55th Paris-Bourges - 1.1

France, October 6, 2005

2004 Results Results Past winners

Bak keeps coming back, Gilbert secures French cup

By Jean-François Quénet in Bourges

One more win in France
Photo ©: JF Quenet

Two and half weeks after winning the Tour de l'Avenir, Lars Ytting Bak returned to France as a winner in Paris-Bourges, the last round of the French cup that was won by Philippe Gilbert, one year after Thor Hushovd.

"I didn't have great morale at the start of the race, and not good legs either," Bak said. The first important breakaway involved Frédéric Finot (Française des Jeux), Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom), Gregory Habeaux (Landbouwkrediet), Jean-Patrick Nazon (Ag2r) and Mickaël Buffaz (Agritubel). They got six minutes lead but Crédit Agricole took charge of the chase.

The five man group was overtaken with 55 kilometres to go by a trio composed of Gilbert, as well as Vladimir Gussev (CSC) and Staf Scheirlinckx (Cofidis), later joined by another CSC rider, Matti Breschel, who was very unfortunate to have a flat tyre at the wrong time. With 35km to go, Gilbert was too strong for his companions but Scheirlinckx counter-attacked him and rode away by himself. The Belgian stayed alone until 12km to go when he saw Bak, Breschel again, Gregory Rast (Phonak) and Benoît Vaugrenard (Française des Jeux) coming across. On the final circuit, Bak attacked twice, the right move occurred when Vaugrenard had chased Breschel down after chasing Bak down as well. At the 1.5km mark, the 25 years old Dane finally made it.

It was another excellent team ride by CSC in winning Paris-Bourges. After completing the Tour of Spain, Vaugrenard grabbed the second place, although the peloton almost caught the rest of the break.

The FDJ boys
Photo ©: JF Quenet

Another triple joy came for FDJ as they won the French cup for teams, Gilbert claiming the individual and best young rider classification. "It's great for our sponsor to win the French cup," the Belgian commented. "As for myself, it wasn't a major goal this year." Out of the 14 legs of the French cup, Gilbert only competed in five of these one day races, but he won three of them: the Tour du Haut-Var in February, the Trophée des Grimpeurs in May and the Polynormande in July.

The always motivated Gilbert also saw Paris-Bourges as a warm-up for Paris-Tours on Sunday. He'll ride the Tour of Lombardy as well, before finishing his third pro season at the Chrono des Herbiers, the famous French time trial held on October 16th with the revenge of the World Championship between Michael Rogers and Fabian Cancellara.

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Jean-Francois Quenet

Kurt-Asle Arvesen and Thor Hushovd the two Norwegian stars chatting before the start in Gien.
One more win in France for Lars Ytting Bak (CSC).
Veteran Lars Michaelsen (CSC) a former winner of Paris-Bourges, won the points classification.
The two Lars' can be happy with their coup.
Lars Ytting Bak and runner up Benoît Vaugrenard of France.
Philippe Gilbert won the 2005 French cup.
Française des Jeux is probably the best French team this year
The FDJ boys look ready for a soccer game.

Images by Daniel Schamps

Eventual winner Lars Ytting Bak (CSC) rides alone
THe riders depart in the fog of Paris
Frédéric Finot (Française des Jeux) finished lower in the final order
Lars Bak (CSC) is the proud owner of another trophy
Mickaël Buffaz (Agritubel) rides ahead of Thomas Voeckler and Jean Patrick Nazon
Lars Bak and Benoît Vaugrenard take a moment on the podium
Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) rides at the head of the chasing group

