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25th GP de la Ville de Rennes - 1.3
France, April 4, 2004
2003 Results Results Past winners
Aug sprints for himself
By Mélanie Leveau in Rennes
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As a tradition, the Grand Prix de Rennes finished with a bunch sprint despite a race-long break by two French riders hoping to foil the sprinters. It wasn't to be, and Domina Vacanze's Andrus Aug proved the fastest sprint this year, crossing the line ahead of Lithuanian Saulius Ruskys (Oktos-Saint Quentin) and American Kirk O'Bee (Navigators), winner of the race in 2002.
As soon as the peloton started its way around the Breton capital of Rennes, French riders Christophe Le Mevel (Crédit Agricole) and Nicolas Inaudi (Ag2r-Prévoyance) decided to make a move and went clear on the breakaway of the day. They build a lead of 13 minutes on a peloton intent on making the most of the sunny weather and green landscapes. The main field rode a relaxed tempo, only starting its chase after 100 kilometres of racing, knowing that it wouldn't be easy for the two brave escapees to keep an advantage until the end of the 192 kilometre race.
Despite their perfect cooperation during the 150 kilometres in the countryside, Le Mevel and Inaudi arrived at the finishing circuit in Rennes with only two minutes left on a peloton now clearly decided to put an end to the breakaway. That was the exact moment Nicolas Inaudi chose to take his chance. He attacked alone, leaving his companion Le Mevel to fight alone against the Acqua & Sapone team leading the peloton on a high speed chase through the city streets.
Inaudi, whose uncle rode for the French team Lejeune and finished fifth in a world championship, had 58" when he crossed the line with three laps to go of the 19.5 kilometre circuit. The pressure in the main field was too great for both Inaudi and Le Mevel, and they were soon swallowed by the group, still under the control of Acqua & Sapone. The team was hoping to take advantage of Alessandro Bertolini's form after his fourth place last Friday in the Route Adélie.
Hoping to carry on after his teammate Anthony Geslin's win on Friday, Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangère) attacked but could only get hundred meters with 13 kilometres to go. The race finished with a sprint, and despite the Acqua & Sapone team's hard work, it was Domina Vacanze rider Andrus Aug who took the win.
Andrus Aug, 32, is an experienced rider, a key leadout man for former world champion Mario Cipollini. He finished second last February behind his leader in a Tour Méditerranéen stage. He was also had strong performances at the Tour of Morocco (winning five stages), the Peace Race, the GP de la Solidarité, and Tour of Langkawi. He said on the podium that his main goal for the season is the Tour de France, where he hopes to ride for his leader Cipollini.
Despite his absence in the last two rounds, Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) is still the leader of the Coupe de France, ahead of Anthony Geslin who did not manage to take the lead, finishing 9th today.
Photography
Images by Mélanie Leveau
- Christophe Le Mevel (Crédit Agricole) and Nicolas Inaudi (Ag2r) went on a day-long escape
- Inaudi dumped Le Mevel to go it alone in the finale
- Acqua & Sapone did most of the chasing, only to be foiled by Aug
- Andrus Aug takes the GP Rennes sprint ahead of Ruskys and O'Bee
- The podium (from left) - Salius Ruskys, Andrus Aug, Kirk O'Bee
- Aug hefts his GP Rennes trophy
- Roman Luhovyy (RAGT Semences-MG Rover) gets the prize for best young rider
Results - 192.3 km
1 Andrus Aug (Est) Domina Vacanze 4.50.31 2 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Oktos 3 Kirk O'Bee (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 4 Takehiro Mizutani (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 5 Crescenzo D'amore (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 6 Roman Luhovyy (Ukr) R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 7 Sergio Marinangeli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 8 Freddy Bichot (Fra) FDJeux.com 9 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 10 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio-Bianchi 11 Ludovic Auger (Fra) Auber 93 12 Björn Leukemans (Bel) MrBookmaker-Palmans 13 Gert Vanderaerden (Bel) MrBookmaker-Palmans 14 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 15 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Credit Agricole 16 Jean-Michel Tessier (Fra) Oktos 17 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Cofidis, le credit par Telephone 18 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Auber 93 19 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 20 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com 21 Maxim Gourov (Kaz) Oktos 22 Mickaël Pichon (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 23 Stefan Adamsson (Swe) Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli 24 Eric Leblacher (Fra) Credit Agricole 25 Alexandre Naulleau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 26 Jeff Louder (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 27 Eric Berthou (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 28 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 29 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Auber 93 30 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 31 Martin Derganc (Slo) Domina Vacanze 32 Rony Martias (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 33 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 34 Tristan Valentin (Fra) Auber 93 35 Franck Pencole (Fra) Oktos 36 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) Oktos 37 Paolo Valoti (Ita) Domina Vacanze 38 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 39 Enrico Degano (Ita) Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli 40 Claus Michael Moller (Den) Alessio-Bianchi 0.08 41 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli 42 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 0.16 43 Vassili Davidenko (Rus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 44 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Credit Agricole 0.27 45 John Nilsson (Swe) Auber 93 46 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli 47 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Alessio-Bianchi 0.31 48 Christophe Rinero (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 0.35 49 Benjamin Levecot (Fra) Oktos 50 Gilles Bouvard (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 51 Yasutaka Tashiro (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 52 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) MrBookmaker-Palmans 53 Jens Renders (Bel) MrBookmaker-Palmans 54 Bruno Thibout (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 55 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) FDJeux.com 56 Massimiliano Gentili (Ita) Domina Vacanze 57 Eddy Serri (Ita) Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli 58 Henk Vogels (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 59 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 0.48 60 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) FDJeux.com 0.53 61 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 0.56 62 Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Domina Vacanze 1.04 63 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 1.11 64 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 1.38 65 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Domina Vacanze 66 Francesco Failli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 67 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 68 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 69 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 1.51 70 Antonio Salomone (Ita) Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli 71 David Derepas (Fra) FDJeux.com 2.00 72 Renaud Dion (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 2.21 73 Ciaran Power (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 2.38 74 Eddy Lembo (Fra) MrBookmaker-Palmans 2.53 75 Ben Day (Aus) MrBookmaker-Palmans 4.36 76 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 77 Kazuo Inoue (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 78 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MrBookmaker-Palmans 79 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 80 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Credit Agricole 81 David George (RSA) Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli 82 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 83 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 84 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) Oktos 85 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor 86 Frédéric Finot (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 87 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, le credit par Telephone 88 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJeux.com 89 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJeux.com 90 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) Team Bridgestone Anchor
Past winners
2003 Oleg Grishkine (Rus) Navigators Cycling Team 4.12.33 (44.9 km/h) 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
