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26th Tour de Normandie - 2.2
France, March 20-26, 2006
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 1 - March 21: Mondeville - Forges les Eaux, 211 km
Huff wins TIAA-CREF's first big race in Europe
By Jonathan Vaughters, TIAA-CREF team manager
"I started my sprint with 300 meters to go, which is way, way too long," Brad Huff panted after winning Team TIAA-CREF's first major race in Europe. "But, I got it anyway."
Today's 211km stage from Mondeville to Forges les Eaux was a long, cold, crosswindy affair. Rabobank was ever present at the front of the race, defending the lead of 2005 Tour of Normandie champion, Kai Reus. With 5 km to go and the race at the breaking point in the crosswind, Rabobank had sent another of their strongmen up the road, however, TIAA-CREF's Mike Creed and Mike Friedman chased it down, setting up a perfect leadout from Danny Pate and Taylor Tolleson. Tolleson pulled off a bit early, leaving Huff alone at 300 meters to go, but with enough power to win the uphill sprint.
"We were all over the place, as the sprint was nuts, but somehow everyone contributed and it worked well," recalled Huff.
In addition to winning, Huff's 10 second bonus makes him the new race leader in this venerable French stage race. "I was eight years old when Viatcheslav Ekimov won this race... I don't think I knew how to ride a bike yet, but he's my hero, so I'l try to do him proud," said Huff as he rode to kiss his first podium girl.
Tomorrow is a double day, so Team TIAA-CREF will have its hands full defending its first ever race lead.
Results
1 Charles Bradley Huff (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 5.55.38 2 Vidal Celis (Spa) Orbea 3 Saïd Haddou (Fra) Auber 93 4 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Cycle Racing Team Vang 5 Martin Garrido (Arg) Duja / Tavira 6 Jérémie Galland (Fra) CC Nogent Sur Oise 7 Krzysztof Jezowski (Pol) Knauf Team 8 Tomasz Lisowicz (Pol) Knauf Team 9 Wojciech Pawlak (Pol) Knauf Team 10 Roy Hegreberg (Nor) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 11 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) G.S.Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 12 Kristof De Zutter (Bel) Bodysol-Jong Vlaanderen 13 Chad Hartley (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 14 Mikel Gaztanaga (Spa) Atom 15 Iker Mezo (Spa) Orbea 16 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Rabobank 17 Marvin Van Der Pluijm (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec Cycl. Team 18 Emmanuel Bruand (Fra) Equipe De Normandie 19 Cédric Herve (Fra) G.S.Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 20 Alexey Shmidt (Rus) Omnibike Dymamo Moscow 21 Alexandre Urbain (Fra) CC Nogent Sur Oise 22 Tom Veelers (Ned) Rabobank 23 Henning Bommel (Ger) German National Team 24 Michael Morkov (Den) Team Gls 25 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank 26 Janek Tombak (Est) Kalev Chocolate Team 27 Kai Reus (Ned) Rabobank 28 Michael Friedman (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 29 Samuel Caldeira (Por) Duja / Tavira 30 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Rabobank 31 Julen Zubero (Spa) Orbea 32 Thomas Kristiansen (Den) Team Gls 33 Folker De Haan (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec Cycl. Team 34 Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) Team Gls 35 Michael Mourecek (Cze) Asc Dukla Praha 36 Ricardo Mestre (Por) Duja / Tavira 37 Danny Pate (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 38 Ivan Melero (Spa) Orbea 39 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Omnibike Dymamo Moscow 40 Rene Mandri (Fra) Auber 93 41 Paul Sneeboer (Ned) Duja / Tavira 42 Mart Ojavee (Est) Kalev Chocolate Team 43 Andri Lebedev (Est) Kalev Chocolate Team 44 Krassimir Vasilev (Bul) Duja / Tavira 45 Alexander Khatuntsev (Rus) Omnibike Dymamo Moscow 46 Taylor Tolleson (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 47 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Rietumu