August 26, 2008 – The Bouygues Telecom team again triumphed at the GP Ouest France-Plouay UCI ProTour race, with Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo winning in similar style to his team mate Thomas Voeckler who won the prestigious one-day race in 2007.

The GP Ouest France-Plouay race is a true classic on the cycling calendar and has grown internationally thanks to being part of the UCI ProTour. Yet again some of the best riders in the peloton travelled to France and raced hard on the hilly circuit that is traditionally used for the race.

Fedrigo beat former Tour of Flanders winner Alessandro Ballan of the Lampre team and Spain’s David Lopez Garcia of Caisse d’Epargne. These three riders emerged at the end of an aggressive and constantly changing 229km race. An early breakaway formed after on the first of 12 laps covered in the race, with 12 riders quickly opening a three-minute lead. They were gradually chased down by the peloton but other riders attacked in a thrilling tactical battle. Fedrigo joined the decisive move at the start of the last lap and then was part of the trio that emerged on the last climb. Lopez Garcia tried a late attack but Fedrigo, who won a stage in the Tour de France in 2006 and the French national road race title in 2005, chased him down and then came past Ballan to win the sprint.

It was Fedrigo’s third and most important victory of the 2008 season after also winning a stage at the Etoile de Besseges and the Quatre Jours de Dunkerque.

Spain’s Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) did not ride the GP Ouest France-Plouay but retained his overall lead in the individual standings of the UCI ProTour. He has a total of 123 points and second placed Damiano Cunego (Lampre) failed to reduce his 19-point deficit even though he rode the GP Ouest France-Plouay. Germany’s Andreas Kloden (Astana) is third in the individual standings with 96 points, Tour of Switzerland winner Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) is fourth with 94 points and 2007 UCI ProTour winner Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) is fifth with 85 points.

Valverde’s Caisse d’Epargne team won the team competition at the GP Ouest France-Plouay and also strengthened their grip on the UCI ProTour team standings. They have a total of 167 points, just six more than Astana in second place. Three-time UCI ProTour winner CSC Saxo Bank is still third with 126 points.

Spain leads the nations standings ahead of Italy and Germany as the final UCI ProTour races approach. More precious points will be awarded after the Eneco Tour race in Holland and Belgium and then after the Deutschland Tour stage race in Germany, the Vattenfall Cyclassics one-day race in Hamburg and the Tour de Pologne stage race that concludes the 2008 UCI ProTour.

Women’s World Cup

For the fourth (individual) World Cup race in a row, the first and second positions on the podium were taken by a rider from Menikini Selle Italia and Team Columbia (Team High Road, before their name change). These two teams have grasped for glory and dominated in the World Cup since early May in the Tour de Berne.

In Plouay on Sunday, it was the turn of Fabiana Luperini (Menikini Selle Italia) to take victory. She beat Team Columbia’s Luise Keller in a two-up sprint for the line after a long breakaway by the pair.

Team Columbia came to the World Cup knowing that with a strong performance, Judith Arndt could seal the World Cup series for 2008. That despite the final round remaining in September. Their plan was to race aggressively throughout the 6 lap, 114.6 kilometre race. They raced to the plan, with riders active in breaks and chasing down attacks during the race which lasted over 3 hours.

Although the morning had been miserable, with rain falling, the afternoon cleared up and the race was run off under mainly sunny skies and on dry roads. A relatively small number of riders, 89, from eleven professional and four national teams started the 2008 GP de Plouay.

An early break was chased back by Anke Wichmann (Team Columbia) and this provided the springboard for a counter-attack by Wichmann’s team-mate, Kim Anderson. The American managed to gain a gap edging over one minute during her 26 kilometre break, but she eventually succumbed when a chase by Edwige Pitel (Pro Team Les Carroz) towed the bunch back up. Not long afterwards, Miho Oki (Menikini Selle Italia) went clear with Anke Wichmann (Team Columbia). When they were reeled in less than 15 kilometres later, a split in the main bunch was created, from which Fabiana Luperini (Menikini Selle Italia) and Luise Keller (Team Columbia) launched their decisive attack. As the pair extended their advantage, Swiss teams, Team Bigla and Cervelo Lifeforce worked hard to contain the gap.

