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53rd Circuit de la Sarthe - 2.1
France, April 5-8, 2005
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Stage 3 - April 7: Angers - Sablé-sur-Sarthe, 195.4 km
Nazon opens the book for Crédit Agricole
By Jean-François Quénet in Sablé
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Damien Nazon gave Crédit Agricole its first win for the 2005 season, and it's also France's fourth win in three days of racing in the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire, which is quite unusual in professional cycling these days. The oldest of the two Nazon brothers was used to being the first man to score for his former team Bonjour, as he did in the 2000 Le Tour de Langkawi when Jean-René Bernaudeau created his team. Instead of January, he has had to wait for April to prove himself the fastest of the bunch.
"Above all, this is my first win in two years," he said. "And this is a very, very long time for a sprinter." Since the 2003 Tour de France, Nazon faced some physical troubles including a broken ankle. He also got divorced and changed team in the meantime. Last year, he only came back from an injury in June. "I was almost sure to ride the Tour de France but I didn't get selected," he recalled. "It was strange to me because I was used to do it. It broke something in the rhythm of my career. Now I hope I've started again for good."
Nazon came out of the shadow when he finished 4th in Cholet-Pays de Loire three weeks ago. He finally claimed a win in the region where he got his first pro success. Back in 1994, when he was a young amateur for Vendée U, he beat a few professional sprinters in stage 1 of the Circuit de la Sarthe. "I've always liked to come and race here," he said.
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"But I really didn't think I'd be able to win today," he added. "We only came across to the leaders with five or six hundred metres to go." For a long time, Freddy Bichot (Française des Jeux), Stéphane Pétilleau (Bretagne-Jean Floc'h) and Yohan Le Boulanger (RAGT) stayed in the front with a maximum lead of 1'30. Bichot and Pétilleau were still away at the bell lap with 10km to go, but three chasers were about to catch them: race leader Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), local hero Laurent Brochard (Bouygues Telecom) and Sébastien Joly (Crédit Agricole).
"I'm still more eager to win a stage than race for GC," Chavanel explained. "I mostly came here to prepare for the classics in the Ardennes, I'll ride GP Denain next week before Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. I haven't won the Circuit de la Sarthe yet. Brochard is strong as well. I believe the strongest men will be in the front tomorrow." The gruelling climb of Gazonfier, to be done four times on the final circuit of Le Mans, is hard enough for a true battle of the most on form riders.
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Since Discovery Channel rode strongly behind Chavanel and Brochard during stage 4, the American team must have some serious intentions for the last day. With four riders in the top 11 overall, there will be different options with Jurgen Van den Broeck, Volodimir Bileka, Fumi Beppu and Michael Barry, the latter being the biggest threat for the ambitious Frenchmen. It will also be interesting to see how far Jan Ullrich pushes himself on that climb. So far, he has given a good impression on the roads of the Pays de la Loire region. He doesn't look stressed and a few riders are amazed to see how strong he is in the bunch although this is his first race of the year.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) looking strong in his first race of the year
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) sits comfortably in the peloton
- Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) during stage 3
- Race leader Chavanel in the peloton
- The Cofidis team work hard to protect their captain Sylvain Chavanel
- Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) rides through yellow fields in stage 3
- Damien Nazon (Credit Agricole) wins the third stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- Stage 1 winner Anthony Ravard (Bouygues)
- Anthony Ravard, Jan Ullrich, race leader Sylvain Chavanel and Laurent Brochard on the start line of stage 3 of the Circuit de la Sarthe in Angers.
