Dimitri Champion of continental team Bretagne-Schuller created some surprise at the French championship where he proved himself to be stronger than the ProTour riders. He took a spectacular revenge over his previous team Bouygues Telecom, who didn't renew his contract at the end of last year.
The top four riders were former Bouygues Telecom riders. Bbox Bouygues Telecom's hot favourite Pierrick Fédrigo only took 11th.
The team recently has been affected by the departure of two directeurs sportifs, Philippe Mauduit and Christian Guiberteau. Both are rumoured to have disagreed with the management's decision of leaving Champion aside.
The ProTour team who seemed to have the race in its hands was Française des Jeux. Its riders Anthony Geslin and Anthony Roux could not follow a Champion on the final hill of a very selective circuit.
A crowd estimated at 80,000 spectators cheered the racers on. Although he is a Parisian, Champion defends the colours of the local team Bretagne-Schuller.
"He was definitely the strongest," said Geslin who was more disappointed to get a silver medal at the French championship behind Champion than when he got the bronze at the 2005 world championship in Madrid behind Tom Boonen and Alejandro Valverde.
Geslin and Roux who were both teammates of Champion at Bouygues Telecom and their feeder team Vendée U in the past were full of praise for Champion's exploit.
"I don't care about those who are not happy with my win," said Champion. He did not mention Bouygues' team manager Jean-René Bernaudeau and directeur sportif Didier Rous. Rumours of doping were spread about him but they were completely denied by French cycling federation anti-doping leader Dr. Armand Mégret, who is also involved in the running of the Bretagne-Schuller team.
It was Champion's third French title. He won the Under 23 time trial in 2005 and the amateur road race in 2006.
| 1 | Dimitri Champion (Bretagne Schuller) | 6:05:55 |
| 2 | Anthony Geslin (Francaise Des Jeux) | 0:00:05 |
| 3 | Anthony Roux (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| 4 | Anthony Charteau (Caisse D`Epargne Iles Baleares) | 0:01:03 |
| 5 | Hubert Dupont (AG2R La Mondiale) | 0:01:05 |
| 6 | Geoffroy Lequatre (Agritubel) | 0:01:14 |
| 7 | Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 8 | Stéphane Auge (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| 9 | Julien Simon (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| 10 | Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel) | |
| 11 | Pierrick Fedrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | 0:01:16 |
| 12 | Guillaume Levarlet (Francaise Des Jeux) | 0:01:42 |
| 13 | Christophe Moreau (Agritubel) | |
| 14 | Jean Marc Bideau (Bretagne Schuller) | 0:02:19 |
| 15 | Florian Guillou (Roubaix Lille Metropole) | |
| 16 | Olivier Bonnaire (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | 0:10:06 |
| 17 | Rémy Di Gregorio (Francaise Des Jeux) | 0:13:13 |
| 18 | Sébastien Minard (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | 0:13:15 |
| 19 | Julien Loubet (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 20 | Jean Marc Marino (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| 21 | Amaël Moinard (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| 22 | Antoine Dalibard (Bretagne Schuller) | 0:13:32 |
| 23 | Sébastien Duret (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| 24 | Nicolas Hartmann (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| 25 | Nicolas Baldo (Continental Team Differdange) | |
| 26 | Blaise Sonnery (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 27 | Nadir Haddou (Auber93) | |
| 28 | Thierry Hupond (Skil-Shimano) | |
| 29 | Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep) | |
| 30 | Steven Tronet (Roubaix Lille Metropole) | |
| 31 | Maxime Bouet (Agritubel) | |
| 32 | Yoann Offredo (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| 33 | Julien Mazet (Auber93) | |
| 34 | David Le Lay (Agritubel) | |
| 35 | Arnaud Gerard (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| 36 | Maxime Mederel (Auber93) | |
| 37 | Johan Mombaerts (Auber93) | |
| 38 | Sandy Casar (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| 39 | Laurent Lefevre (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| 40 | Florian Morizot (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| 41 | Christophe Laurent (Agritubel) | |
| 42 | Cyril Dessel (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 43 | Stéphane Goubert (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 44 | Nicolas Rousseau (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 45 | Matthieu Ladagnous (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| 46 | Jérôme Pineau (Quickstep) | |
| 47 | Mathieu Perget (Caisse D`Epargne Iles Baleares) | |
| 48 | Ludovic Turpin (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 49 | Damien Monier (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| 50 | Benoît Vaugrenard (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| 51 | Romain Sicard (Orbea) | |
| 52 | Yann Huguet (Agritubel) | |
| 53 | Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel) | |
| 54 | Gaël Malacarne (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| 55 | John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 56 | Jean Charles Senac (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 57 | Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 58 | Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 59 | Sébastien Joly (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| 60 | Eric Berthou (Carmiooro - A Style) | |
| 61 | Cyril Gautier (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| 62 | Yann Pivois (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| 63 | Christophe Le Mevel (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| 64 | Pierre Rolland (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| 65 | Mickaël Larpe (Roubaix Lille Metropole) | |
