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17th Route Adélie - 1.3
Vitré, France, April 4, 2003
2002 Results Results Past winners
Determined Joly upstages field
By Chris Henry
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Sébastien Joly gave Jean Delatour a much needed win today, winning the 185.3 km Route Adélie in the cycling-mad Bretagne region of France. Joly escaped the field in the closing kilometres, defiantly fending off the desperate chase from Brioches La Boulangère. Despite sitting out the race due to illness, Jaan Kirsipuu of Ag2R-Prévoyance maintains his Coupe de France lead after four races. Joly, however, moved into second in the overall standings, just eight points behind. "I really gave everything... For me, but also for my team," Joly commented at the finish.
Held on a challenging parcours which features two laps of a 23.3 km circuit and sixteen laps of a smaller 8.6km circuit, the Route Adélie favours a strong rider with the power to stay fresh over a number of short, tough climbs. The hero for much of today's race was Jérôme Pineau (Brioches La Boulangère), who escaped first in a group of four, including Joly's teammate Eddy Seigneur and Ag2R's persistent attacker Stéphane Berges, then had the strength to drop his companions on a climb and spark a new escape of three as the peloton reeled in the rest. Pineau, who in the second break was joined by his teammate Anthony Charteau, worked hard to soften up the opposition and pave the way for his team leaders Franck Bouyer and Sylvain Chavanel.
Pineau's plan was working quite well, but nobody counted on the determined escape of Sébastien Joly with 2km to race. As Pineau, Charteau and Laurent Lefèvre (Jean Delatour) were pulled back by the peloton, the first serious counter attack came from Bouyer, who put the hammer down on the final climb of the day. Bouyer sparked a reaction from Critérium International winner Laurent Brochard and FDJeux.com's Jean-Cyril Robin, but by the crest of the climb the advantage was little more than 10 metres. Bouyer tried to persist over the top of the hill, but Robin failed to pull through and the move was soon doomed. Into a corner, Joly seized his own chances as the race favourites began to eye each other. Joly emerged from the turn with a small advantage, saw he had a gap, and simply went for it.
Over the next two kilometres, Joly never let up, never turned back. Rarely gaining more than 100 metres on the charging field, he poured everything into a move which in most cases would have little chance of success. His strength was evident, as Brioches La Boulangère sent five riders to the head of the field to reel him in. Nonetheless, Joly dove into every corner and scraped out every fraction of a second he could. A technical finish on narrow streets gave him the last ditch effort he needed, and emerging from the corners into the painful rise to the finish, he had extended his lead just enough to claim victory.
Joly let out yelps of joy as he pumped his fist in the air, crossing the line a mere two seconds ahead of Navigators' Henk Vogels, who led the field home ahead of Brochard and Cédric Vasseur. The victory was a sweet one for Joly, who had come so close to a win with a similar move in Paris-Nice, only to be denied in sight of the line. This time his perseverance paid off, and as he savoured the moment he hurled expletives of self-congratulation, incredulous at his own success.
"I tried this at Paris-Nice, and really regretted that I was caught at 500 metres to the line," Joly explained. "This time I have no regrets."
Photography
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- Eric Berthou riding for the French national team in this race
- Aurélien "Mario" Clerc (Quick.Step-Davitamon) before the start
- Henk Vogels (Navigators) cools off after his second place
- Sebastien Joly (Jean Delatour) is very happy with his victory in the Route Adelie
- Sebastien Joly (Jean Delatour) holds his trophy aloft after winning the Route Adelie
Results
1 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Jean Delatour 4.34.38 (40.483 km/h) 2 Henk Vogels (Aus) Navigators Cycling Team 0.02 3 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 4 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 6 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 7 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com 8 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) Quick.Step-Davitamon 9 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon 10 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Jean Delatour 11 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 12 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) FDJeux.com 13 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 14 Damien Nazon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 15 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Quick.Step-Davitamon 16 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 17 David Canada Gracia (Spa) Quick.Step-Davitamon 18 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 0.09 19 Franck Pencole (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 20 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 0.11 21 Ludovic Martin (Fra) Jean Delatour 0.18 22 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 0.23 23 Lorenzo Cardellini (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 0.27 24 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 0.32 25 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 26 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.39 27 Nicolas Boulenger (Fra) Equipe de France 28 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour 29 David Breard (Fra) Equipe de France 30 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Credit Agricole 31 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 0.44 32 Mauricio Ardila (Col) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 33 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 34 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93 35 Plamen Stoianov (Bul) Big.Mat-Auber 93 36 Sébastien Mattozza (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 37 Anthony Morin (Fra) Credit Agricole 38 Manu L'hoir (Bel) Marlux-Wincor Nixdorf 39 Michael Skelde (Den) Team fakta 40 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 41 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 42 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) FDJeux.com 43 Robert Sassone (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 44 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Jean Delatour 45 Médéric Clain (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 46 Jérôme Bernard (Fra) Jean Delatour 47 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 48 Thomas Grönqvist (Swe) Team fakta 49 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole 0.50 50 Scott Sunderland (Aus) Team fakta 51 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon 0.57 52 Oleg Grishkine (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team 53 Denis Robin (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 1.03 54 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 1.05 55 Loïc Lamouller (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 56 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 1.12 57 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 1.23 58 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 1.37 59 Cyril Saugrain (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 1.44 60 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 1.48 61 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 2.19 62 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 2.27 63 Rony Martias (Fra) Equipe de France 64 Eric Berthou (Fra) Equipe de France 3.18 65 Ciaran Power (Irl) Navigators Cycling Team 66 Lukasz Podolski (Pol) CCC-Polsat 3.24 67 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 3.31 68 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 5.07 69 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 70 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon 12.21 71 Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance 72 Julien Laidoun (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance Coupe de France standings after round 4 1 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance 62 pts 2 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Jean Delatour 54 3 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 50 4 Christophe Mengin (Fra) FDJeux.com 50 5 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Jean Delatour 40 6 Damien Nazon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 35 7 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 26 8 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 25 9 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 25 10 Andreï Kivilev (Kaz) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 25 11 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 25 12 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) Jean Delatour 20 13 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Jean Delatour 20 14 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 19 15 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole 18 16 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 16 17 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com 14 18 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 14 19 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Credit Agricole 10 20 Olivier Perraudeau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 8 21 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone 6 22 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 5 23 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) FDJeux.com 5 24 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 3 25 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 3 26 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) FDJeux.com 3 27 Franck Pencole (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 3 28 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 3 29 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 3 Courtesy of velomania.net
Past winners
Route Adélie 2001 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) 2000 Laurent Brochard (Fra) 1999 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) 1998 Jann Kirsipuu (Est) 1997 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Tour d'Armorique 1996 Marc Bouillon (Fra) 1994 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) 1993 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) 1992 Peter De Clercq (Bel) 1991 Jérôme Simon (Fra) 1990 Rober-to Torres (Spa) 1989 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 1988 Sören Lilholt (Den) 1987 Thierry Marie (Fra) 1986 Jörg Müller (Swi) Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com
