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Tour de Vendée: Lucon - La Roche-sur-Yon 206km

Brutt claims solo Vendée victory

By:
Jean-François Quénet
Published:
October 4, 2009, 17:43,
Updated:
October 4, 2009, 19:13

Brutt earns first win of season

Pavel Brutt (Team Katusha) wins the 2009 Tour de Vendée.

Pavel Brutt (Team Katusha) wins the 2009 Tour de Vendée.

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Russia's Pavel Brutt soloed the final ten kilometres of the Tour de Vendée to earn his first victory of the 2009 season. "I won't slow down until the end of the Tour of Lombardy", Brutt said, still eager to race at the end of a lengthy road season.

Brutt, along with teammates Alexandre Botcharov and Sergeï Ivanov, was part of a 16-man breakaway that decided the 38th Tour de Vendée. Katusha and Agritubel had strength in numbers with three riders each in the decisive move, but Agritubel's Brice Feillu, Nicolas Jalabert and Nicolas Vogondy proved to be no match for the Russian ProTour team. Local hero Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues Telecom) was also unable to counter Katusha's tactics with only the lone trainee Jérôme Cousin at his side.

"We decided we should make the front group explode in the last ten kilometres", said Brutt who attacked first and was fantastically protected by Ivanov. The teamwork by Ivanov was payback for all the work done by the rider from St. Petersburg for the Russian champion when Ivanov won the Amstel Gold Race earlier this year.

At Katusha, Brutt is highly regarded as a team player and has grown as a rider with the Russian ProTour squad. Brutt was a member of the Continental team Tinkoff when he placed third at the 2006 Tour de Bretagne. Once Tinkoff became a Pro Continental team, he delivered the first win for the team as he claimed stage nine of the 2007 Le Tour de Langkawi in Seremban. In 2008 Brutt earned the most prestigious victory of his career thus far, stage five of the Giro d'Italia in Contursi Terme.

"I'm still in a learning process of my career", said the 27-year-old. "I learn a lot from Ivanov and I must say that cycling is much easier with him." The Russian champion is still frustrated from the world championship where he sought the rainbow jersey. The masterpiece of the Katusha team in Vendée indicates that Andreï Tchmil's squad remains focused and competitive for the final two weeks of the 2009 season.

The Tour de Vendée was the last leg of the French Cup but series leader Jimmy Casper (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) had an insurmountable lead and didn't take part. Casper instead chose to ride the Circuit Franco-Belge in preparation for Sunday's Paris-Tours. With Mathieu Ladagnous finishing second behind Brutt in the group that also included Finnish teammate Jussi Veikkanen, Française des Jeux secured the French Cup team title over outgoing Agritubel.

Results
1 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Team Katusha 4:38:40  
2 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française Des Jeux 0:00:10  
3 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom    
4 Florian Vachon (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole    
5 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller    
6 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel    
7 Steven Van Vooren (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly Team    
8 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale    
9 Julien Fouchard (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne    
10 Alexandre Botcharov (Ltu) Team Katusha    
11 Jérémy Galland (Fra) Besson Chaussures - Sojasun    
12 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel    
13 Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 0:00:14  
14 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Française Des Jeux 0:00:15  
15 Sergueï Ivanov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:17  
16 Koldo Fernandez de Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:21  
17 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel    
18 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Française Des Jeux    
19 Nicolay Trussov (Rus) Team Katusha    
20 Steven Tronet (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole    
21 Julien Simon (Fra) Besson Chaussures - Sojasun    
22 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93    
23 Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne    
24 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller    
25 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel    
26 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Besson Chaussures - Sojasun    
27 Erki Putsep (Est) Cycling Club Bourgas    
28 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller    
29 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Auber 93    
30 Yury Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R La Mondiale    
31 Sébastien Harbonnier (Fra) Continental Team Differdange    
32 Gennadi Mikhaïlov (Rus) Team Katusha    
33 Mathieu Claude (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom    
34 Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne    
35 Lazlo Bodrogi (Fra) Team Katusha    
36 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) Française Des Jeux    
37 Rémy Di Grégorio (Fra) Française Des Jeux 0:00:29  
38 Benoît Sinner (Fra) Besson Chaussures - Sojasun    
39 Morten Knudsen (Den) Continental Team Differdange    
40 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom    
41 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:30  
42 Blaise Sonnery (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    
43 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) BBox Bouygues Telecom 0:00:32  
44 William Bonnet (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom 0:00:36  
45 Anthony Roux (Fra) Française Des Jeux    
46 Florian Guillou (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole    
47 Gael Malacarne (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller 0:00:39  
48 Tristan Valentin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne    
49 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller    
50 Florian Morizot (Fra) Besson Chaussures - Sojasun 0:00:43  
51 Stephane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    
52 Jef Peeters (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly Team    
53 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    
54 David Lelay (Fra) Agritubel    
55 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale    
56 Julien Mazet (Fra) Auber 93    
57 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole    
58 Franck Bouyer (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom    
59 Jean-Marc Marino (Fra) Besson Chaussures - Sojasun    
60 Dimitri Champion (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller 0:00:48  
61 Mikael Chérel (Fra) Française Des Jeux 0:00:57  
62 Jérôme Cousin (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom    
63 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 0:01:01  
64 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française Des Jeux    
65 Cyril Bessy (Fra) Besson Chaussures - Sojasun 0:01:08  
66 Damien Gaudin (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom 0:01:09  
67 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller 0:01:15  
68 Maxime Mederel (Fra) Auber 93 0:01:17  
69 Jonathan Thire (Fra) Auber 93    
70 Johan Mombaerts (Fra) Auber 93    
71 Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:01:22  
72 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 0:01:28  
73 Hakan Nilsson (Swe) Continental Team Differdange 0:01:29  
74 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:50  
75 Ivan Velasco Murillo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:02:01  
76 Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi    
77 Yohan Cauquil (Fra) Cycling Club Bourgas 0:02:08  
78 Janek Tombak (Est) Cycling Club Bourgas    
DNF Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Auber 93    
DNF Nadir Haddou (Fra) Auber 93    
DNF Nicolas Jouanno (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller    
DNF Mart Ojavee (Est) Cycling Club Bourgas    
DNF Hristomir Angelov (Bul) Cycling Club Bourgas    
DNF Petar Eustatiev (Bul) Cycling Club Bourgas    
DNF Martin Prazdnovsky (Svk) Cycling Club Bourgas    
DNF Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Cycling Club Bourgas    
DNF Nicolas Baldo (Fra) Continental Team Differdange    
DNF Patrick Gressnich (Lux) Continental Team Differdange    
DNF Fredrik Johansson (Swe) Continental Team Differdange    
DNF Tom Thill (Lux) Continental Team Differdange    
DNF Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne    
DNF Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne    
DNF Romain Villa (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne    
DNF Andoni Lafuente (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi    
DNF Aitor Hernandez Gutiérrez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi    
DNF Javier Aramendia Lorente (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi    
DNF Jorge Azanta Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi    
DNF Pierre Cazaux (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole    
DNF Bastien Delrot (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole    
DNF Mark Cassidy (Irl) An Post - Sean Kelly Team    
DNF Benny De Schrooder (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly Team    
DNF Matthew Brammeier (GBr) An Post - Sean Kelly Team    
DNF Paidi O'Brien (Irl) An Post - Sean Kelly Team    
DNF Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Team Katusha