| 66 | Mickaël Cherel (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| 67 | Mickaël Delage (Silence - Lotto) | |
| 68 | Arnold Jeannesson (Caisse D`Epargne Iles Baleares) | |
| 69 | Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Arnaud Labbe (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Guillaume Le Floch (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Rony Martias (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Vincent Jerome (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Alexandre Pichot (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Paul Brousse (Carmiooro - A Style) | |
| DNF | Perrig Quemeneur (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Matthieu Sprick (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Alexandre Aulas (Carmiooro - A Style) | |
| DNF | Sébastien Chavanel (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| DNF | Jérôme Coppel (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| DNF | Aurélien Duval (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| DNF | Sébastien Fournet-Fayard (Carmiooro - A Style) | |
| DNF | Frédéric Guesdon (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| DNF | Mathieu Drujon (Caisse D`Epargne Iles Baleares) | |
| DNF | Sébastien Turgot (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Anthony Ravard (Agritubel) | |
| DNF | Freddy Bichot (Agritubel) | |
| DNF | Romain Fondard (Lotto-Bodysol) | |
| DNF | Sylvain Calzati (Agritubel) | |
| DNF | Rémi Cusin (Agritubel) | |
| DNF | Brice Feillu (Agritubel) | |
| DNF | Romain Feillu (Agritubel) | |
| DNF | Jean Zen (Palmans Cras) | |
| DNF | Kilian Patour (Garmin Slipstream) | |
| DNF | Yoann Le Boulanger (Agritubel) | |
| DNF | Guillaume Pont (Eqa - Meitan Hompo - Graphite Design) | |
| DNF | Saïd Haddou (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Mathieu Drouilly (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) | |
| DNF | Yohann Gene (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Julien Belgy (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Giovanni Bernaudeau (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Nicolas Bazin (Continental Team Differdange) | |
| DNF | William Bonnet (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Franck Bouyer (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Steve Chainel (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Mathieu Claude (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | Sébastien Harbonnier (Continental Team Differdange) | |
| DNF | Damien Gaudin (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) | |
| DNF | David Deroo (Skil-Shimano) | |
| DNF | Martial Ricci Poggi (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) | |
| DNF | Stéphane Bonsergent (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| DNF | Dimitri Le Boulch (Auber93) | |
| DNF | Morgan Chedhomme (Auber93) | |
| DNF | Mickaël Damiens (Eqa - Meitan Hompo - Graphite Design) | |
| DNF | Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| DNF | Cédric Pineau (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| DNF | Stéphane Poulhies (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| DNF | Niels Brouzes (Auber93) | |
| DNF | Yannick Talabardon (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Benoît Sinner (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Romain Matheou (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Arnaud Coyot (Caisse D`Epargne Iles Baleares) | |
| DNF | Fabrice Jeandesboz (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Bastien Delrot (Roubaix Lille Metropole) | |
| DNF | Jérémie Galland (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Jimmy Engoulvent (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Jean Luc Delpech (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| DNF | Cédric Coutouly (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Jimmy Casper (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Lilian Jegou (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| DNF | Nicolas Jouanno (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| DNF | Romain Lebreton (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| DNF | Cyril Bessy (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Cyrille Monnerais (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| DNF | Laurent Mangel (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) | |
| DNF | Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Francis Mourey (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| DNF | Yann Rault (Bretagne Schuller) | |
| DNF | Jonathan Hivert (Skil-Shimano) | |
| DNF | Jérémy Roy (Francaise Des Jeux) | |
| DNF | Steve Houanard (Skil-Shimano) | |
| DNF | Cyril Lemoine (Skil-Shimano) | |
| DNF | Alexandre Blain (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Guillaume Blot (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Florent Brard (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Mickaël Buffaz (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Jonathan Thire (Auber93) | |
| DNF | Hervé Duclos Lassalle (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Pierre Cazaux (Roubaix Lille Metropole) | |
| DNF | Julien El Fares (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Maryan Hary (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Christophe Kern (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Florian Vachon (Roubaix Lille Metropole) | |
| DNF | Fabien Taillefer (Roubaix Lille Metropole) | |
| DNF | Alexandre Lemair (Roubaix Lille Metropole) | |
| DNF | Rémi Pauriol (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Sébastien Portal (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Romain Villa (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) | |
| DNF | Renaud Dion (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| DNF | Sébastien Hinault (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| DNF | Jean-Eudes Demaret (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne) |
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