Delaplace comes home as a hero
By Jean-François Quénet published
Polynormande victory for young French rider
Following a very promising Tour de France where he was not only the youngest rider in the field but also present in a number of breakaways, Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) made his dream a reality. His dream was to win the Polynormande, the French Cup race of his region in the province of the Manche in Normandy. Delaplace hails from Cherbourg on the English Channel.
“Only six years ago I won this race in the U17 category, time goes fast,” said the former junior French champion, who already imposed himself in that leg of the Madiot Trophy – a series of six races for riders who are 15 and 16 years of age – in 2005.
Ag2r-La Mondiale’s Mikaël Chérel was even more of a local than Delaplace, as he hails from St-Brice-de-Landelles only three kilometres away from St-Martin-de-Landelles, the home of famed Tour de France speaker Daniel Mangeas.
Both Chérel and Delaplace made the 16-man breakaway that kicked off early with Jérémy Roy and Arnaud Gérard (FDJ), Dimitri Champion (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Yoann Bagot and Julien El Farès (Cofidis), Kevin Reza (Europcar), Jérémie Galland (Saur-Sojasun), Thomas Degand (Vérandas Willems), Bert Scheirlinckx (Landbouwkrediet), Sylvain Georges (BigMat-Auber 93), Florian Vachon and Renaud Dion (Bretagne-Schuller), Steven Tronet (Roubaix) and Eduardo Gonzalo (La Pomme-Marseille).
The peloton gave up chasing after half way and five riders broke clear with 40km to go: the two super motivated local boys Delaplace and Chérel, along with El Farès, Vachon and Gérard. With 20km to go, Delaplace attacked solo on the same climb, the côte de la Pigeonnière, where he won as an U17 in 2005.
He built up a lead of 1.44 for himself by the finishing line. “But until 300 metres to go, I didn’t dare to believe that I was going to win,” he said. “I was still afraid of a flat tyre or a crash until the last kilometre.”
Tony Gallopin (Cofidis) sprinted for sixth place to take the lead in the French Cup after ten legs and with four remaining: Classic de l’Indre (August 21), Tour du Doubs (September 4), GP Isbergues (September 18), Tour de Vendée (October 2).
“I’ll do them all and try and win it,” Gallopin said. With 117 points, he leads Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM), who is on 110, Georges (93) and Delaplace (90).
Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Saur-Sojasun | 3:43:36 |
2 | Julien El Fares (Fra) Cofidis | 0:01:44 |
3 | Arnaud Gérard (Fra) FDJ | |
4 | Florian Vachon (Fra) Bretagne Schuller | |
5 | Mikael Chérel (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale | 0:01:48 |
6 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) Cofidis | 0:04:36 |
7 | Julien Simon (Fra) Saur-Sojasun | |
8 | Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ | |
9 | Jérôme Cousin (Fra) Europcar | |
10 | Morgan Kneisky (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
11 | Laurent Pichon (Fra) Bretagne Schuller | |
12 | Bert De Waele (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
13 | Evert Verbist (Bel) Veranda's Willems-Accent | |
14 | Tony Hurel (Fra) Europcar | |
15 | Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
16 | Grégory Habeaux (Bel) Veranda's Willems-Accent | |
17 | Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Europcar | |
18 | Johan Le Bon (Fra) Bretagne Schuller | |
19 | David Le Lay (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale | |
20 | Guillaume Bonnet (Fra) France | |
21 | Renaud Dion (Fra) Bretagne Schuller | |
22 | Jonathan Thire (Fra) Auber 93 | |
23 | Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Saur-Sojasun | |
24 | Romain Lemarchand (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale | |
25 | Jean Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis | |
26 | Desriac (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
27 | Bellemakersdirk (Ned) Landbouwkrediet | |
28 | Yuriy Krivtsov (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale | |
29 | Tom Thill (Lux) Differdange Magic-Sportfood.de | 0:04:42 |
30 | Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Auber 93 | |
31 | Yohan Bagot (Fra) Cofidis | |
32 | Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra) FDJ | |
33 | Benjamin Giraud (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
34 | Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
35 | Morten Knudsen (Den) Differdange Magic-Sportfood.de | |
36 | Julien Antomarchi (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
37 | Julien Guay (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