Luperini and Keller were away for three and a half laps, around 65km. There were some attempts to bridge across to them, in final 25 kilometres, but these were chased back by Keller’s Team Columbia team-mates. World Cup leader, Judith Arndt and Kim Anderson were active in policing these accelerations. As the final twenty kilometres were raced, the time gap closed steadily. They approached the finish line just over half a minute ahead of the bunch.

The final 250 metres of the “˜Jean-Yves Perron’ circuit rises steadily and it was Fabiana Luperini who had the front as the pair approached the final two hundred metres. Keller gave her best, but just did not seem to have the legs to challenge the Italian. They sprinted until the line, but with 25m remaining, it was clear that Luperini would win.

The Italian road race Champion was not sure until she crossed the line that she would win “I haven’t raced for a month, my last race was Sweden [World Cup, round 8 — Open de Suede], so I didn’t know if I could win today. But in the final lap, I did feel strong and I tried to win. I am very happy.” Luperini said after the race.

Luise Keller was understandably disappointed not to have won. She came to Plouay refreshed a week after her overall victory in the Route de France, her first ever stage race win. “Of course I wanted to win”, she reflected, [the win in Route de France] “It gave me confidence today. I tried to win, but it was not enough.”

31 seconds later the race ended with a bunch sprint. The focus, though, was the duel between Judith Arndt and Suzanne De Goede (Équipe Nürnberger). Laying second, 87 points down before the start, De Goede needed to beat Arndt by a placing which would provide her with 13 more points to keep the 2008 World Cup competition open. It was a long, hard sprint and De Goede won, but her 35 points for third compared to Arndt’s for fourth were not enough.

Judith Arndt goes into the final round of the World Cup with 82 point s more than De Goede, her nearest rival. With a maximum of 75 points for the win, she has sealed victory one round early. The German, who before Berne had not worn the World Cup leader’s jersey, has worn it since and will be entered into the record books as the 2008 World Cup winner. There will be a double celebration for Team Columbia in Nürnberg, the team has already notched up an unassailable total in the Team Competition too.

Far from resting on their laurels, Team Columbia will be racing hard in the final round. “We will take the jersey to Nürnberg, it will be nice not to have to race for it, but we are always looking for the win”, commented Judith Arndt after the podium ceremony.

The final World Cup race in the 2008 series is the “Rund um die Nürnberger Aldstadt” , in Germany on Sunday 14 September 2008.