Results - 196 km

1 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Team CSC                            4.31.35
2 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux                   0.10
3 Grégory Rast (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems
4 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC
5 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone    0.20
6 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems
7 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Crédit Agricole
8 Romain Feillu (Fra)  AG2r Prévoyance
9 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC
10 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française des Jeux
11 Stefan van Dijk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech
12 Leonardo Duque (Col) Jartazi Granville Team
13 Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux
14 Tom Veelers (Ned) Rabobank Continental
15 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
16 Renaud Dion (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences
17 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
18 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team CSC
19 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française des Jeux
20 Remco Van Der Ven (Ned) Rabobank Continental
21 Mark Scanlon (Irl) AG2r Prévoyance
22 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance
23 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
24 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h
25 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim
26 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
27 Sascha Urweider (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems
28 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Auber 93
29 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
30 William Bonnet (Fra) Auber 93
31 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Française des Jeux
32 Aivaras Baranauskas (Ltu) AG2r Prévoyance
33 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Jartazi Granville Team
34 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel
35 Serge Pauwels (Ned) Rabobank Continental
36 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole
37 Eric Berthou (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences
38 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC
39 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2r Prévoyance
40 Benjamin Levecot (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences
41 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
42 Jean Claude Lebeau
43 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance
44 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française des Jeux
45 Jose Cataluna Guiterrez
46 Benoît Salmon (Fra) Agritubel
47 Thom Van Dulmen (Ned) Rabobank Continental
48 Julien Mazet (Fra) Auber 93                                 0.37
49 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Rabobank Continental
50 Hubert Dupont (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences
51 Steve Zampieri (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems
52 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h
53 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
54 Peter Ronsse (Bel) Jartazi Granville Team
55 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems
56 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance
57 Allan Johansen (Den) Team CSC
58 Johan Coenen (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech
59 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Française des Jeux
60 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences
61 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h
62 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
63 Christophe Rinero (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences
64 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
65 Guido Trenti (USA) Quickstep
66 Steven Kleynen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - T Interim
67 Christophe Thebault (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h
68 John Gadret (Fra) Jartazi Granville Team
69 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech
70 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
71 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences
72 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech
73 Maxime Méderel (Fra) Auber 93
74 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Agritubel
75 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
76 Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) Bretagne-Jean Floc'h
77 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker.com - SportsTech             0.47
78 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                      0.52
79 William Walker (Aus) Rabobank Continental                   0.56
80 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank Continental
81 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Crédit Agricole                    1.52
82 Saul Raisin (USA) Crédit Agricole
83 Gregory Habeaux (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago             1.54
84 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom

Final coupe de France standings

1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux

Past winners

2004 Jerome Pineau (Fra) Brioches la Boulangere
2003 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole
2002 Allan Johansen (Den) EDS-fakta
2001 Florent Brard (Fra) Festina
2000 Laurent Brochard (Fra)
1999 Daniele Nardello (Ita)
1998 Ludo Dierckxsens (Bel)
1997 Laurent Roux (Fra)
1996 Tristan Hoffman (Ned)
1995 Daniele Nardello (Ita)
1994 Lars Michaelsen (Den)
1993 Bruno Cornillet (Fra)
1991 Andrej Tchmil (Rus)
1990 Laurent Jalabert (Fra)
1988 Patrice Esnault (Fra)
1987 Kim Andersen (Den)
1986 Domenique Lecrocq (Fra)
1985 Niki Rüttimann (Swi)
1983 Stephen Roche (Ire)
1982 Didier Vanoverschelde (Fra)
1981 Francis Castaing (Fra)
1980 Yves Hézard (Fra)
1979 Jean-René Bernaudeau (Fra)
1978 Regis Ovion (Fra)
1977 R. Delepine (Fra)
1976 Jean-Paul Molineris (Fra)
1975 Jean-Paul Danguilaume (Fra)
1974 Barry Hoban (GB)
1973 A. Berland (Fra)
1972 Cyril Guimard (Fra)
1971 Ricci (Fra)
1957 Raymond Guegan (Fra)
1956 Joseph Morvan (Fra)
1955 Jean-Marie Cieleska (Fra)
1954 Jean Stablinski (Fra)
1953 Robert Varnajo (Fra)
1952 Stanislas Bober (Fra)
1951 Jean-Marie Goasmat (Fra)
1950 Armand Audaire (Fra)
1949 Marcel Dussault (Fra)
1948 Marcel Dussault (Fra)
1947 Albert Bourlon (Fra)
1925 Deschamps (Fra)
1924 Marcel Bidot (Fra)
1923 Jean Brunier (Fra)
1922 Godart (Fra)
1917 Charles Juseret (Bel)
1913 Marceau Narcy (Fra)


Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com