Delaplace comes home as a hero

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Following a very promising Tour de France where he was not only the youngest rider in the field but also present in a number of breakaways, Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) made his dream a reality. His dream was to win the Polynormande, the French Cup race of his region in the province of the Manche in Normandy. Delaplace hails from Cherbourg on the English Channel.

“Only six years ago I won this race in the U17 category, time goes fast,” said the former junior French champion, who already imposed himself in that leg of the Madiot Trophy – a series of six races for riders who are 15 and 16 years of age – in 2005.

Ag2r-La Mondiale’s Mikaël Chérel was even more of a local than Delaplace, as he hails from St-Brice-de-Landelles only three kilometres away from St-Martin-de-Landelles, the home of famed Tour de France speaker Daniel Mangeas.

Both Chérel and Delaplace made the 16-man breakaway that kicked off early with Jérémy Roy and Arnaud Gérard (FDJ), Dimitri Champion (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Yoann Bagot and Julien El Farès (Cofidis), Kevin Reza (Europcar), Jérémie Galland (Saur-Sojasun), Thomas Degand (Vérandas Willems), Bert Scheirlinckx (Landbouwkrediet), Sylvain Georges (BigMat-Auber 93), Florian Vachon and Renaud Dion (Bretagne-Schuller), Steven Tronet (Roubaix) and Eduardo Gonzalo (La Pomme-Marseille).

The peloton gave up chasing after half way and five riders broke clear with 40km to go: the two super motivated local boys Delaplace and Chérel, along with El Farès, Vachon and Gérard. With 20km to go, Delaplace attacked solo on the same climb, the côte de la Pigeonnière, where he won as an U17 in 2005.

He built up a lead of 1.44 for himself by the finishing line. “But until 300 metres to go, I didn’t dare to believe that I was going to win,” he said. “I was still afraid of a flat tyre or a crash until the last kilometre.”

Tony Gallopin (Cofidis) sprinted for sixth place to take the lead in the French Cup after ten legs and with four remaining: Classic de l’Indre (August 21), Tour du Doubs (September 4), GP Isbergues (September 18), Tour de Vendée (October 2).

“I’ll do them all and try and win it,” Gallopin said. With 117 points, he leads Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM), who is on 110, Georges (93) and Delaplace (90).

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