- Damien Nazon was happy to get his first win for Crédit Agricole
- It was a long time for Damien Nazon for a podium presentation
- Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) is a worthy leader for the Circuit de la Sarthe
Results
1 Damien Nazon (Fra) Crédit Agricole 4.35.50 2 Andris Nauduzs (Lat) Naturino Sapore 3 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 4 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) Miche 5 Volodymyr Bileka (Ukr) Discovery Channel 6 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R Prévoyance 7 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 8 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Crédit Agricole 9 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 10 Markus Fohten (Ger) Gerolsteiner 11 Andy Flickinger (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 12 Fabio Borghesi (Ita) Miche 13 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 14 John Nilsson (Swe) Auber 93 15 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française des Jeux 16 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Auber 93 17 Camille Bouquet (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 18 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 19 Alberto Martinez (Spa) Agritubel 20 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T- Mobile Team 21 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 22 Bas Giling (Ned) T- Mobile Team 23 Cédric Herve (Fra) Crédit Agricole 24 Hubert Dupont (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 25 Michael Barry (Can) Discovery Channel 26 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Naturino Sapore 27 Slawomir Kohut (Pol) Miche 28 Andre Korff (Ger) T- Mobile Team 29 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 30 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 31 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Discovery Channel 32 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 33 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 34 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 35 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) AG2R Prévoyance 36 Tristan Valentin (Fra) Auber 93 37 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 38 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel 39 Renaud Dion (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 40 Stefan Schreck (Ger) T- Mobile Team 41 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 42 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 43 Duret Sébastien (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 44 Laurent Paumier (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 45 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino Sapore 46 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 47 Eric Berthou (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 48 Julien Mazet (Fra) Auber 93 49 Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 50 David Le Lay (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 51 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 52 Francesco Failli (Ita) Naturino Sapore 53 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 54 Frédérik Veuchelen (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 55 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Française des Jeux 56 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 57 Benoît Salmon (Fra) Agritubel 58 Patrick McCarty (USA) Discovery Channel 59 Nicolas Portal (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 0.15 60 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Naturino Sapore 0.23 61 Maurizio Carta (Ita) Miche 1.26 62 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) T- Mobile Team 1.31 63 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Agritubel 1.52 64 William Bonnet (Fra) Auber 93 2.58 65 Nicolas Dulac (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 66 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Agritubel 67 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 68 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Cofidis 69 Rony Martias (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 70 Sven Montgomery (Swi) Gerolsteiner 3.52 71 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 72 Vincent Cantero (Fin) Bretagne - Jean Floch 4.12 73 Massimo Amichetti (Ita) Miche 74 Mathias Russ (Ger) Gerolsteiner 7.27 75 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Cofidis 76 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) Cofidis 77 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 78 Seweryn Kohut (Pol) Miche 79 Olaf Pollack (Ger) T- Mobile Team 80 Hervé Duclos - Lassalle (Fra) Cofidis 81 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Française des Jeux 82 Guido Trentin (Ita) Cofidis 83 Uwe Peschel (Ger) Gerolsteiner 84 Mads Kaggestad (Nor) Crédit Agricole 85 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 86 Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) Naturino Sapore 87 Frédéric Mainguenaud (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 23.57 General classification after stage 3 1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 11.31.23 2 Markus Fohten (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.05 3 Alberto Martinez (Spa) Agritubel 0.08 4 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel 0.10 5 Volodymyr Bileka (Ukr) Discovery Channel 0.11 6 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) AG2R Prévoyance 0.13 7 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 0.14 8 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Discovery Channel 9 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 0.15 10 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 0.18 11 Michael Barry (Can) Discovery Channel 12 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T- Mobile Team 0.19 13 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole 0.20 14 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R Prévoyance 0.24 15 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) Miche 16 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Naturino Sapore 0.26 17 Andris Nauduzs (Lat) Naturino Sapore 18 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino Sapore 0.28 19 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Crédit Agricole 0.29 20 Slawomir Kohut (Pol) Miche 21 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 22 Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 0.32 23 Fabio Borghesi (Ita) Miche 24 David Le Lay (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 0.35 25 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Auber 93 0.36 26 Jef Peeters (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 27 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.37 28 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 0.38 29 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 0.39 30 Eric Berthou (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 0.41 31 Tristan Valentin (Fra) Auber 93 0.43 32 Bas Giling (Ned) T- Mobile Team 0.44 33 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 34 Duret Sébastien (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 0.45 35 Laurent Paumier (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 36 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.46 37 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 0.47 38 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.49 39 Francesco Failli (Ita) Naturino Sapore 0.51 40 Andy Flickinger (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 0.52 41 Julien Mazet (Fra) Auber 