Fra) OCCV Draguignan 15.28 76 Gilles Hendel (Lux) Luxembourg 77 Eric Malgouzoux (Fra) Auvergne 78 Loïc Gazzotti (Fra) SAV 16.20 79 Olivier Veyret (Fra) Rhone Alpes 17.19 80 Jérémie Caudard (Fra) BRE 81 Bruno Vienne (Fra) PCR 82 Manuel Hermann (Lie) Liechtenstein 17.36 83 Thomas Strubi (Swi) Liechtenstein 84 Fabien Amic (Fra) VC La Pomme - Marseille 18.23 85 Julien Bescot (Fra) US Creteil 86 Aurélien Passeron (Fra) OCCV Draguignan 87 Raphaël Marion (Fra) VC Cheylard 19.24 88 Anthony Esposito (Fra) France 89 Damien Martinent (Fra) VC Cheylard 90 Sébastien Besqueut (Fra) EC St-Etienne-Loire 21.22 91 Cyril Florent (Fra) EC St-Etienne-Loire 92 Guillaume Favre (Fra) Rhone Alpes 93 Jérémy Moret (Fra) US Creteil 94 Christophe Lefevre (Fra) HTM 95 Romain Chambodu (Fra) VCR 96 Alexandre Cabrera (Fra) Languedoc-Rous 97 Emile Puyberthier (Fra) Limousin 98 Benoît Pavee (Fra) SAR 99 Nicolas Le Bras (Fra) BRE 21.51 100 Emmanuel Guinard (Fra) US Creteil 22.22 101 Anthony Fiorillo (Fra) Languedoc-Rous 102 Philippe Melia (Fra) VC La Pomme - Marseille 23.16 103 Marc Antheaume (Fra) PCR 104 Yves Reynaud (Fra) SAV 24.20 105 Pierre Charre (Fra) VC Cheylard 106 David Merle (Fra) EC St-Etienne-Loire 107 Charlie Vaudelle (Fra) SAR 24.35 108 Sébastien Pillon (Fra) Haute-Garonne 109 Christian Wuest (Lux) Luxembourg 26.05 110 Patrick Gressenich (Lux) Luxembourg 111 Mathias Pype (Fra) HTM 26.52 112 Sébastien Chapuis (Fra) SAV 113 Thomas Leroy (Fra) USN 28.07 114 Julien Mandon (Fra) VC Cheylard 29.51 115 Anthony Lamidon (Fra) OCCV Draguignan 116 Guillaume Bathie (Fra) EC St-Etienne-Loire 117 Antoine Durand (Fra) VCC 30.50 118 Steeve Gruet (Fra) BRE 119 Romain Laquerbe (Fra) VCR 30.55 120 Steve Hoffmann (Lux) Luxembourg 31.36 121 Marc Denonfoux (Fra) VCR 32.17 122 Romain Piau (Fra) USN 32.31 123 Sébastien Cogne (Fra) SAV 32.52
