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."

The French outfit also lost Ian McLeod who broke a collarbone and a rib.