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23rd Tour de Normandie - 2.5
France, March 24-30, 2003
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Stage 5 - March 29: Valognes - Bagnoles de l'Orne, 194 km
Luc Leblanc is a winner again!
By Jean-François Quénet in Bagnoles-de-l'Orne
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Bagnoles-de-l'Orne is a charming little village with a thermal station in the middle of the Normand countryside. This is where Brad McGee told SBS's Mike Tomalaris last July how he would win the 7th stage of the Tour de France a few hours later...which he did! It's also the place where Luc Leblanc found himself as a winner again, seven years after his stage win in Les Arcs on the day when Miguel Indurain lost the 1996 Tour de France.
For the past three years, the 1993 world champion has been the manager of the French amateur team Panorimmo.com. On these foundations, he keeps trying to build a pro team, but he actually took his first pro win as a directeur sportif here with the Breton rider Marc Feipeler outsprinting Shinishi Fukushima from Japan.
"I am as happy today as the day I won the world championship", Leblanc said, almost in tears. He is an emotional coach very similar to the rider he was until his last team, Polti, fired him in order to sign Richard Virenque instead for the 1999 season.
The Panorimmo.com team came back from a few difficult situations in the race. They first missed a 17 men breakaway that included Jacky Durand - not working much though, which disorganised the group - Jean Delatour's David Lefèvre and Bruno Thibout, Norwegian Lars Breiseth from Team Ringerike and two riders pretty highly ranked on GC: Geoffroy Lequattre from Crédit Agricole (1'16" down on Dimitri Muravyev) and Jochen Van Summeren (1'14"). The latter was virtually the leader, so the Quick.Step team didn't have to bring Muravyev back to the break.
Jean Delatour hesitated between the high possibility of a stage win - they haven't taken any victories this year yet - and their ambitions on GC with Samuel Dumoulin, who is only 4 seconds down on Muravyev after taking the bonus at the first hot spot sprint in St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. Panorimmo did the job, so the breakaway got caught after 40 kilometres.
Panorimmo also missed the next one with eight riders: Gabriel Rasch (Team Ringerike), Yannick Talabardon (BigMat), Preben van Hecke (Quickstep), Florian Ludi (Saeco), Jaroslaw Velniak (Legia Baziliszek), Jos Lucassen (AXA), Mickael Leveau (VC Rouen) and Fukushima (Bridgestone). But the group became 13 when Jérôme Bernard (Jean Delatour), David Bréard (US Ste-Austreberthe), Franck Charrier (CC Nogent), Benoît Legrix (Normandy) and Feipeler (Panorimmo). With 10km to go, Fukushima attacked. With 2km to go, Feipeler rejoined him and won.
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"It's actually Luc who asked me to chase behind the Japanese rider," Feipeler explained. "I had to avoid a sprint against Leveau and Legrix. My only chance to win the stage was a two man sprint."
Now the suspense remains great as Muravyev only has a four seconds lead on Dumoulin and five riders are classified at 22 seconds. "I know it's going to be very hard but I'm very hopeful," the Kazakh rider said.
He wants a big win to finally get a start in a big team. This is his fourth season in a row in a reserve squad: he was with Saeco in 2000, with Domo in 2001, with Mapei in 2002. "I was promised to join Mapei's TT1 this year, unfortunately the team folded," he added. "There was no space for me in Quickstep's TT1 but I hope there'll be next year. The directors asked me to be patient."
The last stage to Caen includes the steep climb of La Rançonnière at half way and a complicated final circuit.
