Mickaël Buffaz takes out the Paris–Corrèze
The tenth edition of the Paris–Corrèze was held on August 4 and 5. This year the event included teams of all sizes, and the season-dominating (Tour de France being an exception) Team Cofidis showed that their successful 2010 campaign wasn’t over, with the stage one and overall race victory of Mickaël Buffaz. Sharing the podium with Buffaz was Gianni Meersman, 11 seconds behind, and Johan Le Bon, 21 seconds behind.
“I’m a bit surprised to win Paris-Corrèze overall,” Buffaz said. “I felt the emotion of winning and the stress of having the jersey but my team was strong. My stage win last year at the Tour de l’Ain has made me another rider. Now I want to see how far I can go.”
Buffaz won the first stage with a solo finish in Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat, after a successful attack 10km from the finish line of the 213km stage. Meersman and Johan Le Bon finished the stage behind him in the same order as the final standings. Meersman has performed very well for his first race after recovering from back injuries.
Twenty-two year old Le Bon won the best young rider jersey at the end of the event, only one year into his professional career.
"The confidence is back," Le Bon said after this performance followed his win in the Kreizh Breizh Elites stage race last week in Brittany.
Meersman finished the second stage in third place, behind his teammate Arthur Vichot, with Jonathan Hivert in second. Their Team FDJ also hosted last year’s champion Wesley Sulzberger, but couldn’t take over from Buffaz this year, who finished in the bunch of the second stage. FDJ did win the overall team classification, however, with Meersman winning in the points classification and his teammate Thibault Pinot winning the King of the Mountain award.
Vichot made his name at the beginning of the year as an unknown beginner who shot to prominence with the help of a trusting cycling club in Adelaide. He was a part of the final break-away 15km from the finish line and soloed ahead for the finish.
“It’s a great pleasure to win”, Vichot said. “I ride my bike for winning. It’s the conclusion of a huge team work. It also makes my personal work of six months concrete.”
Vichot entered the Paris-Corrèze from an eighth place finish in last week’s Tour de Wallonie. The bunch finished in the same time – Meersman, despite being the third across the finish line, was awarded the same time as Buffaz, so Buffaz won the event. The Team Cofidis champion will hope to enter Tour de l’Ain in the same form, going for another win.
The event was founded by Laurent Fignon and Max Mamers and the inaugural race was in 2001. As of 2005, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) ranked the race as a UCI Europe Tour 2.1 event.
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