Gautier concludes an all Breton affair with victory

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Cyril Gautier continued Bbox Bouygues Telecom's week of glory by claiming a solo victory at the Route Adélie in Vitré in the west of France. He was following the example of Pierrick Fedrigo, who won a stage and the overall classification at the Criterium International and of Steve Chainel and Sébastien Turgot, who found their way to success at the Three Days of De Panne.

The 23-year-old Gautier celebrated his first pro win during the stage from Trégueux in Brittany. He was the under 23 European champion in 2008 and joined Bbox Bouygues Telecom the year after learning his job in the ranks of the continental team of his region Bretagne-Schuller, of which Laurent Pichon was a promising runner up in Vitré.

The finish proved to be an all-Breton affair as Benoît Vaugrenard from Française des Jeux finished third.

Only French professional teams took part in the Route Adélie alongside some continental teams who got credit for creating the first breakaway of the day with Rostislav Mikhailov (ISD continental), Fredrik Johansson (Sprocket) and Hakan Nilsson (Differdange). They were joined later by Jérémy Galland (Saur-Sojasun), Jussi Veikkanen and Anthony Roux (Française des Jeux), Pierrick Fedrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Sébastien Minard (Cofidis), David Le Lay (AG2R), Laurent Pichon and Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Schuller).

As soon as this group was caught, Pichon and Minard countered to get away with Vaugrenard, Gautier, Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun), Vitaliy Popov (ISD continental). Lloyd Mondory (AG2R) was the first to jump across, followed by Jonathan Thiré (BigMat-Auber 93). This group of seven was formed with 50 kilometres to go, and the peloton gave up chasing them.

More than 10,000 people gathered in Vitré for the finish where there was a good chance a Breton would win. In fact, that happened with Gautier escaping solo with 10 kilometres to go.

"It brings a lot of joy," said the young man of his victory after the finish. "This is my first pro win and I get it in Brittany."

"I wasn't scheduled to do this race, but I was a late inclusion on the start list because I was going well at Paris-Nice, and this is close to home. I couldn't expect any better outcome."

Gautier said a special thank to Fedrigo, who paved the way for him. "After his win at the Criterium International, Pierrick was very marked," said Gautier. "He did the job at the beginning of the race (by getting in the break), and I concluded it."

"I've acquired confidence, thanks to the lessons I've learnt from him and Thomas Voeckler," said the winner Gautier.

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