Photos
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- Dimitri Muravyev (Quick.Step-Davitamon) before the start of stage 6
- Norwegian riders Gabriel Rasch, Per Martin Lund and Lars Breiseth are focused before going to work
- Panorimmo director Luc Leblanc with young rider Julien Marcuz. Leblanc is an emotional director, similar to the rider he was
- Marc Feipeler (Panorimmo) took his first pro win in Bagnoles-de-l'Orne
- Dimitri Muravyev keeps 4 seconds lead on Samuel Dumoulin before the final stage
- Happy winners on the podium after stage 6
Results
1 Marc Feipeler (Fra) Panorimmo 4.27.16 (43.552 km/h) 2 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 3 Mickael Leveau (Fra) VC Rouen 76 0.04 4 Franck Charrier (Fra) CC Nogent-sur-Oise 5 Florian Ludi (Swi) Saeco-Romer's-Wetzikon 6 Benoit Legrix (Fra) Normandie 7 Vladisvlav Borisov (Rus) Russia 8 Michiel Elijzen (Ned) Rabobank TT III 9 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 10 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Mixed Team 11 Jos Lucassen (Ned) Axa Cycling Team 12 Jérôme Bernard (Fra) Jean Delatour 0.08 13 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Team Ringerike 0.10 14 Jaroslaw Welsiak (Pol) Legia 0.11 15 Jacek Morajko (Pol) Antarte-Rota dos Móveis 16 Samuel Gicquel (Fra) Jean Floc'h 17 Plamen Stoianov (Bul) Mixed Team 0.16 18 Said Haddou (Fra) CM Aubervilliers 93 0.21 19 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Rabobank TT III 20 Samuel Bonnet (Fra) CC Nogent-sur-Oise 21 Stephane Bonsergent (Fra) France Police 22 César Antunes Quiterio (Por) Antarte-Rota dos Móveis 23 Stefan Felder (Swi) Saeco-Romer's-Wetzikon 24 Mart Louwers (Ned) Axa Cycling Team 25 Stefan Zoss (Swi) Saeco-Romer's-Wetzikon 26 Ludovic Lanceleur (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 27 Lubomir Kejval (Cze) eD'system-ZVVZ 28 Sebastien Portal (Fra) Panorimmo 29 Julien Marcuz (Fra) Panorimmo 30 Mikhail Andreyev (Rus) Panorimmo 31 Stephane Breard (Fra) USSAPB 32 Yvan Terenin (Rus) Russia 33 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour 34 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 35 Maxim Karpatchev (Rus) Russia 36 Oleg Joukov (Rus) Russia 37 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 38 Gaetan Marques (Fra) Normandie 39 Krassimir Vassiliev (Bul) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 40 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 41 Lars Breiseth (Nor) Team Ringerike 42 Arno Wallaard (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 43 Mikhail Mikheev (Rus) Russia 44 Lubor Tesar (Cze) eD'system-ZVVZ 45 Gregorz Zoledziowski (Pol) Legia 46 Vincent Socquin (Fra) USSAPB 47 Helder Miranda (Spa) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 48 Gerardo Fernandez (Arg) Antarte-Rota dos Móveis 49 Nicolas Paris (Fra) CC Nogent-sur-Oise 50 Sebastian Skiba (Pol) Legia 51 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 52 Mikael Segersäll (Swe) Bianchi Scandinavia 53 Yves Delarue (Fra) CM Aubervilliers 93 54 Sebastien Foucher (Fra) CM Aubervilliers 93 55 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Jean Delatour 56 Geoffrey Lequatre (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 57 Yann Buiron (Fra) Normandie 58 Andrei Ptchelkin (Rus) Russia 59 Ricardo Silva Felgueiras (Por) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 60 Takehiro Mizutani (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 61 Cyril Bos (Fra) USSAPB 62 Tony Cavet (Fra) Normandie 63 Cedrick Loue (Fra) VC Rouen 76 64 Christophe Thebault (Fra) Jean Floc'h 65 Marek Blazej (Pol) Legia 66 Martial Locatelli (Fra) France Police 67 Fernando Sousa (Por) Antarte-Rota dos Móveis 68 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Jean Delatour 69 Guillaume Judas (Fra) Jean Floc'h 70 Regis Yon (Fra) USSAPB 71 David Blanco (Spa) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 72 Hubert Nowak (Pol) Legia 73 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) Axa Cycling Team 74 ? 75 Yoeri Beyens (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 76 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 77 Dominique Rault (Fra) Jean Floc'h 78 Gaylord Cumont (Fra) VC Rouen 76 79 Denis Robin (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 80 Koen De Kort (Ned) Rabobank TT III 81 Jacek Walczak (Pol) Legia 82 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank TT III 83 Christian Lademann (Ger) eD'system-ZVVZ 84 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 85 Christophe Cousinie (Fra) France Police 86 Gilles Canouet (Fra) Jean Floc'h 87 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) Team Ringerike 88 Tobias Lergard (Swe) Bianchi Scandinavia 89 Anthony Testa (Fra) CC Nogent-sur-Oise 