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51st Circuit de la Sarthe - 2.3
France, April 8-11, 2003
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Stage 2 - April 9: Fontenay-le-Comte - Pont-Château, 195.1 km
Teacher Strazzer gives one more lesson, Armstrong pulls out
By Jean-François Quénet in Pontchâteau
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Lance Armstrong is no longer competing in the Circuit de la Sarthe et des Pays de la Loire. On Monday, after his reconnaissance of the course of the final time trial in this year's Tour de France, scheduled for July 26th between Pornic and Nantes, he said he had stomach troubles. It was true. He couldn't handle the pain and pulled out in the middle of stage 2. He preferred to head back to his hotel after the feed zone to recover his health before he resumes racing again.
"It's nothing serious, but Lance felt bad and it wasn't worth extending the suffering," said US Postal's team manager Johan Bruyneel. "At this stage of the season, there's no point. Lance will prepare for his return in the Amstel Gold Race."
Italian Massimo Strazzer (Phonak) won the bunch sprint in Pontchâteau ahead of Jimmy Casper and Aurélien Clerc. For the last two days, he's been asking around if anyone could give him the photos of his three stage wins in this race last year. "It's for my cycling school in Verona, he said. I started cycling when I was six and half years old. It's very early but when I was doing well on my bike, I was also successful at school. I tell the kids that cycling is school of life. I first talk to them about the family, and then about how much sport - especially cycling - can help them in their future."
Strazzer explained his sprint: "All my team-mates from Phonak helped me a lot. The last one was [Alessandro] Bertolini. In the last kilometre, the FDJ team was extremely strong. They drove very hard. I chose the wheel of an ONCE rider on the left hand side of the road and I came back to the front really quickly."
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There was a wheel between Strazzer and Casper. The third man on the line was big Swiss hope Aurélien Clerc, who was nevertheless happy with his teammate Michael Rogers' lead out, although both men tried to escape prior to the finish.
Also second placed on GC, Alexei Sivakov (BigMat) tried to attack in the finale, but Casper was the first FDJ rider to pay attention and did not allow him to threaten Carlos Da Cruz's yellow jersey. In the long breakaway of the day, there were three men: Torsten Schmidt from Gerolsteiner, Ruben Lobato from Domina Vacanze and Stéphane Augé from Crédit Agricole. FDJ, BigMat and the sprinters' teams worked it out.
"I stayed comfortably in the wheels all day," said an appreciative Da Cruz. "My teammates have done a wonderful job for me. This is new to me. Usually, I'm the one who plays the role of a domestique. They've said they'll give 100% for me to pay me back for the work I do all year."
"It should be a similar race tomorrow morning, then the battle should be tight between Sivakov and myself. It's going to be a mental game."
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Fdjeux.com is definitely trying to win the overall with Da Cruz, but at the same time they target a bunch sprint victory with Casper on Thursday morning, and a sensational time trial by Bradley McGee in the afternoon. The pursuit World Champion is one of very few riders in the Circuit de la Sarthe who has ridden the course last week, when he got a chance to swing by Angers, a town of the Loire valley where he used to live before moving to Nice.
This time trial will be a very fast one, dead flat without much cornering on an 8.8km circuit. It will also be interesting to see what Jan Ullrich will be able to do after a year and half without racing against the clock. His last attempt was in Lisbon, Portugal, when he became World Champion. He'll be forgiven if he's beaten in the Circuit de la Sarthe by super specialists such as Michael Rich, Yuriy Krivtsov, Victor Hugo Peña, Christophe Moreau, Michael Rogers, Laurent Brochard, Steffen Kjaergaard or McGee. He looks good already.
Photography
Images by Frank Fife/AFP
- Lance Armstrong before the stage. The US Postal leader was unwell and withdrew from the stage with stomach problems.
- Race leader Carlos Da Cruz (R, FDJeux.com) and second-placed Alexei Sivakov (Big.Mat) obey the road signs
- Carlos Da Cruz rides in the bunch
- Roberto Heras leads his US Postal team-mates and the peloton
- Jan Ullrich (Coast) rides in the peloton on the second day of his return to racing
- The peloton demonstrates that some team uniforms are just unmistakable
- The peloton rides across the St Nazaire bridge
- Didier Rous (Brioches La Boulangère) - the 2002 winner
- Massimo Strazzer (Phonak) crosses the line first ahead of Jimmy Casper (FDJeux.com) and Aurélien Clerc (Quick.Step-Davitamon)
- Massimo Strazzer (Phonak) celebrates his victory
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- Jan Ullrich (Coast) gets ready for the start
- Jan Ullrich makes sure we get his good side
- Jan Ullrich waves to the fans from the presentation stage
- Team Coast is presented to the crowd
- Lance Armstrong (US Postal) making his way to the start
- Lance Armstrong not looking like he's having the best day
- Lance Armstrong showing signs of the discomfort that later caused him to abandon
Results
1 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 4.31.52 (40.608 km/h) 2 Jimmy Casper (Fra) FDJeux.com 3 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Quick.Step-Davitamon 4 Nicolas Liboreau (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 5 Allan Davis (Aus) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 6 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio 7 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 8 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 9 Olivier Perraudeau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 10 Damien Nazon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 11 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 12 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 13 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 14 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) US Postal presented by Berry Flo 15 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Alessio 16 Bradley McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 17 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 18 Gerhard Trampusch (Aut) Gerolsteiner 19 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 20 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 21 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 22 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 23 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick.Step-Davitamon 24 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 25 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 26 Dioni Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 27 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 28 Cédric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 29 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 30 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 31 Sébastien Talabardon (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 32 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio 33 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Jean Delatour 34 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 35 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 36 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 37 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 38 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) CCC-Polsat 39 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93 40 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 41 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Coast 42 Gorka Beloki Dorronsoro (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 43 Cédric Fragniere (Swi) Credit Agricole 44 Stéphane Barthe (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 45 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon 46 Thorsten Rund (Ger) Team Coast 47 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 48 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) FDJeux.com 49 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 50 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour 51 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 52 Rafael Diaz Justo (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 53 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 54 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Quick.Step-Davitamon 55 Sven Teutenberg (Ger) Team Coast 56 Fabrice Gougot (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 57 Julen Fernandez Bijandi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 58 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 59 Joseba Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 60 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 61 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 62 Plamen Stoianov (Bul) Big.Mat-Auber 93 63 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Team Coast 64 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano Aranzabal (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eros 65 Roberto Heras (Spa) US Postal presented by Berry Floor 66 Jorge Martinez Correa (Col) 05 Orbitel 67 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 68 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 69 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) US Postal presented by Be 70 Uwe Hardter (Ger) Gerolsteiner 71 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) CCC-Polsat 72 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) CCC-Polsat 73 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 74 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Alessio 75 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole 76 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com 77 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 78 