August 23/06 9:41 am - Tour Poitou-Charentes

Posted by Editoress on 08/23/06
 

5th in the GC - François Parisien Most Aggressive Racer at Tour Poitou-Charentes Stage 1
Courtesy Sportcom
Translated by Amanda Leigh Cox

François Parisien (TIAA-CREF) was one of the principal actors in Stage One's 187.1K of the Tour cycliste de Poitou-Charente (France). Parisien was a part of Tuesday's decisive break-away that took place between Saintes and Cognac in the 2.1 UCI-sanctioned race, a strategic move that earned him points and brought him to 6 seconds from race leader Saïd Haddou (Auber 93).

The Repentigny, Québec native and 2005 Canadian Road Champion won the honours of the Most Aggressive Rider, as well as earning the Best Espoir jersey and a 5th place rank.

'It was a result I'd been waiting for. It was a really good stage for me - I felt great. To get to the break-away that had already left, I took off on my own and no one caught me. I caught up to them and stayed there; I was in the right break.” Explains Parisien, who clearly is no longer suffering from bronchial inflammation, as was the case in last week's Tour de Limousin.

After the first tentative break-away was annulled by the pack at 17 K, French rider Maxime Médérel (Auber 93) launched another attack, accompanied by Olivier Bonnaire (Bouygues Telecom) and Elio Aggiano (Team L.P.R.); the small group were later joined by Parisien. At kilometre 65, the foursome had almost eleven minutes on the chasing main pack, but were rejoined when Aggiano slowed down at 78K; the main pack caught the group with 10 K to the finish, having lead for 140 K.

François Parisien In the Pack - Stage 2
Courtesy Sportcom
Translated by Amanda Leigh Cox

After yesterday's dazzling break-away which saw him grab the Most Agressive Rider and Best Espoir Rider's jerseys in addition to a 5th place in the GC, Stage Two saw a mellower François Parisien (TIAA-CREF) at the Tour Cycliste de Poitou-Charente.

As a result of the decidedly slower pace, the Québécois lost the first of his aforementioned jerseys and came in 63rd in the Stage, but he was not alone in riding at a moderate pace – the chase pack finished at 36 minutes behind winner Finnish rider Jussi Veikkanen (Française des Jeux). In the General Classement, Veikkanen now takes the lead, followed by Italian Stefano Cavallari (at 8 seconds) and Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel (at 11 seconds). Parisien now finds himself in 35th place (at 36 minutes 39 seconds).

"The break-away took place at 30 K into the race, and the majority of the key teams in were represented; including three riders from my team.” Explained Parisien. "No one was interested in chasing, so the whole pack just eased off and rode conservatively until the end. I myself was pretty tired after Tuesday so I was happy to have an easier pace!'

The commissaries, however, did not see things in the same light. Normally, all the members of the chase pack would have been classed as 'Out of Time' due to the rather extreme time delay from the winner, and would have been disqualified. Considering that the chase pack was in fact the main peleton, Commissaries instead had little choice but to hand out multiple infractions of 20 Swiss Francs to teams.

Stage Three of the Tour de Poitou-Charentes is a road race of 164.8 K and will take place Thursday between Parthenay and Chauvigny.

Stage 1 - August 22: Saintes - Cognac, 187.1km

1 Saïd Haddou (Fra) Auber 93, 4:39:02
2 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Team LPR
3 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua Sapone - Caffe Mokambo
4 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Agritubel
6 Stéphane Pouhlies (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance
6 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Groupe Sportif Bretagne-Jean Floc'h
7 Vincent Jérôme (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
8 Tyler Farrar (USA) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
9 John Nilsson (Swe) Auber 93
10 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Akud
73 Francois Parisien (Can) Team TIAA-CREF, all s.t.

GC

1 Saïd Haddou (Fra) Auber 93, 4:38:52
2 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Team L.P.R., at 0:04
3 Elio Aggiano (Ita) Team L.P.R., s.t.
4 Denis Bertolini (Ita) Acqua Sapone - Caffe Mokambo, 0:06
5 François Parisien (Can) Team Tiaa - Cref, s.t.
6 Stéphane Berges (Fra) Agritubel, 0:07
7 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux, 0:08
8 Alessandro Maserati (Ita) Team L.P.R., 0:09
9 Olivier Bonnaire (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
10 Maxime Mederel (Fra) Auber 93, both s.t.

Stage 2 - August 23: Cognac - Partheny, 191km

1 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux, 4:28:36
2 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Acqua Sapone - Caffe Mokambo, at 0:02
3 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone, 0:03
4 Jean Marc Marino (Fra) Credit Agricole, 0:19
5 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Akud, 0:43
6 Tyler Farrar (USA) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone
7 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floc'h
8 Nicolas Rousseau (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance
9 Cédric Herve (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floc'h
10 Kilian Patour (Fra) Credit Agricole, all s.t.
63 François Parisien (Can) Team Tiaa - Cref , 36:31

GC

1 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux, 9:07:26
2 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Acqua Sapone - Caffe Mokambo, at 0:08
3 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone, 0:11
4 Jean Marc Marino (Fra) Credit Agricole, 0:31
5 Cédric Herve (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floc'h, 0:50
6 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Akud, 0:52
7 Nicolas Rousseau (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance, s.t.
8 Tyler Farrar (USA) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone, 0:55
9 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne - Jean Floc'h
10 Kilian Patour (Fra) Credit Agricole, both s.t.
35 François Parisien (Can) Team Tiaa - Cref, 36:39