Patanchon attacks to get stronger

By Jean-François Quénet in Scarperia

Frenchman Fabien Patanchon (Française des Jeux) of Bordeaux was one of the four men who attacked after kilometre nine in stage 7 from Spoleto to Scarperia. He went with Euskaltel's José Albizuri, Saunier Duval's Rubens Bertogliati, and Tinkoff's Elio Aggiano this time. They reached a maximum lead of 11:30 at kilometre 116, and got caught after 206 kilometres off the front.

"My idea was to go in a break yesterday," Patanchon explained. "But I didn't have the legs, and there was one hour of fights before the break went. So today I tried again."

"I thought they would let us go with a bigger advantage but Bettini got people to work behind, I understand. I want to do things like that for getting in good shape and having a super end of season." Patanchon is in his second year as a pro, and he's not going to ride the Tour de France although his former teammate from Entente Sud-Gascogne, Matthieu Ladagnous, will probably do it for FDJ.

"We're here with a young team, without any real leader nor a big sprinter, so we're here to get confidence and learn for the future," Patanchon said. "Carlos Da Cruz was our oldest rider but he had an accident before the start."