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) CCC-Polsat 79 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio 80 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Alessio 81 Lorenzo Cardellini (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 82 Michael Rich (Ger) Gerolsteiner 83 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) FDJeux.com 84 Iker Flores Galarza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 85 Ivaïlo Gabrovski (Bul) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 86 Cyril Saugrain (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 87 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour 88 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast 89 Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 90 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.52 91 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Coast 92 Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal presented by Berry F 93 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 94 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.06 95 Sergeï Krushevskiy (Uzb) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 96 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 97 Andris Nauduzs (Lat) CCC-Polsat 98 Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) CCC-Polsat 9.04 99 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 100 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Credit Agricole 15.31 DNF Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal presented by Berry Floor DNF Sébastien Joly (Fra) Jean Delatour General classification after stage 2 1 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 9.41.51 2 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93 0.02 3 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 5.52 4 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Quick.Step-Davitamon 6.02 5 Damien Nazon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 6.03 6 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 6.05 7 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 8 Bradley McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 6.06 9 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Alessio 10 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 11 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) US Postal presented by Berry Flo 12 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 13 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 14 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 15 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick.Step-Davitamon 16 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 17 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 18 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 19 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio 20 Sébastien Talabardon (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 21 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 22 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Coast 23 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 24 Thorsten Rund (Ger) Team Coast 25 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 26 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 27 Rafael Diaz Justo (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 28 Stéphane Barthe (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 29 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 30 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 31 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) FDJeux.com 32 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour 33 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 34 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano Aranzabal (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eros 35 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 36 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour 37 Cyril Saugrain (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 38 Sergeï Krushevskiy (Uzb) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 9.29 39 Jimmy Casper (Fra) FDJeux.com 13.04 40 Allan Davis (Aus) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 13.09 41 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 13.11 42 Olivier Perraudeau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 43 Gerhard Trampusch (Aut) Gerolsteiner 44 Cédric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 45 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio 46 Dioni Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 47 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) CCC-Polsat 48 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 49 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 50 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 51 Gorka Beloki Dorronsoro (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 52 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Quick.Step-Davitamon 53 Cédric Fragniere (Swi) Credit Agricole 54 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 55 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon 56 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 57 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole 58 Uwe Hardter (Ger) Gerolsteiner 59 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 60 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 61 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Jean Delatour 62 Plamen Stoianov (Bul) Big.Mat-Auber 93 63 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) CCC-Polsat 64 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 65 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Team Coast 66 Joseba Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 67 Lorenzo Cardellini (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 68 Roberto Heras (Spa) US Postal presented by Berry Floor 69 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 70 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 71 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com 72 Julen Fernandez Bijandi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 73 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 74 Fabrice Gougot (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 75 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) CCC-Polsat 76 Ivaïlo Gabrovski (Bul) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 77 Michael Rich (Ger) Gerolsteiner 78 Andris Nauduzs (Lat) CCC-Polsat 79 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Alessio 80 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) CCC-Polsat 81 Jorge Martinez Correa (Col) 05 Orbitel 82 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Alessio 83 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio 84 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 85 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) US Postal presented by Be 86 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 87 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Coast 88 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) FDJeux.com 89 Niki Aebersold (Swi) Team Coast 90 Iker Flores Galarza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 91 Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal presented by Berry F 92 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 14.03 93 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 14.08 94 Nicolas Liboreau (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 15.23 95 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 96 Sven Teutenberg (Ger) Team Coast 15.31 97 Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 98 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 22.10 99 Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) CCC-Polsat 22.15 100 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Credit Agricole 28.38 U23 classification 1 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Quick.Step-Davitamon 2 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 0.03 3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 0.04 4 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour 6 Allan Davis (Aus) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 7.07 7 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 7.09 8 Cédric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 9 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 10 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole 11 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 12 Joseba Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 13 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com 14 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski Mountains classification 1 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 16 pts 2 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93 12 3 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Credit Agricole 8 4 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 8 5 Olivier Perraudeau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 6 6 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 4 7 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 4 8 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 4 9 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 2 10 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 2 11 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2 12 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 1 13 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole 1 14 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 1 Sprints classification 1 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 15 pts 2 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93 10 3 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 7 4 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 6 5 Damien Nazon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 5 6 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Credit Agricole 5 7 Allan Davis (Aus) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 3 8 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 1 9 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 1 10 Jimmy Casper (Fra) FDJeux.com 1
