Anthony Charteau wins second stage and also takes overall lead in 2011 Route du Sud
Europcar team’s Anthony Charteau won the second stage and also took the overall leader’s yellow jersey in the 2011 Route du Sud on Friday, June 17.
The race started in St. Gaudens and ended in Cauterets. The 32-years-old French professional cyclists took a total of 4 hours, 53 minutes and 19 seconds to cover a distance of 177 kilometres.
Recenlty, Anthony took the overall first spot in La Tropicale Amissa Bongo and in 2010 he won the title of King of Mountain in Tour de France.
Vasili Kiryienka of Movistar was in the second spot with 5 seconds behind Anthony. The Italian rider, Davide Rebellin of Miche – Guerciotti, was in good form, but grabbed third spot with the difference of 47 seconds.
A group of eleven riders were followed by Rebellin and crossed the finish-line with the same timing of Italian. Procycling riders Thomas Lofkvist tried his best to catch the 13 riders, but failed and gained the 14th spot with a difference of 59 seconds.
Four-cyclists which included Thomas Bonnin (Skil – Shimano), William Aranzaso Escobar (Miche – Guerciotti), Nicolas Rousseau (Big Mat - Auber 93) and Guillaume Blot (Bretagne – Schuller) could not complete the race.
In the first climb of the stage, Arthur Vichot won the climb with 5 points ahead of the three cyclists. In the second climb Antonio Piedra maintained his pace and pulled Arthur back.
When the race entered Col du Tourmalet, Anthony Charteau finished safely in the peloton and took the overall lead ahead of Vasili.
The group of three cyclists made their first breakaway in Lannemezan which included, Julien Berard, Javier Iriarte and Guillaume Bonnafond. All of them built a lead of few seconds over the peloton. Julien won the first and Benoit Vaugrenard took second sprint.
However, in the final sprint Vasili maintained his pace and grabbed the third sprint ahead of Anthony and Arnold.
Anthony Charteau took an overall lead with the timing of 10 hours, 10 minutes and 42 seconds. Vasili was the runner-up with 8 seconds and Davide Rebellin finished third with 55 seconds behind the Frenchman.
The next stage will start in Pierrefitte-Nestalas and end in Bagneres-De-Luchon. All riders will cover the distance of 197 kilometres.
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