August 3, 2008 (Val-d’Or, QC) – The standard-bearer for the Hot Tubes Development Team, Nathan Brown (USA), waved to the cheering crowd in Val-d’Or on Sunday evening as the Coupe des Nations Abitibi 2008 drew to a close. Brown leaves the competition with the brown jersey as leader of the individual classification besting his nearest rival, Nick Aitken of Australia, by 20 seconds. Aitken walks away with the orange jersey for the highest individual points. The American team maintained top honours in team points classification.

Arnaud Demare (France) earned first place in the fourth and final stage of the Coupe des Nations on Sunday. The crowd was once again impressed with Demare’s strength in the final sprint as he completed the course in 2 hours 44 minutes 44 seconds, along with Fabio Silvestre of Portugal and Canada’s Hugo Houle in 3rd.

Over the 118.2km course between Senneterre and Val-d’Or, two significant breakaways ended in vain. The first, made up of Oliver Harding-Sheath (New Zealand) and Alexis Ansard (France), lasted 34km and, at its height, saw these two competitors with a lead of one minute and 35 seconds over the rest of the pack. The second breakaway consisted of seven riders from different teams, but it blended back into the field after 44km, with three laps left.

Thus ends the first edition of the Coupe des Nations Abitibi and we hope you enjoyed the competition. We wish you a wonderful continuation of your cycling season!

Brown jersey (individual leader)
* Nathan Brown (Hot Tubes Development)
Orange jersey (points leader)
* Nick Aitken (Australia)
Leading nation
* United States

Results

1. Arnaud Demare (France) 2:44:44
2. Fabio Silvestre (Portugal)
3. Hugo Houle (Canada 1)
4. Nick Aitken (Australia)
5. Ivan Sivash (Kazakhstan)
6. Arman Kamyshev (Kazakhstan)
7. David Boily (Canada 2)
8. Jacob Schwingboth (Canada 2)
9. Florian Taillefer (France)
10. Larry Warbasse (United States)

Final GC

1. Nathan Brown (United States) 7:35:18
2. Nick Aitken (Australia) 0:20
3. Daniil Fominykh (Kazakhstan) 0:22
4. Larry Warbasse (United States) 0:39
5. Pierrick Naud (Québec) 1:00
6. Ruslan Abdulmanov (Kazakhstan) 1:11 min
7. Andrew Barker (United States) 1:14
8. Dustin Andrews (Canada 1) 1:17
9. Fabio Silvestre (Portugal) 1:18
10. Oleg Solomko (Ukraine) 1:31

Complete results : www.tourabitibi.qc.ca