93 42 Frédérik Veuchelen (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 0.54 43 Nicolas Portal (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 0.57 44 Andre Korff (Ger) T- Mobile Team 0.58 45 Patrick McCarty (USA) Discovery Channel 0.59 46 Damien Nazon (Fra) Crédit Agricole 47 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.00 48 Renaud Dion (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 1.02 49 John Nilsson (Swe) Auber 93 1.03 50 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 51 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.04 52 Cédric Herve (Fra) Crédit Agricole 1.06 53 Hubert Dupont (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 1.09 54 Camille Bouquet (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 55 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Crédit Agricole 56 Stefan Schreck (Ger) T- Mobile Team 1.25 57 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Naturino Sapore 1.32 58 Benoît Salmon (Fra) Agritubel 1.37 59 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 1.43 60 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 1.46 61 Maurizio Carta (Ita) Miche 2.12 62 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) T- Mobile Team 2.14 63 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Agritubel 3.04 64 William Bonnet (Fra) Auber 93 3.33 65 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Agritubel 3.39 66 Stéphane Auge (Fra) Cofidis 3.45 67 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 4.14 68 Sven Montgomery (Swi) Gerolsteiner 4.18 69 Rony Martias (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 4.20 70 Nicolas Dulac (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 4.30 71 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 4.48 72 Vincent Cantero (Fin) Bretagne - Jean Floch 5.48 73 Massimo Amichetti (Ita) Miche 5.56 74 Uwe Peschel (Ger) Gerolsteiner 7.39 75 Olaf Pollack (Ger) T- Mobile Team 8.04 76 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 8.13 77 Mads Kaggestad (Nor) Crédit Agricole 8.27 78 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) Cofidis 79 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Française des Jeux 8.40 80 Seweryn Kohut (Pol) Miche 8.45 81 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 8.48 82 Guido Trentin (Ita) Cofidis 8.52 83 Mathias Russ (Ger) Gerolsteiner 8.57 84 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Cofidis 9.21 85 Hervé Duclos - Lassalle (Fra) Cofidis 9.29 86 Gian Matteo Fagnini (Ita) Naturino Sapore 14.28 87 Frédéric Mainguenaud (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 26.24 Points classification 1 Damien Nazon (Fra) Crédit Agricole 48 pts 2 Andris Nauduzs (Lat) Naturino Sapore 43 3 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 37 4 Andy Flickinger (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 36 5 Fabio Borghesi (Ita) Miche 36 6 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) Miche 33 7 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 33 8 John Nilsson (Swe) Auber 93 25 9 Volodymyr Bileka (Ukr) Discovery Channel 24 10 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) AG2R Prévoyance 20 11 Olaf Pollack (Ger) T- Mobile Team 19 12 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Auber 93 14 13 Markus Fohten (Ger) Gerolsteiner 14 14 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R Prévoyance 11 15 Florent Brard (Fra) Agritubel 10 16 William Bonnet (Fra) Auber 93 10 17 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 10 18 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) Cofidis 10 19 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 9 20 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 9 21 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Agritubel 9 22 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française des Jeux 8 23 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Crédit Agricole 8 24 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Française des Jeux 7 25 Alberto Martinez (Spa) Agritubel 7 26 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 7 27 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel 6 28 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Naturino Sapore 6 29 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 6 30 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Cofidis 5 31 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 5 32 Uwe Peschel (Ger) Gerolsteiner 4 33 Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 3 34 Eric Berthou (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 3 35 Laurent Paumier (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 3 36 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 2 37 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Discovery Channel 1 38 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino Sapore 1 39 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 1 40 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 1 Mountains classification 1 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Naturino Sapore 18 pts 2 Pieter Mertens (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 18 3 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Agritubel 11 4 Eric Berthou (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 10 5 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R Prévoyance 9 6 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Française des Jeux 8 7 Stefan Schreck (Ger) T- Mobile Team 7 8 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Auber 93 6 9 Laurent Paumier (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech 6 10 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 6 11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Cofidis 6 12 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 5 13 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) Miche 3 14 Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floch 2 15 Renaud Dion (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 2 16 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 2 17 Mario De Sarraga (Spa) Naturino Sapore 1 18 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Crédit Agricole 1 19 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) Cofidis 1 Young rider classification 1 Markus Fohten (Ger) Gerolsteiner 11.31.28 2 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel 0.05 3 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) AG2R Prévoyance 0.08 4 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Discovery Channel 0.09 5 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) Miche 0.19 6 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.32 7 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 0.34 8 Tristan Valentin (Fra) Auber 93 0.38 9 Bas Giling (Ned) T- Mobile Team 0.39 10 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.41 11 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Chocolat Jacques - Wincor Nixdorf 0.42 12 Francesco Failli (Ita) Naturino Sapore 0.46 13 Julien Mazet (Fra) Auber 93 0.47 14 Patrick McCarty (USA) Discovery Channel 0.54 15 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.55 16 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.59 17 William Bonnet (Fra) Auber 93 3.28 18 Nicolas Dulac (Fra) RAGT Semences - MG Rover 4.25 19 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 4.43 20 Vincent Cantero (Fin) Bretagne - Jean Floch 5.43 21 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Bouygues Télécom 8.08 22 Mathias Russ (Ger) Gerolsteiner 8.52 23 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Cofidis 9.16
