At about twenty kilometers from Nantes, the Classic Loire Atlantique was won at the end of this afternoon by Florian Vachon. At the same time, the rider of the Bretagne-Schuller team takes over the lead in the classification of the Coupe de France PMU ... but he'll put this temporary title up for play again in Cholet-Pays de Loire tomorrow!

The summary of the Classic Loire Atlantique

Under a grey sky, the peloton of the Classic Loire Atlantique 2012 started the race at 12.30 in La Haye Fouassière.

Numerous attempts to break away have animated the start of the race but it was only in the second lap that a real break away was formed, after an attack by Karol Domagalski (Caja Rural) who rapidly got company by Yannick Martinez of the Team La Pomme Marseille.

Despite a crash by Martinez, this break away manages to get away and it was thus the young Polish rider who arrives first on top of the first difficulty for the climbers classification, ahead of Martinez and Frédéric Guesdon (FDJ BigMat) in the peloton which arrives on top 1'30" later. Their gap continues to increase up to 1'45" before dropping back again.

After a little bit under one hundred kilometers the peloton breaks up in two and the first peloton comes dangerously close to the two leading riders. Once they're taken back, about twenty riders are at the front of the race but they are also rapidly taken back before a new break away gets formed, this time with 4 riders: Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team), Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun), Romain Hardy (Bretagne-Schuller) and Clément Koretzky (Team La Pomme Marseille).

While the peloton again gets split up in two, the 4 leading riders are again taken back at around 60 kilometers from the finish.

Several new attempts to break away fail until a group of 17 riders manages to get away from the peloton, including last year's winner, Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team), Pierrick Fédrigo and Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ BigMat), Laurent Mangel, Fabrice Jeandesboz and Maxime Médérel (Saur-Sojasun), Dimitri Champion and Jean-Marc Bideau (Bretagne-Schuller), Lazlo Bodrogi (Team Type 1-Sanofi), Sébastien Delfosse, Reinier Honig and Davy Commeyne (Landbouwkrediet), Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen), Arnoud van Groen (Accent Jobs), Romain Mathéou (Véranda Rideau-U), Clément Koretzky (La Pomme Marseille) and Julien Guay (Roubaix-Lille Métropole).

At that time there were still 3 laps to go and this group gets a 40 seconds lead on the peloton. While the rain is falling down on the riders, it's at a bit over one lap from the finish that the peloton gets back on the leading group and the game can start all over again with 5 riders leading. These 5 riders are Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team), Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun), Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Schuller), Sebastien Delfosse and Zico Waeytens (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator). Finally it's still not from this group that the final breakaway gets formed since, after duo attempt by Jeandesboz and Delfosse, it was thanks to the work of several riders who started the chase the the whole peloton finally gets back together in the final lap.

Mirko Selvaggi and Florian Vachon however did like the idea of being in the breakaway and they thus get away from the peloton once again. Behind them, it were mainly the riders of the previous breakaway, Pieter Jacobs, Anthony Delaplace and Sébastien Delfosse, who start to chase and they get company in their efforts by 8 other riders.

The leading duo finally goes on until the end and battles for victory in a sprint, under the rain. This sprint was won with only millimeters difference by Florian Vachon who also takes over the lead in the classification of the Coupe de France PMU 2012, with the same number of points as Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis).

The photos of the Classic Loire Atlantique 2012

Tonight several photos of the Classic Loire Atlantique 2012 will be published in the corresponding section. Please don't hesitate to come back to check them out!

The classifications of the Classic Loire Atlantique 2012

Race classification

Hereunder you'll find the top 10 of the Classic Loire Atlantique 2012:

1/ Florian Vachon (Bretagne Schuller) - 4h33'40"
2/ Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil)
3/ Sébastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet) - +0'16"
4/ Davy Commeyne (Landbouwkrediet) - +0'17"
5/ Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
6/ Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) - +0'20"
7/ Lazlo Bodrogi (Team Type 1-Sanofi) - +0'24"
8/ Filippo Fortin (Team Type 1-Sanofi)
9/ Tom van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator)
10/ Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)

Best climbers classification

Since Karol Domagalski and Yannick Martinez abandoned the race, it was finally up to Clément Koretzky (Team La Pomme Marseille) and Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ BigMat) to share the leading position in this classification, both with 5 points.

Sébastien Delfosse was elected most combative rider of the race.

The classification of the Coupe de France PMU 2012

After this second race of the Coupe de France PMU 2012, the 21st edition of this inter-race classification, Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Schuller) takes over the lead of this classification, ahead of Samuel Dumoulin who won the Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise, with the same number of points.

Hereunder you'll find the top 10 of this classification, awaiting the 3rd race, Cholet-Pays de Loire, tomorrow:

1/ Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Schuller) - 50 points
2/ Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis, le crédit en ligne) - 50 points
3/ Arthur Vichot (FDJ BigMat) - 25 points
4/ Jérémie Galland (Saur-Sojasun) - 20 points
5/ Romain Hardy (Bretagne-Schuller) - 19 points
6/ Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) - 18 points
7/ Davide Malacarne (Team Europcar) - 18 points
8/ Julien Guay (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) - 14 points
9/ Lazlo Bodrogi (Team Type 1-Sanofi) - 12 points
10/ Mikael Chérel (AG2R La Mondiale) - 12 points

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Classic Loire Atlantique | Coupe de France

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