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Châteauroux Classic de l'Indre Trophée Fenioux - 1.1
France, August 26, 2007
2006 Results Results Past winners
CJ Sutton says good bye and thank you to Cofidis
By Jean-François Quénet in Châteauroux, France
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Before joining American Girona-based Team Slipstream, young Australian sprinter Chris Sutton thanked his first professional team, Cofidis, by winning the French Cup race Classic de l'Indre - a typical sprinter's event in Châteauroux in the center of France. Sydney-born Sutton brilliantly out sprinted Aurélien Clerc (Bouygues Telecom) and Stefan van Dijck (Wiesenhof) to take victory in the 200 kilometre race.
Sutton went away early on with team-mate Sylvain Chavanel, as well as Jérémy Roy (Française des Jeux), Nicolas Crosbie (Bouygues Telecom), Yann Pivois (Bretagne-Armor Lux) and Tanel Kangert (Ag2r). "I felt easy in that break," said Sutton. "I came out pretty well from the Tour du Limousin. That was a really hard race with a lot of rain, I was quite depressed there but I had very good legs today after that."
Held in the flat province of Indre, the Classic of Châteauroux featured a few breakaways but none would take hold as teams rode for their sprinters. Nicolas Hartmann (Cofidis), Mathieu Perget (Caisse d'Epargne), Dimitri De Fauw (Chocolates Jacques) and Koji Fukushima (Nippo-Meitan) got a maximum lead of 4.15, the largest break of the day. They were in the front when the race entered the final circuit in Châteauroux with 53 kilometres remaining. But French ProTour squads Française des Jeux and Bouygues Telecom were very active in the bunch, with the intention to the lead the sprint for Sébastien Chavanel and Aurélien Clerc respectively.
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De Fauw resisted initially but was caught with 20 km remaining. Albert Timmer (Skil-Shimano), Ignatas Konovalovas (Crédit Agricole) and Bogdan Bondariew (Intel-Action) counter-attacked and stayed in the front for the following six kilometres. Eric Berthou, contesting his last race for Caisse d'Epargne before moving to Crédit Agricole, accelerated with Freddy Bichot (Agritubel). Then defending champion Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel) tried his luck alone again but was caught with five kilometres to go. The last riders to go off the front were Pierre Rolland (Crédit Agricole) and Lukasz Bodnar (Intel-Action), but the duo's dream ended in the final kilometre as the peloton reabsorbed them on the way to a bunch sprint.
"I wasn't well positioned," Sutton explained. "I was maybe in 10th place with 400 metres to go. I started sprinting pretty late. I went to the right, then to the left, and I made it."
"This morning in the camper I told my team-mates that I would win, and when we passed the line for the first time with 50km to go, I asked everyone to work for me," he reflected.
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Youngster Yann Huguet, who was in second place at the French Cup standings, gave a fabulous hand to 'CJ'. "Everyone did a good job," Sutton said. "I have improved at Cofidis and I wanted to thank them with a win before moving on to Slipstream. I've trained a lot with Matt White. With him as a director, I believe I can improve even more."
Sutton will continue his season with Tour du Poitou-Charentes, GP Plouay, Paris-Brussels, GP Fourmies, GP Wallonie and GP Isbergues.
Sébastien Chavanel (Française des Jeux) became the new leader of the French Cup by finishing fifth in Châteauroux but is only one point ahead of Rémi Pauriol (Crédit Agricole). With two events remaining, the French Cup is full of suspense.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- A nice trophy for Chris Sutton (Cofidis) who will head to American squad Team Slipstream next year.
- Chris Sutton (Cofidis) was congratulated by Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme and race sponsor Christian Fenioux.
- Aurélien Clerc went close to winning for the first time for Bouygues Telecom.
- Sébastien Chavanel (Française des Jeux) is the new leader of the French cup.
- Koji Fukushima (Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada) entertained the crowd during his last appearance in Europe this year.
Images by Freddy Guerin
- Riders from the Asian squads catch up prior to the start.
- After 200 kilometres of riding the main bunch crosses the line.
- Australian Christopher Sutton (Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone) sprints to victory.
- Christopher Sutton (Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone) took victory for his French squad.
- Sutton's hoping to shake this guy's hand on a different podium in France one day.
- He might not have won the race but at least this AG2r Prévoyance rider won't go hungry.
