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Giro finale
Photo ©: Bettini

 UCI codes explained

4th Paris-Corrèze - 2.3

France, September 24-26, 2004

Main Page    Results    Previous Stage  

Stage 3 - September 26: Objat - Objat, 174.3 km

Gilbert, Gerrans, De Kort and Berthou bring fresh air into cycling

By Jean-François Quénet, velomania.net in Objat

Eric Berthou (R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover),
Photo ©: JF Quenet
Click for larger image

There are some interesting symbols in cycling: just a few kilometres away from the hotel where the Festina team got to know they were kicked out of the 1998 Tour de France, and during the weekend chosen by Richard Virenque for announcing his retirement from cycling, a new generation seems ready to take over.

Eric Berthou, 24, claimed the last stage of Paris-Corrèze after launching an attack from the kilometre 0. Eight other riders went with him: Leon van Bon (Lotto-Domo), Christophe Edaleine (Cofidis), Patrice Halgand (Crédit Agricole), David Bréard et Lenaïc Olivier (Auber 93), Saulius Ruskys (Oktos), Bernhard Kohl (Rabobank) and Franck Renier (la Boulangère), who was the highest ranked rider on GC just 4'35 down on race leader Philippe Gilbert whose Fdjeux.com team was ready for a strong defence.

A trio composed of Freddy Bichot, Benoît Vaugrenard and Australian stagiaire Ashley Humbert did the hard work for 110 kilometres until an attack by Christophe Moreau smashed the bunch into pieces. Then Sandy Casar, Nicolas Vogondy and Nicolas Fritsch controlled the action. "They have done such a great job, it's their win more than mine," Gilbert commented. "No one with only 16 seconds advantage could say the race was won for sure, but I was strong and I knew that I wouldn't get dropped."

A champion in the making
Photo ©: JF Quenet
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Finishing 1'14 behind Berthou, closely followed by Ruskys and Renier, there were no worries for Gilbert. Aged 22, he would still be in the U23 category for the world championship if not a member of big pro team, but he will be one of the top riders for the Belgian selection in the highest category next week in Verona. He will defend his national colours for the sixth time in a row after racing as a junior in Plouay 2000, as an espoir in Lisbon 2001 and Zolder 2002, as a pro in Hamilton 2003 and as an Olympian last month in Athens.

Philippe Gilbert is an always-smiling Walloon hailing from Remouchamps, right on the course of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He grew up at the foot of the famous climb of La Redoute and picked a fantastic passion for cycling. "For me, riding my bike for six and half hours when it's cold in the Ardennes is never a problem," he said.

Gilbert recently finished 2nd in Paris-Brussels and GP Wallonie and he was chasing a second win this year after the first one taken in Victor Harbour at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under. That day he was in a breakaway with Simon Gerrans who had no future in professional cycling at the time. Since then, the Victorian joined Team U Nantes-Atlantique in France and signed with Ag2r. He made his new director Vincent Lavenu more than happy with a second place behind Gilbert in Paris-Corrèze. "This is a perfect recruit for our team," Lavenu said. Gerrans also justified the confidence put in him by Australian selectors Shayne Bannan and Neil Stephens for next week's World Championship.

The final podium
Photo ©: JF Quenet
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The third man on the final podium is also someone to watch for the future: Koen de Kort recently scored a fabulous win at the GP Eddy Merckx with other Dutch prodigy Thomas Dekker but there aren't enough spots available inside Rabobank's top team, that's why he'll move to Spain next year and turn pro with Liberty Seguros.

Being held at the end of the season, Paris-Corrèze has become an event for future champions. The first winner was Thor Hushovd in 2002 and Baden Cooke succeeded him before becoming stars of the Tour de France. But the race organised by former Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon will move to August next year and will finish in Chaumeil, a place known for being the hot bed of post-Tour criteriums in the past.

