Tour du Limousin recap
Team Saxo Bank’s Gustav Larsson has taken out the 2010 Tour du Limousin. The Swedish Tour-winner took control of the four-stage event thanks to a victory in the decisive time-trial of Wednesday’s stage two.
The 193.1km opening stage was won by 27-year-old French cyclist Jérémie Galland for his second win of the season, ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil. The 45.1km time-trial was held on the second stage, with Rabobank’s Sebastian Langeveld and Bbox’s Nicolas Vogondy finishing 20 and 43 seconds respectively behind Larsson. Galland dropped from first place to 76th overall due to a 122nd place finish.
Larsson was pleased with his win. "It was a perfect win for me. The course had a few climbs along the way but I was simply going full gas through the stretch," he said. "You have to suffer from beginning to end to win a time trial. The chances of taking an overall win are good but it's always hard to control the peloton. But I have a strong team in front of me and I'm confident."
The 191.5km penultimate stage three on Thursday was won by Alexandre Botcharov at the head of a five-man group including Romain Feillu and Julien Loubet, with Larsson retaining the overall lead. Twenty-one year old Italian rider Davide Appollonio won the 180.8km fourth and final stage of the Tour du Limousin.
“When we started the last climb, with two kilometres to go, I still felt very strong although the stage had been really hard,” said Appollonio. “I didn’t want to wait for the sprint so I decided to attack and I made it through to the finish line. I cannot believe it, I knew I had good legs from the beginning of the race but to win a hard stage like this and to take my first pro victory is incredible. I have to say thanks to my team for the trust and the way they supported me.”
It was the Cervelo Test Team rider’s first professional victory. Primarily known as a sprinter, he won the stage with a solo breakaway. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil finished ahead of Samuel Dumoulin at the front of the field sprint, two seconds behind the stage winner, for the second and third in the final stage respectively.
The tour has been categorized as a UCI 2.1 rated event since 2005. The race was founded in 1968 and became a professional race in 1974.
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