90 Frederic Lecrosnier (Fra) Jean Floc'h 91 Frederic Mille (Fra) France Police 92 Frantisek Trkal (Cze) eD'system-ZVVZ 93 Nelson Vitorino (Por) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 94 Per Martin Lund (Nor) Team Ringerike 0.36 95 Jacky Durand (Fra) Mixed Team 96 Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) Mixed Team 97 Franck Vermeulen (Fra) Normandie 98 David Loosli (Swi) Saeco-Romer's-Wetzikon 0.43 99 Peter Oeschger (Swi) Saeco-Romer's-Wetzikon 0.47 100 Petr Bencik (Cze) eD'system-ZVVZ 1.08 101 Hervé Duclos Lassalle (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 1.27 102 Arthur Farenhout (Ned) Axa Cycling Team 1.32 103 Jens Mouris (Ned) Rabobank TT III 104 Michal Kalenda (Cze) eD'system-ZVVZ 4.03 105 Fabrice Dubost (Fra) Normandie 7.11 106 Jean-Francois Jegou (Fra) Panorimmo 107 Jonas Holmkvist (Swe) Bianchi Scandinavia 108 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Bianchi Scandinavia 109 Pierrick Leclerc (Fra) VC Rouen 76 8.21 110 David Lefevre (Fra) Jean Delatour 11.23 111 Luis Bartolomeu (Por) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 112 José Manuel De Sousa Cunha (Por) Antarte-Rota dos Móveis 113 Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Rabobank TT III 114 Stephane Couge (Fra) Panorimmo DNF Fabien Fleury (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs DNF Stefan Mischler (Swi) Saeco-Romer's-Wetzikon DNF Simon Gerrans (Aus) Team Ringerike DNF Jean-Michel Delarue (Fra) Normandie General classification after stage 5 1 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 20.52.40 2 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour 0.04 3 Krassimir Vassiliev (Bul) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 0.06 4 Christophe Thebault (Fra) Jean Floc'h 0.21 5 Oleg Joukov (Rus) Russia 0.22 6 Samuel Gicquel (Fra) Jean Floc'h 1.04 7 Vladisvlav Borisov (Rus) Russia 1.06 8 Lubor Tesar (Cze) eD'system-ZVVZ 1.11 9 Mickael Leveau (Fra) VC Rouen 76 10 Geoffrey Lequatre (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 1.13 11 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 1.16 12 Marc Feipeler (Fra) Panorimmo 1.17 13 Jacek Morajko (Pol) Antarte-Rota dos Móveis 14 Jos Lucassen (Ned) Axa Cycling Team 1.18 15 Stephane Breard (Fra) USSAPB 1.25 16 Andrei Ptchelkin (Rus) Russia 17 Arno Wallaard (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 1.27 18 Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour 1.29 19 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Jean Delatour 1.34 20 Gerardo Fernandez (Arg) Antarte-Rota dos Móveis 1.39 21 Yves Delarue (Fra) CM Aubervilliers 93 1.41 22 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 1.42 23 Julien Marcuz (Fra) Panorimmo 24 Yann Buiron (Fra) Normandie 1.46 25 David Loosli (Swi) Saeco-Romer's-Wetzikon 26 Krassimir Vassiliev (Bul) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 1.54 27 Dominique Rault (Fra) Jean Floc'h 1.55 28 Michiel Elijzen (Ned) Rabobank TT III 3.16 29 Koen De Kort (Ned) Rabobank TT III 3.33 30 Benoit Legrix (Fra) Normandie 3.34 Points classification 1 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Rabobank TT III 60 pts 2 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour 55 3 Geoffrey Lequatre (Fra) Credit Agricole Espoirs 37 4 Arno Wallaard (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 34 5 Krassimir Vassiliev (Bul) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 32 6 Marc Feipeler (Fra) Panorimmo 32 7 César Antunes Quiterio (Por) Antarte-Rota dos Móveis 32 8 Lubor Tesar (Cze) eD'system-ZVVZ 30 9 Samuel Gicquel (Fra) Jean Floc'h 26 10 Mickael Leveau (Fra) VC Rouen 76 25 Mountains classification 1 Christophe Cousinie (Fra) France Police 26 pts 2 David Blanco (Spa) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 14 3 Dominique Rault (Fra) Jean Floc'h 8 4 Mickael Leveau (Fra) VC Rouen 76 7 5 Jérôme Bernard (Fra) Jean Delatour 7 6 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour 6 7 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon-Latexco 6 8 Jos Lucassen (Ned) Axa Cycling Team 6 9 Nelson Vitorino (Por) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 6 10 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Team Ringerike 6 Sprints classification 1 Mickael Leveau (Fra) VC Rouen 76 25 pts 2 Nelson Vitorino (Por) Porta da Ravessa-Tavira 21 3 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) Axa Cycling Team 5 4 Dominique Rault (Fra) Jean Floc'h 5 5 Benoit Legrix (Fra) Normandie 5 6 Pierrick Leclerc (Fra) VC Rouen 76 5 7 Jaroslaw Welsiak (Pol) Legia 4 8 Gaylord Cumont (Fra) VC Rouen 76 4 9 Stephane Breard (Fra) USSAPB 3 10 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) Team Ringerike 3 Courtesy of velomania.net
