French cyclist Samuel Dumoulin wins first stage at Paris-Correze 2011 - Cycling News
Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne team’s Samuel Dumoulin won the bunch sprint of the opening stage of Paris-Correze 2011 on Wednesday, August 3. The race started in Contres and ended at Bellac.
The 30-year-old French professional cyclists showed his good effort in the final kilometres and took the total of 4 hours, 53 minutes and 25 seconds to cover the distance of 181.8 kilometres.
Bert De Waele of Landbouwkrediet was runner-up with 4 seconds behind Dumoulin. Thomas Degand of Veranda's Willems – Accent finished third with the same timing of Belgium. 28 cyclists crossed the finish line with the same timing of sprinter.
In the beginning of the stage, the group of three cyclists made their first breakaway and took significant time on the climb. All of them followed by Cofidis team, as their riders took a lead but the peloton keep steady on the tree lined roads.
Arnoud Van Groen (Veranda Willems), Benoit Daenink (Lille Roubaix Metropole) and Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r La Mondiale) built a decent gap of four minutes, but in the first climb they were caught by the peloton.
A smaller group formed after a few kilometres which included Meilleur Grimpeur, Julien Berard (Ag2r), Benoit Vaugrenard and Anthony Charteau.
Charteau increase his pace and was followed by Fabien Schmidt as both of them took advantage of 10 seconds but failed to hold the lead. Samuel showed a tremendous effort and crossed the finish line ahead of the other cyclists.
Recently Samuel took the fifth and seventh stage of Volta a Catalunya and also took the third stage of Etoile de Besseges. He also took the first stage of Tour du Haut Var.
Julien Berard (AG2R La Mondiale) took the overall mountain classification with 12 points ahead of Franck Bouyer. Arnaud Molmy (Big Mat - Auber 93) took the title of young rider standing ahead of Bjorn Thurau and Kevin Reza.
The next stage will start in Objat and ended in Chaumeil. All the cyclists will manage to cover the distance of 178.7 kilometres.
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