24th GP de la Ville de Rennes - 1.3

France, April 6, 2003

2002 Results Results Past winners

Russian champion keeps tradition of American landing in Western France

By Jean-Fran�ois Qu�net

Oleg Grishkine
Photo: © JF Quenet

The Navigators have done it again. One year ago, they outraged the French teams in the GP de Rennes by making a 1-2-4-5 with Kirk O'Bee, Vasilli Davidenko, Ciaran Power and Oleg Grishkine, following the example of Mercury winning with Gordon Fraser in 2000.

"I worked for O'Bee last year but this time he wasn't there so the team worked for me," a delighted Russian national champion commented, referring to his former teammate who is now banned for drugs.

Grishkine won a bunch sprint led by Australian power man Henk Vogels, who didn't allow anyone to come round him in the last 800 metres. The former Mercury rider has come back to Europe with great shape, finishing 7th in Rennes after his 2nd place on Friday in the Route Ad�lie, he would be the winner of the Breton weekend if this kind of challenge existed.

No French rider has won the GP de Rennes since Pascal Chanteur in 1998, but they tried a lot this time. The first six men breakaway included Eddy Seigneur (Jean Delatour), Emmanuel Magnien (La Boulang�re), Ludovic Turpin (Ag2r), St�phane Barthe (Oktos), Frank Hoj (fakta) and Bradley McGee (Fdjeux.com). But the beginning of the race was too fast - more than 47 km in the first hour - for these men to stay away.

Then La Boulang�re was the most active team. They had Anthony Charteau, Anthony Geslin and Franck Renier in a group of seven, but no breakaway could gain even one minute lead on the bunch. With 25km to go, last year's Paris-Tours U-23 winner Maryan Hary broke clear and stayed alone in the front for 10km. As soon as he got caught, his teammate Thomas Voeckler also tried. He had 11 seconds lead at the bell lap. His effort was magnificent but there was nothing to do. Jean Delatour's Fr�d�ric Finot attacked under the flamme rouge, but Vogels didn't give him much freedom.

As La Boulang�re hadn't lined up its sprinter Damien Nazon, Jaan Kirsipuu was a hot favourite. "I was on his wheel but I had cramps and I could see that he didn't have his usual legs," Brad McGee said. Kirsipuu was sick indeed. He had a flu during the week before the race, which reduces the disappointment of Ag2r not being allowed to start the Tour of Flanders as an extra 26th team.

Grishkine, 28, got his third professional win in Rennes after the GP Tallinn in Estonia and the Russian championship last year. He turned pro in 1999 with Ballan in Italy, rode as an amateur in Italy again the year later and finally joined the Navigators in 2001. This team is right to come back every year to the GP de Rennes whose finishing circuit in town is very similar to the races in the US.

