Sylvain Chavanel and Christel Ferrier Bruneau win 2011 Elite French Road Championships
Quickstep cycling team’s Sylvain Chavanel won the 2011 Elite French Road Championships with in Boulogne on Sunday, June 26.
French professional cyclist, Sylvain, took a total of 6 hours and 25 seconds to cover the distance of 234.5 kilometres.
After winning the race, Chavanel said, “Arriving solo you get the chance to savour the victory. I attacked from far away because there were many riders ahead and if I had waited any longer I would have risked getting shut out of the final.”
Recently, the 31-year-old Sylvain grabbed the second spot in Ronde Van Vlaanderen and took the overall fourth place in Three Days of de panne.
Anthony Roux of FDJ was the runner-up with 38 seconds, while Thomas Voeckler of Europcar finished third with the 42 seconds behind Sylvain.
Many cyclists were disqualified from the stage, including Yohann Gene (Team Europcar), Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) and Arnaud Courteille (FDJ).
In the last two laps of the race, Sylvian was the first rider who attacked and gained the lead. Anthony and Thomas tried their best to work together and catch Sylvain, but failed and Chavanel proved too fast for them and took the French victory ahead of
other riders.
In the women's category, Christel Ferrier Bruneau took the 2011 Elite French Road Championships on Saturday.
Ferrier-Bruneau took a total of 3 hours, 26 minutes and 11 seconds to cover the distance of 109.6 kilometres.
Ferrier-Bruneau said, "I tried to attack on the first climb, but they came back, I thought I had to be careful because Longo is strong and has a lot of experience. The wall before the finish suited me and I gave it everything there."
Recently, Christel took the second place in Cholet-Pays de Loire Female in 2011 and also won the Grand Prix de France in 2010.
Jeannie Longo was the runner-up with adifference of 12 seconds, while Magdalena De Saint Jean finished third with a difference of 18 seconds.
There was a lot of attack in the final climb. Longo maintained her pace but failed to take the lead. In the mid-point of the race, Joanne Duval gained a lead of 3 minutes and 10 seconds over the peloton after the attack.
With three kilometres to go, Duval's lead broke and Ferrier-Bruneau, while maintaining her pace crossed the finish-line.
23 women cyclists, including Audrey Gascon, Nadege Prudhomme and Cindy Morvan, were disqualified from the race.
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