BESSEGES, France, Feb 8, 2009 (AFP) – Frenchman Thomas Voeckler of Bouygues Telecom claimed overall victory in the Etoile de Besseges stage race, formerly the traditional season-opener, here Sunday.

Voeckler, who famously battled the advances of Lance Armstrong to keep hold of the Tour de France yellow jersey in 2004, finished comfortably ahead of Slovenian Jure Kocjan and Russian Yuri Trofimov, last year’s winner, in the general classification.

Another Frenchman, Jean-Eudes Demaret of Cofidis, won the fifth and final stage after 145 km of racing between Gagnieres and Besseges.

An eight-man breakaway formed after just 10km but none of those proved a threat to Voeckler’s overall lead.

They were allowed a maximum lead of nearly five minutes and despite going on to dispute the finale their advantage was kept constantly in check by the peloton.

In the finale Demaret, who was part of the initial breakaway, beat home Jimmy Engoulvent and former Paris-Roubaix champion Frederic Guesdon.

File Photo by: CorVos Pro