Results

Men’s ProTour

1. Pierrick Fédrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 5:42.44
2. Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre
3. David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0.03
4. Allan Davis (Bel) Mitsubishi-Jartazi 0.13
5. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
6. Arnaud Gérard (Fra) Française des Jeux
7. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence-Lotto
8. Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel
9. Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel
10. Manuele Mori (Ita) Scott-American Beef
11. Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
12. Peter Velits (Svk) Team Milram
13. Gregory Rast (Swi) Astana
14. Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
15. Mickaël Chérel (Fra) Française des Jeux
16. Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
17. Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas
18. Roman Kireyev (Kaz) Astana
19. Michael Barry (Can) Team Columbia
20. Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner
21. Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank
22. Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française des Jeux
23. Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Silence-Lotto
24. Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Scott-American Beef
25. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quick Step
26. Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana
27. Wim Van Huffel (Bel) Silence-Lotto
28. Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Crédit Agricole
29. Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole
30. David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Scott-American Beef
31. Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
32. Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
33. Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole
34. Anthony Roux (Fra) Française des Jeux
35. Andrea Noè (Ita) Liquigas
36. Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre
37. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
38. Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel
39. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
40. Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel
41. Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d’Epargne 0.20
42. Anthony Charteau (Fra) Caisse d’Epargne
43. Guillaume Levarlet (Fra) Française des Jeux 0.39
44. Alessandro Proni (Ita) Quick Step 1.04
45. Sergey Yakovlev (Kaz) Astana 4.20
46. Janek Tombak (Est) Mitsubishi-Jartazi
47. William Bonnet (Fra) Crédit Agricole
48. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas
49. Lasse Bøchman (Den) Team CSC-Saxo Bank
50. Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
51. Bart Dockx (Bel) Silence-Lotto
52. Dominique Cornu (Bel) Silence-Lotto
53. Renaud Dion (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
54. Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Spa) Rabobank
55. Iker Camaño Ortuzar (Spa) Scott-American Beef
56. Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Quick Step
57. Markus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner
58. Michael Schär (Swi) Astana
59. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
60. Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
61. David Cañada (Spa) Scott-American Beef
62. Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
63. Angel Gomez (Spa) Scott-American Beef
64. Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
65. Jean-Marc Marino (Fra) Crédit Agricole
66. Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française des Jeux
67. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Caisse d’Epargne
68. Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Rabobank
69. Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC-Saxo Bank
70. Juan José Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6.10
71. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 7.52
72. Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Liquigas
73. Kjell Carlström (Fin) Liquigas
74. Maryan Hary (Fra) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
75. Christophe Le Mével (Fra) Crédit Agricole
76. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank
77. Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner 9.09
78. Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Milram
79. Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) AG2R La Mondiale
80. Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Gerolsteiner
81. Yon Bru Pascal (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
82. Iñaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
83. Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
84. Kevin De Weert (Bel) Cofidis-Le Crédit par Téléphone
85. Roy Sentjens (Bel) Silence-Lotto
86. Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom

