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51st Circuit de la Sarthe - 2.3
France, April 8-11, 2003
Main Page Results Previous Stage
Stage 4 - April 11: Angers - Le Mans, 191.3 km
No worries for Da Cruz, Alby cruel with local hero
By Jean-François Quénet in Le Mans
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Carlos Da Cruz and his Fdjeux.com team-mate didn't have too many problems in defending the lead during the 191 km long final stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe from Angers to Le Mans, where the thousands of motorbikes along the road weren't an escort for the cyclists, but were due to the fact that the local world famous racing circuit will welcome the 24 hours on two wheels this weekend.
Without leader Lance Armstrong, who pulled out on stage 2 and is now recovering in Spain, US Postal-Berry Floor was pretty aggressive at the beginning until a breakaway was formed after 42 km with nine riders: Michael Rogers (Quickstep), Allan Davis (ONCE), Guillaume Auger (BigMat), Stéphane Augé and Christophe Le Mével (Crédit Agricole), Ludovic Turpin (Ag2r), Alessandro Bertolini (Alessio), Francesco Secchiari (Domina Vacanze) and Joseba Zubeldia (Euskaltel).
With 12 km to go on the final circuit in Le Mans, which included the climb of Gazonfier (300m at 18%), Rogers and Auger attacked. None of their former companions could get across, but Davis was lucky that Laurent Brochard attacked from the bunch and bridged the gap.
"Behind Michael and the BigMat rider, there was just myself and the Ag2r rider," the Australian from ONCE explained. "We weren't going anywhere, so I thought it was good when Brochard caught us. Then his teammate drove us back to the front."
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That was no good for Rogers. "Without Brochard's move, I would have won the stage," the man from Canberra regretted. Of course Brochard complained that Alby didn't help much in the chase. "A circuit like this with a hill was perfect for Brochard," Davis commented.
The huge crowd in Le Mans was fully behind the former world champion. "I had no clue that he was from here," Davis answered when being informed. "But he could have been from Australia or America, it was the same. I did my best to win the sprint, and this a fantastic victory for me. Being young, only in my second year pro, it's very exciting to win a race like that. I'm also really happy for my team which is very much involved in this victory. My next goal now is the same: keep improving, gain experience and work on my cycling in general."
After losing the Australian title by very little to Stuart O'Grady earlier this year in Ballarat, Davis had beaten Erik Zabel before showing Brochard that there's a new fabulous talent coming from Australia. He's not a true sprinter, he can be much more than only a sprinter indeed, he's 22 years of age and there is a lot more to be seen from the friendly Queenslander. He brought one more breath of fresh air in cycling this week after Yuriy Krivtsov and Sylvain Chavanel winning stages.
Da Cruz is not so young anymore (29) but it was also a pleasure to see such a nice guy finally win something after being injured so many times and working as a domestique for most of his career.
Photography
Images by AFP Photo/Franck Fife
- Jan Ullrich (Team Coast) cruises along in the final stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe
- Allan Davis (ONCE, R) beats local boy and favourite Laurent Brochard to win the final stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe
- Allan Davis (ONCE) salutes from the podium after winning the final stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe
- Carlos Da Cruz (FDJeux.com) on the podium after winning the overall classification of the Circuit de la Sarthe
Results
1 Allan Davis (Aus) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 4.33.59 2 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 0.20 4 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 5 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio 0.51 6 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 0.56 7 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Alessio 8 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 9 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Alessio 10 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) US Postal presented by Berry Floor 11 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 12 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 13 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 14 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick.Step-Davitamon 15 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 16 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 17 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 18 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 19 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 20 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 21 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour 22 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 23 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 24 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 25 Gerhard Trampusch (Aut) Gerolsteiner 26 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 27 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 28 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 29 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour 30 Julen Fernandez Bijandi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 31 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 32 Bradley McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 33 Roberto Heras (Spa) US Postal presented by Berry Floor 34 Thorsten Rund (Ger) Team Coast 35 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Coast 36 Rafael Diaz Justo (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 37 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) CCC-Polsat 38 Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal presented by Berry Floor 39 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio 40 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 41 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 42 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) US Postal presented by Berry Floor 43 Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 44 Fabrice Gougot (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 45 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) FDJeux.com 46 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor 47 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Alessio 48 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole 1.18 49 Plamen Stoianov (Bul) Big.Mat-Auber 93 1.24 50 Sébastien Talabardon (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 51 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93 52 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 53 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Quick.Step-Davitamon 54 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 55 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon 56 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Team Coast 57 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 58 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) CCC-Polsat 59 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 60 Dioni Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 61 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 62 Stéphane Barthe (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 63 Andris Nauduzs (Lat) CCC-Polsat 64 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) FDJeux.com 1.51 65 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Coast 1.53 66 Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 2.58 67 Cédric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 3.02 68 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 69 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) CCC-Polsat 70 Joseba Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 71 Cyril Saugrain (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 3.19 72 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 3.47 73 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 74 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio 75 Gorka Beloki Dorronsoro (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 76 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 77 Lorenzo Cardellini (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 78 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) CCC-Polsat 5.19 79 Uwe Hardter (Ger) Gerolsteiner 80 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 81 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 82 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Credit Agricole 83 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 84 Ivaïlo Gabrovski (Bul) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 85 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Jean Delatour 5.42 DNF Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems DNF Bruno Thibout (Fra) Jean Delatour DNF Vincent Templier (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin DNF Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin