Mélodie Lesueur takes French title
20 year-old stops Longo-Ciprelli taking another championship double
20 year-old Mélodie Lesueur won the women's French national road race title with a solo attack that left surprised her rivals and stopped Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli taking another time trial and road race double.
Lesueur attacked mid-race with Nadia Triquet-Claude of the strong Vienne-Futuroscope team, blocking the chase behind. But Lesueur then dropped Triquet-Claude on the rolling hills and soloed to victory.
Amélie Rivat (Rhône-Alpes), also just 20, finished 1:55 behind Lesueur, with Longo-Ciprelli taking the bunch sprint for third. At 51, Longo-Ciprelli is older than the two young riders put together.
"At first I thought about waiting for Nadia but I decided to focus on my race. On the last two laps I had cramp everywhere," Lesueur told l'Equipe.fr.
"The opportunists won today," Longo-Ciprelli said, admitting that the bunch an big names of French cycling failed to organise their chase soon enough.
1 | Mélodie Lesueur (Esgl93-Gsdgestion) | 3:07:08 |
2 | Amélie Rivat (Rhonealpes) | 0:01:56 |
3 | Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (Rhonealpes) | 0:03:59 |
4 | Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (Viennefuturoscope) | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
5 | Edwige Pitel (S.Cmichelafaninirecordrox) | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
6 | Audrey Cordon (Viennefuturoscope) | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
7 | Sophie Creux (Esgl93-Gsdgestion) | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
8 | Eugénie Mermillod (Esgl93-Gsdgestion) | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
9 | Béatrice Thomas (Esgl93-Gsdgestion) | Row 8 - Cell 2 |
10 | Mélanie Bravard (Esgl93-Gsdgestion) | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
11 | Emilie Blanquefort (Aquitaine) | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
12 | Marion Azam (Midipyrenees) | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
13 | Julie Krasniak ((Lorraine) | Row 12 - Cell 2 |
14 | Aude Biannic (Bretagne) | 0:06:13 |
15 | Mélanie Ferrand (Rhonealpes) | 0:06:29 |
16 | Vicky Fournial (Lorraine) | 0:06:33 |
17 | Pascale Jeuland (Viennefuturoscope) | Row 16 - Cell 2 |
18 | Nadia Triquetclaude (Viennefuturoscope) | Row 17 - Cell 2 |
19 | Elodie Hegoburu (Esgl93-Gsdgestion) | Row 18 - Cell 2 |
20 | Marielaure Cloarec (Iledefrance) | Row 19 - Cell 2 |
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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
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