Bank-Riga 48 Emilien Berges (Fra) Auber 93 49 Marcin Sapa (Pol) Knauf Team 50 Michael Skelde (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 51 Frédéric Lubach (Fra) Equipe De Normandie 52 Josu Agirre (Spa) Orbea 53 Morten Christiansen (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 54 Jean-Michel Delarue (Fra) Equipe De Normandie 55 Kristoffer Nielsen (Den) Team Gls 56 Olegs Melehs (Lat) Rietumu Bank-Riga 57 Jaroslaw Rebiewski (Pol) Knauf Team 58 Carlos Andres Ibanez (Col) Atom 59 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec Cycl. Team 60 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank 61 Ivan Terenin (Rus) Omnibike Dymamo Moscow 62 David Le Lay (Fra) G.S.Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 63 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 64 Fulco Van Gulik (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec Cycl. Team 65 Francis De Greef (Bel) Bodysol-Jong Vlaanderen 66 Andrei Mustonen (Est) Kalev Chocolate Team 67 Mickael Leveau (Fra) Equipe De Normandie 68 Diego Alejandro Tamayo (Col) Atom 69 Daniels Ernestovskis (Lat) Rietumu Bank-Riga 70 Michael Creed (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 71 Charles Guilbert (Fra) G.S.Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 72 Milan Kadlec (Cze) Asc Dukla Praha 73 Robert Bartko (Ger) German National Team 74 Sébastien Harbonnier (Fra) CC Nogent Sur Oise 75 Romain Feillu (Fra) CC Nogent Sur Oise 76 Piotr Zaradny (Pol) Knauf Team 77 Leif Lampater (Ger) German National Team 78 Angel Vazquez (Spa) Atom 79 Herberts Pudans (Lat) Rietumu Bank-Riga 80 Jean Mespoulede (Fra) Auber 93 81 Lasse Bochmann (Den) Team Gls 82 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 93 83 Ivan Seledkov (Rus) Omnibike Dymamo Moscow 84 Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) G.S.Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 85 Maxime Mederel (Fra) Auber 93 86 Franck Vermeulen (Fra) Equipe De Normandie 87 Franck Charrier (Fra) CC Nogent Sur Oise 88 Rune Udby (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 89 Junya Sano (Jpn) Cycle Racing Team Vang 90 Sven Van Den Houtte (Bel) Bodysol-Jong Vlaanderen 91 Martin Blaha (Cze) Asc Dukla Praha 92 Mauricio Ortega (Col) Atom 93 Kristofers Racenajs (Lat) Rietumu Bank-Riga 94 Guido Fulst (Ger) German National Team 95 Robert Bengsch (Ger) German National Team 96 Petr Lazar (Cze) Asc Dukla Praha 97 Michael Berling (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 98 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) G.S.Bretagne-Jean Floc'h 1.04 99 Normunds Lasis (Lat) Rietumu Bank-Riga 1.22 100 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Cycle Racing Team Vang 1.40 101 Alan Perez (Spa) Orbea 1.42 102 Marek Salermo (Est) Kalev Chocolate Team 1.56 103 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Omnibike Dymamo Moscow 104 Jiri Hochmann (Cze) Asc Dukla Praha 2.22 105 Vincent Cantero (Fra) CC Nogent Sur Oise 106 Maarten Neyens (Bel) Bodysol-Jong Vlaanderen 3.07 107 Steven De Neff (Bel) Bodysol-Jong Vlaanderen 108 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol-Jong Vlaanderen 109 Tony Cavet (Fra) Equipe De Normandie 4.05 110 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Cycle Racing Team Vang 111 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Cycle Racing Team Vang 112 Andreas Müller (Ger) German National Team 5.33 113 Jan Kunta (Cze) Asc Dukla Praha 11.34 114 Dennis Smit (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec Cycl. Team 115 Milton Javier Ramos (Hon) Atom 17.32 DNS Janar Jermakov (Est) Kalev Chocolate Team DNS Anders Lund (Den) Team Gls DNF Takehiro Mizutani (Jpn) Cycle Racing Team Vang DNF Kevin Sluimer (Ned) Ubbink-Syntec Cycl. Team DNF Luis Bartolomeu (Por) Duja / Tavira General classification after stage 1 1 Charles Bradley Huff (USA) Team TIAA-CREF 6.03.02 2 Kai Reus (Ned) Rabobank 0.02 3 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank 0.05 4 Saïd Haddou (Fra) Auber 93 0.07 5 Emilien Berges (Fra) Auber 93 Courtesy of velomania.net