Results

1 Oleg Grishkine (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team               4.12.33 (44.9 km/h)
2 Andris Naudusz (Lat) CCC-Polsat
3 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin
4 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio
5 Aur�lien Clerc (Swi) Quick.Step-Davitamon
6 S�bastien Hinault (Fra) Credit Agricole
7 Henk Vogels (Aus) Navigators Cycling Team
8 Bradley McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com
9 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) Brioches La Boulang�re
10 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance
11 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Jean Delatour
12 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com
13 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron
14 M�d�ric Clain (Fra) Cofidis-Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone
15 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulang�re
16 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Brioches La Boulang�re
17 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) FDJeux.com
18 Andy Flickinger (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
19 Plamen Stoianov (Bul) Big.Mat-Auber 93
20 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Team fakta
21 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Credit Agricole
22 C�dric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis-Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone
23 Franck Pencole (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin
24 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Alessio
25 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron               0.04
26 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis-Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone           0.05
27 Olivier Perraudeau (Fra) Brioches La Boulang�re
28 Eric Leblacher (Fra) Credit Agricole
29 S�bastien Talabardon (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93
30 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Brioches La Boulang�re
31 Beno�t Poilvet (Fra) Credit Agricole
32 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Quick.Step-Davitamon
33 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quick.Step-Davitamon
34 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
35 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com
36 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93
37 C�dric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole
38 Frank Hoj (Den) Team fakta
39 Thierry De Groote (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
40 David Canada Gracia (Spa) Quick.Step-Davitamon
41 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) CCC-Polsat
42 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita) Cofidis-Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone
43 Fr�d�ric Finot (Fra) Jean Delatour
44 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Alessio
45 St�phane Barthe (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin                0.12
46 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole
47 Steve De Wolf (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
48 Fr�d�ric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis-Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone
49 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulang�re
50 Scott Sunderland (Aus) Team fakta
51 Ludovic Martin (Fra) Jean Delatour
52 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) FDJeux.com
53 Domenico Passuello (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon
54 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Cycling Team
55 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour
56 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole
57 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Navigators Cycling Team
58 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Domina Vacanze-Elitron
59 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin
60 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon
61 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Jean Delatour                       0.21
62 Lorenzo Cardellini (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron              0.24
63 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Alessio                                    0.28
64 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio
65 St�phane Berges (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
66 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio
67 Nicolas Meunier (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93
68 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon
69 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) Quick.Step-Davitamon
70 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) FDJeux.com
71 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron
72 David Lefevre (Fra) Jean Delatour
73 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) Jean Delatour
74 Beno�t Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com
75 Mickael Pichon (Fra) FDJeux.com
76 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulang�re
77 Ciaran Power (Irl) Navigators Cycling Team
78 Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron
79 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
80 Bj�rn Leukemans (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop                      0.33
81 Cyril Saugrain (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93
82 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team fakta                            2.45
83 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches La Boulang�re                     3.40
DNF Chris Wherry (USA) Navigators Cycling Team
DNF Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Cycling Team
DNF Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance
DNF Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
DNF Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance
DNF Danny Daelman (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
DNF Davy Commeyne (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
DNF Christoph Roodhooft (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
DNF Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
DNF Peter Wuyts (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop
DNF Bjarke Nielsen (Den) Team fakta
DNF Thomas Gr�nqvist (Swe) Team fakta
DNF Allan Johansen (Den) Team fakta
DNF Michael Skelde (Den) Team fakta
DNF Yan Tournier (Fra) Credit Agricole
DNF Micka�l Buffaz (Fra) Jean Delatour
DNF Lukasz Bodnar (Pol) CCC-Polsat
DNF Lukasz Podolski (Pol) CCC-Polsat
DNF Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) CCC-Polsat
DNF Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93
DNF Niels Brouzes (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93
DNF Nicolas Liboreau (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93
DNF Linas Balciunas (Ltu) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin
DNF Iva�lo Gabrovski (Bul) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin
DNF Serge� Krushevskiy (Uzb) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin
DNF Jay Sweet (Aus) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin
DNF Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
DNF Keisuke Miyazaki (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
DNF Takehiro Mizutani (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
DNF Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
DNF Taichi Suzuki (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
DNF Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
DNS Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team

Past winners

2002 Kirk O'Bee (USA) Navigators Cycling Team               4.23.10
2001 Davide Casarotto (Ita) Alessio             195.0 km in 4.28.22
2000 Gordon Fraser (Can) Mercury Cycling Team   183.4 km in 4.09.24
1999 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Mapei-Quick Step    193.5 km in 4.15.17
1998 Pascal Chanteur (Fra) Casino               193.5 km in 4.35.10
1997 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Cofidis             197.5 km in 4.24.08
1997 (2) Nicolas Jalabert (Fra)
1996 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra)
1995 Peter DeClerc (Bel)
1994 Gilles Delion (Fra)
1993 Eddy Seigneur (Fra)
1992 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra)
1991 Kim Andersen (DK)
1990 Edwin Bafcob (Bel)
1989 JanBogaert (Bel)
1988 Ronan Pensec (Fra)
1987 Jean-Francois Bernard (Fra)
1986 Eric Boyer(Fra)
1985 Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle (Fra)
1984 Bruno Wojtinek (Fra)
1983 Domenique Arnaud (Fra)
1982 Jean-Francois Rault (Fra)

Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com