38 | Florian Le Corre (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
39 | Yohan Cauquil (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
40 | Arnoud Van Groen (Ned) Veranda's Willems Accent | |
41 | Helminen (Fin) Landbouwkrediet | |
42 | Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra) Saur-Sojasun | |
43 | Clément Mahé (Fra) France | 0:04:49 |
44 | Johan Mombaerts (Fra) Auber 93 | |
45 | Julien Bérard (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale | |
46 | Thomas Degand (Bel) Veranda's Willems-Accent | |
47 | Julien Fouchard (Fra) Cofidis | |
48 | Masaru Fukuhara (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor | 0:04:54 |
49 | Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis | |
50 | Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ | 0:04:59 |
51 | Toms Skujins (Lat) La Pomme Marseille | |
52 | Sébastien Duret (Fra) Bretagne Schuller | 0:05:01 |
53 | Dimitri Champion (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale | |
54 | Wim De Vocht (Bel) Veranda's Willems-Accent | |
55 | Maxime Renault (Fra) France | |
56 | Rudy Lesschaeve (Fra) Differdange Magic-Sportfood.de | |
57 | Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Europcar | |
58 | Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Saur-Sojasun | |
59 | Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) FDJ | |
60 | Lloyd Mondory (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale | |
61 | Franck Bouyer (Fra) Europcar | |
62 | Anthony Geslin (Fra) FDJ | |
63 | Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ | |
64 | Christian Poos (Lux) Differdange Magic-Sportfood.de | 0:05:10 |
65 | Jérémie Galland (Fra) Saur-Sojasun | 0:05:13 |
66 | Steven Tronet (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | 0:05:24 |
67 | Ronan Racault (Fra) Auber 93 | 0:05:30 |
68 | Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne Schuller | |
69 | Olivier Bonnaire (Fra) FDJ | |
70 | Anthony Colin (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | 0:05:43 |
71 | Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Differdange Magic-Sportfood.de | 0:05:58 |
72 | Arnaud Molmy (Fra) Auber 93 | |
73 | Joël Zangerle (Lux) Differdange Magic-Sportfood.de | |
74 | Kazuo Inoue (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor | |
75 | Tomoya Kanoh (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor | |
76 | Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne Schuller | |
77 | Edouard Louyest (Fra) France | |
78 | Thomas Vaubourzeix (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
79 | Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Auber 93 | 0:09:30 |
80 | Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Cofidis | |
81 | Jimmy Casper (Fra) Saur-Sojasun | 0:09:33 |
82 | Jempy Drucker (Lux) Veranda's Willems-Accent | 0:09:35 |
83 | Sylvain Georges (Fra) Auber 93 | 0:09:49 |
HD | Yoshiyuki Shimizu (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor | |
HD | Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
HD | Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) La Pomme Marseille | |
HD | Romain Bacon (Fra) Auber 93 | |
DNF | Dieter Cappelle (Bel) Veranda's Willems-Accent | |
DNF | Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Veranda's Willems-Accent | |
DNF | Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Ag2r-La Mondiale | |
DNF | Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis | |
DNF | Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Europcar | |
DNF | Kévin Reza (Fra) Europcar | |
DNF | Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur-Sojasun | |
DNF | Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
DNF | Bart Dockx (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
DNF | Davy Commeyne (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
DNF | Guillaume Blot (Fra) Bretagne Schuller | |
DNF | Benoît Daeninck (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
DNF | Stefan Cohnen (Ned) Differdange Magic-Sportfood.de | |
DNF | Tomoya Kaneko (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor | |
DNF | Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (Spa) La Pomme Marseille | |
DNF | Justin Jules (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | |
DNF | Hyo Suk Gong (Kor) Geumsam Ginseng Asia | |
DNF | Ki Hong Yoo (Kor) Geumsam Ginseng Asia | |
DNF | Junoh Kwon (Kor) Geumsam Ginseng Asia | |
DNF | Hyeongmin Choe (Kor) Geumsam Ginseng Asia | |
DNF | Aurelien Passeron (Fra) Geumsam Ginseng Asia | |
DNF | Ji Hoon Kim (Kor) Geumsam Ginseng Asia | |
DNF | Christopher De Souza (Fra) France | |
DNF | Meven Lebreton (Fra) France | |
DNF | Albain Cormier (Fra) France | |
DNF | Bob Rodriguez (Fra) France |

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