Koldo Fernandez wins sprint in the Vendée
By Jean-François Quénet published
Leonardo Duque seals overall French Cup success
Euskaltel-Euskadi's Koldo Fernandez used the racing strength he acquired at the Vuelta a España to beat the French sprinters at the Tour de Vendée, the 12th and final leg of the French Cup. The Spaniard repeated his effort of two years ago and won for the second time in La Roche-sur-Yon ahead of Cervélo's Davide Appollonio, who got a great lead-out from teammate Heinrich Haussler on his way back to form.
Colombia's Leonardo Duque, the 10th place finisher, secured the overall win at the French Cup by a single point over Florian Vachon, who finished seventh.
"The roads over here suit me because it's similar to the Basque country," said the 29-year-old from Zurbano. "I'm very happy to win here again. To tell the truth, I was watching Jimmy Casper, so I was a bit surprised when the two Cervélo riders created a gap, but it went well at the end."
The race concluded with a bunch sprint finish but the race was intense all the way through. Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) and Jérémy Roy (FDJ) were the most active riders in the 10-man breakaway that took off soon after the start and got caught with 50 kilometres to go. Voeckler tried again but a group of four managed to go away with Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel), Ronny Martias (Saur-Sojasun), Rein Taarämae (Cofidis) and Bert Scheirlinckx (Landbouwkrediet).
"I tried at the beginning, I tried in the middle and I tried at the end of the race but it just didn't work out," said the French champion who was riding with his heart more than with his head to show that his BBox Bouygues Telecom team is still alive. Timing is tight for team manager Jean-René Bernaudeau to seal a deal with a new sponsor by Tuesday. "Every year there are a lot of people at the Tour de Vendée but this time there were even more," Voeckler said. "It probably has something to do with the fact that people want to see our team at the Tour de Vendée and at the start of the Tour de France again next year."
The Bbox Bouygues Telecom squad finished the work initiated by RadioShack by catching the four-man breakaway with 20km to go. Romain Lemarchand (BigMat-Auber 93) attacked with 10km to go, and was joined by Juan José Oroz (Euskaltel), Gert Verheyen (Landbouwkrediet), Rob Ruijgh and Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil). Voeckler and Benoît Vaugrenard (FDJ) tried to bridge the gap but it was all together again with 2km to go and the bunch sprint was inevitable.
The Saur-Sojasun team rode hard at the front but the duo from Cervélo and Fernandez were definitely stronger. "The strength I have from the Tour of Spain made me have an advantage," Fernandez told Cyclingnews.
"I was dreaming of winning but when I saw Fernandez passing me, there was nothing to do," said runner up Davide Appollonio, who was happy with his French campaign as he won the last stage of the Tour du Limousin and finished second at the GP Fourmies.
Fernandez continued the tradition of Basque riders winning at the Tour de Vendée, as they've won four of the past five editions.. It started with Alberto Leanizbarrutia in 1988, then Mikel Gaztanaga won twice in a row (2006 and 2007) and now Fernandez has put his name on the record for the second time following his 2008 win.
1 | Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | 4:44:07 |
2 | Davide Appollonio (Ita) Cervélo Test Team | |
3 | Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
4 | Cédric Pineau (FRa) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
5 | Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
6 | Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Team Katusha | |
7 | Florian Vachon (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller | |
8 | Davy Commeyne (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
9 | Aristide Ratti (Ita) CarmioOro NGC Carmiooro - NGC | |
10 | Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne | |
11 | Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Cofidis le Crédit en Ligne | |
12 | Morgan Kneisky Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
13 | Geert Verheyen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
14 | Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne | |
15 | Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française Des Jeux | |
16 | Mikhail Antonov (Rus) Team Katusha | |
17 | Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française Des Jeux | |
18 | Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team Radioshack | |
19 | Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Team Katusha | |
20 | Renaud Dion (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
21 | Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator | |
22 | Rob Ruyjgh (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
23 | Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller Bretagne - Schuller | |
24 | Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator | |
25 | Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale AG2R - La mondiale | |
26 | Juan José Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | |
27 | Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | |
28 | Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator | 0:00:09 |
29 | Ben Hermans (Bel) Team RadioShack | 0:00:11 |
30 | Julien Simon (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
31 | Amets Txurruka Ansola (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | |
32 | Mikael Chérel (Fra) Française Des Jeux | |
33 | Nadir Haddou (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93 Big Mat - Auber 93 | |
34 | Stéphane Rossetto (Bel) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
35 | Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française Des Jeux | |
36 | Geert Steurs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator Topsport | |
37 | Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator | |
38 | Mathieu Claude (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom | |
39 | Laurent Pichon (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller | |
40 | Romain Lemarchand (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93 | |
41 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:00:17 |
42 | Lilian Jegou (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller Bretagne - Schuller | 0:00:18 |
43 | Andrea Piechele (Ita) Carmiooro - NGC | |
44 | Jens Mouris (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
45 | Yohann Gené (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom | |
46 | Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervelo Test Team | |
47 | David Lelay (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale AG2R - La mondiale | |
48 | Anthony Charteau (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:00:25 |
49 | Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Team Radioshack | |
50 | Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller Bretagne - Schuller | 0:00:27 |
51 | Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R - La mondiale | |
52 | Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
53 | Thibaut Pinot (FRA) Française Des Jeux | 0:00:30 |
54 | Jean-Marc Bideau (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller | |
55 | Florian Guillou (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller Bretagne - Schuller | |
56 | Laurent Beure (Fra) Carmiooro - NGC | |
57 | Nikita Eskov (Rus) Team Katusha Team Katusha | |
58 | Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne | |
59 | Tristan Valentin (Fra) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne | |
60 | Jimmy Casper (Fra) Saur - Sojasun Saur - Sojasun | |
61 | Stéphane Augé (Fra) Cofidis le Crédit en Ligne | |
62 | Romain Bacon (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93 | |
63 | Andreas Klier (Ger) Cervelo Test Team | 0:00:37 |
64 | Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Cervelo Test Team | |
65 | Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
66 | Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
67 | Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
68 | Gael Malacarne (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller | |
69 | Brice Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
70 | José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) Team Radioshack | |
71 | Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) Team Radioshack | |
72 | Ivan Rovny (Rus) Team RadioShack | |
73 | Florian Morizot (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93 | |
74 | Franck Bouyer (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:00:42 |
75 | Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom | |
76 | Arnoud Van Groen (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
77 | Javier Francisco Aramendia (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | 0:00:44 |
78 | Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | |
79 | Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:00:45 |
80 | Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis le Crédit en Ligne | 0:00:52 |
81 | Kevin Ista (Bel) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne | |
82 | Jérémy Galland (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:01:05 |
83 | Sandy Casar (Fra) Française Des Jeux | 0:01:08 |
84 | Laurent Mangel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:02:19 |
85 | Rony Martias (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
86 | Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française Des Jeux | |
87 | Benoït Vaugrenard (Fra) Française Des Jeux | |
88 | Alexander Wetterhall (Swe) Cervélo Test Team | 0:07:33 |
89 | Joaquin Novoa Menedez (Spa) Cervelo Test Team | 0:08:19 |
DNF | Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Team Katusha | |
DNF | Anthony Ravard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale AG2R - La mondiale | |
DNF | Paride Grillo (Ita) CarmioOro NGC | |
DNF | Antonio Quadranti (Ita) CarmioOro NGC | |
DNF | Martial Ricci-Poggi (Fra) Landbouwkrediet | |
DNF | Grégory Barteau (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
DNF | Bart Dockx (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
DNF | Mathieu Drouilly (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
DNF | Niels Brouzes (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93 | |
DNF | Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
DNF | Steven Tronet (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
DNF | Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Alexandre Lemair (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
DNF | Alexander Mironov (Rus) Itera-Katusha Team Katusha | |
DNF | Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Team Katusha | |
DNF | Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2R - La mondiale | |
DNF | Fabien Bacquet (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93 | |
DNF | Johan Mombaerts (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93 | |
DNF | Damien Gaudin (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom | |
DNF | Clinton Avery (Nzl) Team RadioShack | |
DNF | Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team Radioshack | |
DNF | Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | |
DNF | Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator | |
DNF | Nicolas Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi | |
DNF | Sébastien Fournet Fayard (Fra) Carmiooro - NGC | |
DNF | Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R La Mondiale AG2R - La mondiale | |
DNF | Jonathan Thire (Fra) Big Mat - Auber 93 | |
DNF | Arnaud Molmy (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
DNF | Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Team Katusha | |
DNF | Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom | |
DNF | Joao Correia (Por) Cervelo Test Team | |
DNF | Brett Lancaster (Aus) Cervelo Test Team | |
DNF | Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale AG2R - La mondiale | |
DNF | Sander Armee (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator | |
DNF | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Eric Berthou (Fra) CarmioOro NGC |

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