DNF Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) CCC-Polsat DNF Cédric Fragniere (Swi) Credit Agricole DNF Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Quick.Step-Davitamon Final general classification 1 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 16.35.51 2 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93 0.56 3 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 4.46 4 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 5.11 5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 5.45 6 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 5.55 7 Eddy Seigneur (Fra) Jean Delatour 5.57 8 Bradley McGee (Aus) FDJeux.com 5.58 9 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 10 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 6.00 11 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) US Postal presented by Be 6.10 12 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour 13 Rafael Diaz Justo (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 6.11 14 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 15 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 6.12 16 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Alessio 6.17 17 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 18 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 6.18 19 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6.19 20 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Coast 6.21 21 Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukr) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 6.22 22 Thorsten Rund (Ger) Team Coast 6.26 23 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 6.27 24 Alvaro Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 6.28 25 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 6.30 26 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 6.31 27 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) FDJeux.com 6.33 28 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6.34 29 Massimo Strazzer (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 6.36 30 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick.Step-Davitamon 6.37 31 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Alessio 6.39 32 Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 6.45 33 Stéphane Barthe (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 6.50 34 Sébastien Talabardon (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 6.53 35 Cyril Saugrain (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 9.29 36 Allan Davis (Aus) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 12.26 37 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) US Postal presented by Berr 13.09 38 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 13.11 39 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 13.15 40 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 13.23 41 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) CCC-Polsat 13.25 42 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Phonak Hearing Systems 13.30 43 Gerhard Trampusch (Aut) Gerolsteiner 13.32 44 Roberto Heras (Spa) US Postal presented by Berry F 13.34 45 Julen Fernandez Bijandi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 13.37 46 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 13.40 47 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Quick.Step-Davitamon 48 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor 13.48 49 Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 13.50 50 Tobias Steinhauser (Ger) Team Coast 51 Fabrice Gougot (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 13.55 52 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Alessio 13.56 53 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 13.58 54 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) Quick.Step-Davitamon 14.06 55 Christian Vandevelde (USA) US Postal presented by 14.11 56 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Alessio 14.15 57 Dioni Galparsoro (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 14.21 58 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio 14.32 59 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole 14.36 60 Thierry Loder (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 14.38 61 Andris Nauduzs (Lat) CCC-Polsat 14.47 62 Plamen Stoianov (Bul) Big.Mat-Auber 93 14.48 63 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) FDJeux.com 14.52 64 Arkadiusz Wojtas (Pol) CCC-Polsat 15.10 65 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Coast 15.21 66 Piotr Chmielewski (Pol) CCC-Polsat 15.47 67 Joseba Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 15.57 68 Gorka Beloki Dorronsoro (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 16.24 69 Olivier Trastour (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 16.37 70 Cédric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 16.47 71 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 16.54 72 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 17.00 73 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Alessio 17.14 74 Lorenzo Cardellini (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 17.22 75 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 17.27 76 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) CCC-Polsat 17.48 77 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 18.12 78 Ivaïlo Gabrovski (Bul) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 18.14 79 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Jean Delatour 80 Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 18.31 81 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 18.41 82 Uwe Hardter (Ger) Gerolsteiner 18.42 83 Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 20.53 84 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 23.36 85 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Credit Agricole 33.58 U23 classification 1 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 16.41.02 2 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 0.34 3 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour 0.59 4 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.08 5 Allan Davis (Aus) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 7.15 6 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 8.00 7 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 8.12 8 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 8.29 9 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 8.47 10 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole 9.25 11 Joseba Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10.46 12 Cédric Herve (Fra) Credit Agricole 11.36 Mountains classification 1 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Credit Agricole 20 pts 2 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 16 3 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93 12 4 Allan Davis (Aus) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 11 5 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 10 6 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 10 7 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Alessio 8 8 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 8 9 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 8 10 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour 6 11 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Credit Agricole 6 12 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 4 13 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 4 14 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 4 15 Joseba Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 16 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 4 17 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 2 18 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Jean Delatour 2 19 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Alessio 2 20 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2 21 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 1 22 Julen Fernandez Bijandi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1 23 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 1 24 Francesco Secchiari (Ita) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 1 25 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 1 Sprints classification 1 Torsten Schmidt (Ger) Gerolsteiner 15 pts 2 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick.Step-Davitamon 10 3 Alexei Sivakov (Rus) Big.Mat-Auber 93 10 4 Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 7 5 Carlos Dacruz (Fra) FDJeux.com 6 6 Allan Davis (Aus) O.N.C.E.-Eroski 6 7 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Jean Delatour 5 8 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 5 9 Stéphane Augé (Fra) Credit Agricole 5 10 Guillaume Auger (Fra) Big.Mat-Auber 93 4 11 Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 3 12 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Alessio 3 13 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 1 14 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole 1 15 Walter Beneteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 1 16 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 1 17 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Domina Vacanze-Elitron 1