Photography

Images by Jean-Francois Quenet/velomania.net

Results

1 Eric Berthou (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover                 4.40.34
2 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Oktos-Saint Quentin                        0.27
3 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère                          
4 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole                           0.41
5 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Lotto-Domo                                   1.10
6 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone          
7 Koen De Kort (Ned) Rabobank TT III                              1.14
8 Benjamin Levecot (Fra) Oktos-Saint Quentin                          
9 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone              
10 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Ag2R Prevoyance                                
11 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf             
12 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Domo                                 
13 Christophe Rinero (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover                  
14 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole                            
15 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole                          
16 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Lokomotiv                                        
17 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf         
18 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank TT III                             
19 Léonardo Duque (Col) Chocolade Jacques Wincor-Nixdorf              
20 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                     
21 Jens Renders (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                         
22 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Crédit Agricole                          
23 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance                             
24 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) FDJeux.com                                  
25 Andrey Ptchelkin (Rus) Russian National Team                       
26 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover                    
27 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère                     1.19
28 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère                           
29 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Russian National Team                        
30 Pierre Bourquenoud (Swi) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover                 
31 Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) FDJeux.com                                   
32 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère                       
33 Jeremy Yates (NZl) Crédit Agricole                                 
34 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Auber 93                                  
35 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Lotto-Domo                                   
36 Laurent Paumier (Fra) Auber 93                                     
37 David Breard (Fra) Auber 93                                        
38 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone             
39 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf           1.25
40 David Boucher (Fra) Oktos-Saint Quentin                        2.55
41 Bastiaan Giling (Ned) Rabobank TT III                          3.21
42 Ben Day (Aus) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                              
43 Florent Brard (Fra) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf               
44 Krzysztof Krzywy (Pol) Action ATI                                  
45 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto-Domo                                    
46 Glenn d'Hollander (Bel) Lotto-Domo                                 
47 Matthias Russ (Ger) Gerolsteiner                                   
48 Mark De Maar (Ned) Rabobank TT III                                 
49 Sergeï Krushevskiy (Uzb) Oktos-Saint Quentin                       
50 John Nilsson (Swe) Auber 93                                        
51 Bartosz Huzarski (Pol) Action ATI                                  
52 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis, le credit par Telephone               
53 Nicolas Portal (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance                               
54 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone              
55 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover                3.54
56 Christophe Oriol (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance                             
57 Eric Leblacher (Fra) Crédit Agricole                           6.12
58 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) FDJeux.com                                   
59 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Lotto-Domo                                   
60 Maxim Karpatchev (Rus) Russian National Team                       
 
Final general classification
 
1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) FDJeux.com                           12.54.56
2 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Ag2R Prevoyance                             0.16
3 Koen De Kort (Ned) Rabobank TT III                              0.19
4 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone              
5 Christophe Brandt (Bel) Lotto-Domo                                  
6 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank TT III                              
7 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf              
8 Jens Renders (Bel) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                          
9 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                      
10 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Crédit Agricole                            
11 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf         
12 Benjamin Levecot (Fra) Oktos-Saint Quentin                         
13 Andrey Ptchelkin (Rus) Russian National Team                       
14 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Lokomotiv                                        
15 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover                    
16 Nicolas Fritsch (Fra) FDJeux.com                               0.24
17 Bastiaan Giling (Ned) Rabobank TT III                          2.26
18 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère                     3.43
19 Maryan Hary (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère                       3.59
20 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Russian National Team                    4.42
21 Hans De Clercq (Bel) Lotto-Domo                                6.01
22 David Boucher (Fra) Oktos-Saint Quentin                        6.15
23 Christophe Oriol (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance                         9.19
24 Ben Day (Aus) MrBookmaker.com-Palmans                          9.48
25 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Lotto-Domo                                  9.50
26 Krzysztof Krzywy (Pol) Action ATI                             14.15
27 Florent Brard (Fra) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf          17.10
28 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance                        17.11
29 Léonardo Duque (Col) Chocolade Jacques Wincor-Nixdorf              
30 Pierre Bourquenoud (Swi) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover            17.16
31 Jeremy Yates (NZl) Crédit Agricole                                 
32 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Lotto-Domo                                   
33 Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Auber 93                                  
34 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone             
35 Bartosz Huzarski (Pol) Action ATI                             19.18
36 Matthias Russ (Ger) Gerolsteiner                                   
37 Mark De Maar (Ned) Rabobank TT III                                 
38 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Crédit Agricole                     19.30
39 Sergeï Krushevskiy (Uzb) Oktos-Saint Quentin                  19.31
40 Eric Berthou (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover                  19.43
41 Denys Kostyuk (Ukr) Chocolade Jacques-Wincor Nixdorf          20.57
42 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole                     21.31
43 David Breard (Fra) Auber 93                                   21.36
44 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère                       
45 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches la Boulangère                         
46 Christophe Rinero (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover             22.05
47 Eric Leblacher (Fra) Crédit Agricole                          23.37
48 Glenn d'Hollander (Bel) Lotto-Domo                            23.38
49 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) FDJeux.com                              25.44
50 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T Semences-MG Rover               26.11
51 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Lotto-Domo                              26.29
52 Saulius Ruskys (Ltu) Oktos-Saint Quentin                      30.36
53 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole                         30.58
54 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone    31.24
55 Laurent Paumier (Fra) Auber 93                                31.36
56 John Nilsson (Swe) Auber 93                                   33.38
57 Frédéric Bessy (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone              
58 Nicolas Portal (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance                               
59 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis, le credit par Telephone               
60 Maxim Karpatchev (Rus) Russian National Team                  36.29

Courtesy of velomania.net