Results - 200 km
1 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 4.26.56 (44.955 km/h) 2 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 3 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Team Wiesenhof Felt 4 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 5 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux 6 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 7 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 8 André Schulze (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Felt 9 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 10 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 11 Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Skil - Shimano 12 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen 13 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Auber 14 Paul Moucheraud (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 15 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 16 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen 17 Sjef De Wilde (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 18 Janek Tombak (Est) Jartazi Promo Fashion 19 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 20 Philipp Ludescher (Aut) Team Volksbank 21 Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 22 Christophe Kern (Fra) Crédit Agricole 23 Robby Meul (Bel) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 24 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen 25 Yann Huguet (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 26 Guillaume Le Floch (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 27 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen 28 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Agritubel 29 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Felt 30 Steven De Decker (Bel) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 31 Mikel Gaztanaga Echeverria (Spa) Agritubel 32 Christian Pömer (Aut) Team Volksbank 33 Benjamin Johnson (Aus) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 34 Pascal Hungerbühler (Swi) Team Volksbank 35 Renaud Dion (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 36 Christophe Diguet (Fra) Auber 37 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Roubaix Lille Metropole 38 David Boucher (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 39 Matti Helminen (Fin) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 40 Benoît Sinner (Fra) Agritubel 41 Kevin Neirynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 42 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 43 Bastiaan Giling (Ned) Team Wiesenhof Felt 44 David Navas Chica (Spa) AG2r Prévoyance 45 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 46 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 47 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen 48 Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 49 Peter Stetina (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 50 Renaud Pioline (Fra) Auber 51 Yohan Bagot (Fra) Crédit Agricole 52 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 53 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 54 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 55 Noan Lelarge (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 56 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 57 Cédric Pineau (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 58 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Crédit Agricole 59 Michael Lange (USA) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 60 Fang Xu (Chn) Skil - Shimano 61 Tanel Kangert (Est) AG2r Prévoyance 62 Mathieu Drouilly (Fra) Jartazi Promo Fashion 63 Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 64 Yoshiyuki Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 65 Denis Robin (Fra) Agritubel 66 Vytautas Kaupas (Ltu) Jartazi Promo Fashion 67 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2r Prévoyance 68 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen 69 Mickael Larpe (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 70 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Française des Jeux 71 Kane Oakley (Aus) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 72 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 73 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française des Jeux 74 Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 75 Damien Monier (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 76 Lilian Jégou (Fra) Française des Jeux 77 Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 78 Stijn Hoornaert (Bel) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 79 Jin Long (Chn) Skil - Shimano 80 Florian Morizot (Fra) Auber 81 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 82 David Lelay (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 83 Kilian Patour (Fra) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 84 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 85 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) Intel - Action 86 Yann Pivois (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux 87 Florent Brard (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 88 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.13 89 Rony Martias (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 90 Rhys Pollock (Aus) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed 91 Jean-Marc Marino (Fra) Crédit Agricole 92 Yohan Cauquil (Fra) Jartazi Promo Fashion 93 Mathieu Criquielion (Bel) Jartazi Promo Fashion 94 Maxime Méderel (Fra) Auber 95 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 96 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen 97 Nicolas Crosbie (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 98 Erki Pütsep (Est) Bouygues Telecom 99 Julien Belgy (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 100 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole 101 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 102 Eric Berthou (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 103 Mariusz Wiesiak (Pol) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 104 Steven Tronet (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 105 Lukasz Bodnar (Pol) Intel - Action 0.19 106 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Crédit Agricole 107 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil - Shimano 0.28 108 Dimitri Champion (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 109 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 1.03 110 Gregory Habeaux (Bel) Jartazi Promo Fashion 1.36 111 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 5.34 112 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française des Jeux 113 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Skil - Shimano 114 Alexandre Lemair (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 115 Mahawong Prajak (Tha) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 116 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Corporation - Meitan Honpo Co LTD - Asada 117 Huub Duyn (Ned) Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle 118 Steve Chainel (Fra) Auber 119 Nicolas Hartmann (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 120 Jeremie Galland (Fra) Auber 121 Blaise Sonnery (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 122 Niels Brouzes (Fra) Auber 123 Piotr Zielinski (Pol) Bretagne - Armor Lux 124 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 125 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux 126 Arnaud Lesvenan (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 127 Timothy Gudsell (NZl) Française des Jeux 7.55
Past winners
2006 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Crédit Agricole 2005 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2004 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Rus) Amore e Vita-Beretta