Women’s World Cup

1. Fabiana Luperini (Ita) Menikini-Selle Italia 3:16.49
2. Luise Keller (Ger) Team Columbia Women
3. Suzanne De Goede (Ned) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 0.31
4. Judith Arndt (Ger) Team Columbia Women
5. Martine Bras (Ned) Vrienden Van Het Platteland
6. Julie Krasniak (Fra) France
7. Oxana Kozonchuk (Rus) Menikini-Selle Italia
8. Modesta Vzesniauskaite (Ltu) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung
9. Grace Verbeke (Bel) Lotto-Belisol Ladiesteam
10. Emma Johansson (Swe) AA-Drink Cycling Team
11. Noemi Cantele (Ita) Bigla Cycling Team
12. Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Ned) Team Flexpoint
13. Edita Pucinskaite (Ltu) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung
14. Loes Gunnewijk (Ned) Team Flexpoint
15. Vicki Whitelaw (Aus) Australia
16. Andrea Thürig (Swi) Bigla Cycling Team
17. Irene Van Den Broek (Ned) AA-Drink Cycling Team
18. Béatrice Thomas (Fra) ESGL 93-GSD Gestion
19. Lieselot Decroix (Bel) Lotto-Belisol Ladiesteam
20. Edwige Pitel (Fra) Team Pro Feminin Les Carroz
21. Karine Gautard (Fra) Vienne Futuroscope
22. Kimberly Anderson (USA) Team Columbia Women
23. Carla Ryan (Aus) Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team
24. Nicole Brändli (Swi) Bigla Cycling Team
25. Chantal Beltman (Ned) Team Columbia Women
26. Miho Oki (Jpn) Menikini-Selle Italia 0.51
27. Elisabeth Braam (Ned) Team Flexpoint 0.53
28. Elodie Touffet (Fra) Gauss RDZ Ormu
29. An Van Rie (Bel) Vrienden Van Het Platteland 1.17
30. Carlee Taylor (Aus) Australia 1.34
31. Laure Werner (Bel) AA-Drink Cycling Team
32. Jennifer Hohl (Swi) Bigla Cycling Team
33. Joanne Kiesanowski (NZl) Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team 4.28
34. Sarah Düster (Ger) Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team
35. Karen Steurs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen Thompson Ladies Team
36. Sigrid Corneo (Ita) Menikini-Selle Italia
37. Christine Majerus (Lux) ESGL 93-GSD Gestion 5.53
HD Jaccolien Wallaard (Ned) Vrienden Van Het Platteland 23.02
HD Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Australia 18.48
HD Leda Cox (GBr) ESGL 93-GSD Gestion 23.02
HD Kathryn Watt (Aus) Lotto-Belisol Ladiesteam 18.48
HD Maja Adamsen (Den) Team Cmax Dila 23.02
HD Pascale Shnider (Swi) Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team
DNF Monica Holler (Swe) Bigla Cycling Team
DNF Linda Villumsen (Den) Team Columbia Women
DNF Anke Wichmann (Ger) Team Columbia Women
DNF Claudia Häusler (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung
DNF Eva Lutz (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung
DNF Nathalie Bates (Aus) Menikini-Selle Italia
DNF Giada Borgato (Ita) Menikini-Selle Italia
DNF Iise Geldhof (Bel) Belgium
DNF Hannah Verhaege (Bel) Belgium
DNF Maaike Polspoel (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen Thompson Ladies Team
DNF Ludivine Henrion (Bel) AA-Drink Cycling Team
DNF Latoya Bruleé (Bel) AA-Drink Cycling Team
DNF Inge Van Den Broeck (Bel) AA-Drink Cycling Team
DNF Liesbeth De Vocht (Bel) Vrienden Van Het Platteland
DNF Marit Huisman (Ned) Vrienden Van Het Platteland
DNF Liesbeth Bakker (Ned) Vrienden Van Het Platteland
DNF Kaytee Boyd (NZl) New Zealand
DNF Laura Thompson (NZl) New Zealand
DNF Sarah Murdoch (NZl) New Zealand
DNF Kerrianne Torkler (NZl) New Zealand
DNF Yvette Hill-Willis (NZl) New Zealand
DNF Sonia Bazire (Fra) Vienne Futuroscope
DNF Fiona Dutriaux (Fra) Vienne Futuroscope
DNF Nathalie Jeuland (Fra) Vienne Futuroscope
DNF Moriah Mac Gregor (Can) Vienne Futuroscope
DNF Emmanuelle Merlot (Fra) Vienne Futuroscope
DNF Peta Mullens (Aus) Australia
DNF Leonie Burford (Aus) Australia
DNF Rochelle Gilmore (Aus) Menikini-Selle Italia
DNF Fabienne Gautier (Fra) ESGL 93-GSD Gestion
DNF Joelle Numainville (Can) ESGL 93-GSD Gestion
DNF Audrey Lemieux (Can) ESGL 93-GSD Gestion
DNF Mélanie Bravard (Fra) Team Lot-et-Garonne
DNF Aurore Jeudy (Fra) Team Lot-et-Garonne
DNF Emilie Lebrun (Fra) Team Lot-et-Garonne
DNF Honorine Martin (Fra) Team Lot-et-Garonne
DNF Fanny Riberot (Fra) Team Pro Feminin Les Carroz
DNF Eugenie Mermillod (Fra) Team Pro Feminin Les Carroz
DNF Brei Gudsell (NZl) Team Pro Feminin Les Carroz
DNF Magali Le Floch (Fra) France
DNF Magali Mocquery (Fra) France
DNF Aodez Le Fourn (Fra) France
DNF Jacobien Kanis (Ned) Team Flexpoint
DNF Saskia Elemans (Ned) Team Flexpoint
DNF Adriene Snijder (Ned) Team Flexpoint
DNF Emma Rickards (Aus) Cervelo Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team