Gautier claims Tour du Finistère
By Jean-François Quénet published
Veuchelen, Geslin round out podium
Cyril Gautier of Europcar finally put an end to a three-year drought as he outsprinted Vacansoleil-DCM's Frederik Veuchelen in the rain-soaked Tour du Finistère. The 2010 Route Adélie was his last victory. Following his 2008 U23 European title, Gautier carried a lot of expectations, but evolved mostly into a domestique for Thomas Voeckler and Pierre Rolland, a role he'll embrace again next week at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
"I know how to work for the others," Gautier said. "It's been too long since I last won a race myself. I'm not a slacker. I always give everything to the team and I hurt myself in training, but when you get in a downward spiral, it's very difficult to get the confidence back. Since I came back from Malaysia in early March, I've been hit by different sicknesses: food poisoning, bronchitis, a cold last week, but on Wednesday at Paris-Camembert, I realized the good form was back, so I was motivated today."
Europcar was represented in the early breakaway by Perrig Quéméneur alongside Armindo Fonseca and Florian Guillou (Bretagne - Séché), Romain Hardy and Rudy Molard (Cofidis), Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil), Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural), Patrick Facchini (Androni), Yves Lampaert (Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise), Sébastien Reichenbach and Patrick Schelling (IAM Cycling), Ignatas Konovalovas (MTN - Qhubeka), Julian Alaphilippe and Petr Vakoc (Etixx-Inhed).
As they got reined in when the race headed back south towards Quimper, a headwind was coupled with the rainy conditions, and another group went away with 40km to go with Anthony Geslin and Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ), Christophe Le Mével (Cofidis), Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen), Rémi Cusin (IAM), Florian Sénéchal (Etixx-Ihned), Veuchelen and Gautier.
"I've managed to remain calm for once," Gautier explained. "I waited for the last lap to attack and when I realized that Veuchelen was coming across, I slowed down and I positioned myself behind for the sprint that I launched with 250 metres to go. It was hard. But the bad weather conditions were the same for everyone. Unfortunately, we're used to it by now."
Gautier, being a Breton, scored his second pro win on home soil like the first one. "It's even better to win in Brittany," he said. "I'm proud of where I'm from. I expect more for myself in the future but I'll go to the Giro del Trentino now and I'll be a domestique again in one week for either Voeckler or Rolland at Liège-Bastogne-Liège."
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar | 4:42:20 |
2 | Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
3 | Anthony Geslin (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:03 |
4 | Remi Cusin (Fra) IAM Cycling | 0:00:08 |
5 | Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:13 |
6 | Florian Senechal (Fra) ETixx-IHNED | 0:00:15 |
7 | Tim Declercq (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | 0:00:22 |
8 | Christophe Le Mével (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:00:38 |
9 | Cédric Pineau (Fra) FDJ | 0:02:18 |
10 | Yannick Martinez (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | 0:02:22 |
11 | Loic Desriac (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | 0:02:24 |
12 | Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Sojasun | 0:02:33 |
13 | Julien Simon (Fra) Sojasun | 0:02:38 |
14 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
15 | Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale | |
16 | Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
17 | Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural | |
18 | Jacobus Venter (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka | |
19 | Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Sojasun | |
20 | Stijn Neirynck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
21 | Dimitri Le Boulch (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | |
22 | Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:02:41 |
23 | Sébastien Minard (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale | |
24 | Ivan Velasco Murillo (Spa) Caja Rural | |
25 | Patrick Schelling (Swi) IAM Cycling | 0:02:45 |
26 | Yoann Paillot (Fra) La Pomme Marseille | 0:02:47 |
27 | Natnael Berhane (Eri) Team Europcar | |
28 | Morgan Kneisky (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | |
29 | Florian Vachon (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | 0:02:52 |
30 | Marco Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | 0:03:00 |
31 | Jean-Marc Bideau (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | 0:03:02 |
32 | Laurent Pichon (Fra) FDJ | 0:03:07 |
33 | Omar Bertazzo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | 0:03:08 |
34 | Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ | 0:03:26 |
35 | Anthony Charteau (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:03:32 |
36 | Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:03:39 |
37 | Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) ETixx-IHNED | 0:04:34 |
38 | Petr Vakoc (Cze) ETixx-IHNED | 0:04:51 |
39 | Matteo Di Serafino (Ita) Androni Giocattoli | 0:04:53 |
40 | Marcel Aregger (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
41 | Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:05:26 |
42 | Willem Wauters (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
43 | Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement | |
44 | Matthias Friedemann (Ger) Champion System Pro Cycling Team | |
45 | Martin Reimer (Ger) MTN-Qhubeka | 0:05:30 |
46 | Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:05:55 |
47 | Mathieu Drujon (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | 0:08:50 |
48 | Julien Duval (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | 0:08:51 |
49 | Sébastien Hinault (Fra) IAM Cycling | |
50 | Martin Wesemann (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka | |
51 | Théo Vimpere (Fra) BigMat-Auber 93 | 0:08:58 |
52 | Karel Hnik (Cze) ETixx-IHNED | 0:09:55 |
53 | Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne-Seche Environnement |

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