August 25, 2006 РFearing a collision during a massive sprint, Quebec cyclist Fran̤ois Parisien lifted his feet and finished behind the peloton on the third stage of the Tour de Poitou-Charentes, a 164 km section between the French towns of Parthenay and Chauvigny.

Wednesday, the peloton let the breakaway group pedal to victory, but not so today. Two breaks were formed but quickly absorbed by the pack. At one point, seven cyclists managed to get four minutes ahead of the peloton.

“The peloton wanted to catch the break and it was going to end in a massive sprint, which is what happened,” explained Parisien who finished 43 seconds behind German Steffen Radochla (Team Wiesenholf) who won today’s stage. Finnish cyclist Jussi Veikkanen (Française des Jeux) still leads in overall points. The Tour de Poitou-Charentes ends Friday.

Results

1 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Akud 3.41.52
2 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Akud
3 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Team L.P.R.
4 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Agritubel
5 Evgeny Popov (Rus) Rabobank Continentale
6 Tyler Farrar (USA) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone
7 Cédric Herve (Fra) Bretagne – Jean Floc’h
8 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne – Jean Floc’h
9 Saïd Haddou (Fra) Auber 93
10 Fr̩d̩ric Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet РColnago
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101 Fran̤ois Parisien (Can) Team Tiaa РCref

Overall

1 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux 12.49.18
2 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Acqua Sapone – Caffe Mokambo 0.08
3 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.11
4 Jean Marc Marino (Fra) Credit Agricole 0.31
5 Steffen Radochla (Ger) Team Wiesenhof Akud 0.42
6 Cédric Herve (Fra) Bretagne – Jean Floc’h 0.50
7 Nicolas Rousseau (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance 0.52
8 Tyler Farrar (USA) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 0.55
9 Jean-Luc Delpech (Fra) Bretagne – Jean Floc’h
10 Kilian Patour (Fra) Credit Agricole
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96 Fran̤ois Parisien (Can) Team Tiaa РCref 37.22