Anthony Ravard wins at Paris-Bourges
Fully 154 riders signed in at the starting line of the 60th edition of the Paris-Bourges, but only 92 riders finished the race, the first 75 of them crossing the finish line in the same minute.
At the head of the 19-rider bunch which finished the 198.3km race in 4:36:52 was Anthony Ravard, of Team AG2R, ahead of Romain Feillu and Matti Breschel.
"Today the whole team worked hard," said Ravard. "They pulled back the escape of ten as we entered the circuit. Then, I was well placed and I only had to jump on the pedals! It's a great team performance
and it is also a different victory for me from earlier this season because this time I won with a bit more room."
This season, Ravard has won two stages and the points jersey in the Circuit de la Sarthe, won a stage at the Tour de Poitou-Charentes and was the winner of the Chateauroux Classic, making this his fifth
victory of the season. His podium companions have also both won points jerseys this year. Feillu, of Vacansoleil, won a stage and the green jersey in the Vuelta a Burgos and Breschel, of Saxo Bank, won a stage and the green jersey in the Tour of Denmark. Breschel
came to the race from a silver-medal-winning form in the World Championships road race.
Jan Barta and Steven Cozza took a successful two-man escape early in the day but Cozza abandoned the race while they were leading by 7:30 and Barta was reeled in. Nobody could form another successful breakaway
and Ravard proved the strongest sprinter at the finish line. The rider is now target the Paris-Tours on Sunday.
"Before coming here, I was doing the Belgian races," said Ravard. "I knew that I couldn't do it all and I was really eyeing Paris-Bourges and Paris-Tours. I was right!"
One of the riders who didn’t finish the race was Heinrich Haussler, but despite that he has said knee problems are finally over and he will be back in form in 2011, when he will be riding for team Garmin-Cervelo.
The Australian had to drop many of his major goals this season and eventually had to have surgery done to his knee to put an end to his long-standing leg problems.
“I rode my last race of the year at Paris-Bourges in France, and now I can finally put this season behind me,” said Haussler on his website. “Of course this season was less than satisfactory. I could not
do well in any of the planned highlights, like the Flanders Classics, the Tour de France or the World Championships – I could not even start in some of them.”
The most unfortunate drop-out of the race was Tour de Vendee-winner Koldo Fernandez who crashed out before the final 200 metres of the Paris-Bourges. He was taken to the local hospital where it was discover
that he had suffered a fractured cheekbone, fractured clavicle and three lost teeth. The Vuelta a Burgos stage winner stayed overnight in the hospital per the doctor’s recommendation.
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