Voeckler takes his second French title

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Thomas Voeckler of local team Bbox Bouygues Telecom got his revenge over the loss of the French championship four years ago by winning this year's title on the same circuit of Chantonnay. He passed the profound disappointment of 2006 onto Christophe Le Mével (Française des Jeux), who was in tears on the finishing line after finishing second.

With 34 kilometres to go, Voeckler attacked, and while David Moncoutié (Cofidis) and Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) tried to bridge the gap they couldn't make it. Only Le Mével went across to the man who spent ten days in yellow jersey at the Tour de France the last year he won the French championship in 2004.

It went down to a duel for the last three laps despite the efforts of the Cofidis team to ride behind. "I remained focused from start to finish because I deeply wanted to cancel my disappointment of 2006," Voeckler said.

"We know each other very well," he said of Le Mevel. "We've done the 2000 Under 23 world championship in Plouay together in the French national team, and last year as pros as well. In a three weeks race, Christophe is largely superior to me but in a one-day race, I'm confident in my speed. I admit that I've been afraid that he'd drop me off in the climb. At the beginning of his career, he was much faster than now.

"I pay tribute to him because he has played the game until the end. In the final kilometre, I saw that he couldn't pass me, so I occupied the right side of the road, so he would try and pass me against the wind."

Le Mével was not able to pass. "Tactically, I can't reproach myself ", the Breton rider noted. "We both have produced the same efforts. I've tried to go solo in the climb but Thomas resisted. I'm disappointed to be so close to the jersey and miss it. I would have liked so much to ride the Tour de France with this jersey. It could have put me even higher in the overall classification."

Le Mével was tenth last year at the Tour de France. He was in tears after losing the French championship. "I'm an emotional person", he admitted. "I was in a trance on the finishing line. As athletes, we're allowed to have emotions, I think, whether it's good or bad emotions."

Voeckler shared his joy with the people of the Vendée province where he's been living for fourteen years. His Bbox Bouygues Telecom team is based in Les Essarts just a few miles away from Chantonnay. His team manager Jean-René Bernaudeau was also in tears at the finish but it was a different emotion from Le Mével's. He hadn't won the French championship in the past five years after making this race his team's speciality with Didier Rous (2001 and 2003), Voeckler (2004) and Pierrick Fedrigo (2005).

Cofidis and Ag2r-La Mondiale were the main losers of this year's race while Mickaël Delage who was riding for Omega Pharma-Lotto with the technical support of rival Belgian team Quick Step won the sprint for the bronze medal.