Written by: Justin Davis
SAINT-LAURENT-DU-PONT, France, June 7, 2010 – Slovenian Grega Bole took a step towards securing an unexpected spot on next month’s Tour de France by claiming the first stage of the Dauphine Criterium here on Monday.
Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, of Astana, retained the race leader’s yellow jersey after 191km of racing over rolling terrain from Evian-les-Bains.
But as the Spaniard awaits a 49km time trial on stage three and a further four days of testing his condition in the Alps, Bole stole the show on the first of only two days that have been set aside for non-climbers.
Britain’s Geraint Thomas almost handed his Sky team the perfect start to the week-long event after emerging from the front of a small group of riders as they drove hard in the final 500m before the finish line .
However Bole timed his final drive to perfection, pulling past Thomas in the final 50 meters and holding off a late surge from HTC-Columbia’s Slovakian sprinter Peter Velits.
Bole had shown his potential on the first stage of this year’s Paris-Nice when he finished runner-up to Kiwi Greg Henderson.
The next day, the Slovenian was forced out after a crash in the final 500 meters left him with two broken ribs and an eventual six-week layoff which only ended last week.
“I’m so happy to have won my first race at Pro Tour level, I can’t describe it,” said Bole, the latest in a steady line of Slovenians to have joined the Italian team.
“I had six weeks off the bike after my crash at Paris-Nice, where I broke two ribs. I spent most of that time in bed, but I’ve come back little by little and I’ve come into this race with great legs.”
Contador started the first stage of this key Tour de France warm-up with the race lead after winning the 6.8km prologue on Sunday.
And the Spaniard was given a relatively easy first day of racing in south-east France after the peloton allowed a five-man breakaway to form after just 13km of racing and go on to build a maximum lead of 8min 40sec.
Their bid to stay away evaporated on the final climb of the day, which seemed to snag the aims of the real sprinters, and a series of attacks came and went on the final descent towards the finish.
Thomas had pulled away convincingly in the final 100 meters but that was without counting on the top end speed of Bole, who surged past him in timely fashion to secure the win.
Already valued for adapting his skills to different types of terrain, Bole is now hoping to get the nod for next month’s Tour de France where he could be called upon to help Lampre’s main sprinter Alessandro Petacchi.
It seems someone, however, forgot to tell him about the mountain climbs on the three-week epic.
“I’m not 100 percent certain yet, but I think I will be going to the Tour,” said Bole.
“I’ll try (to win) again tomorrow (Tuesday), but after that there’s little chance. To be honest I’m a little afraid ahead of the mountain stages in the final days of the race!”
Stage Results:
1. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) les 191,5 km en 4h47:24.
(moyenne: 39,979 km/h)
2. Peter Velits (SVK/THR) à 0:00.
3. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 0:00.
4. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
5. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
6. Christian Knees (GER/MRM) 0:00.
7. Stefan Denifl (AUT/CTT) 0:00.
8. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
9. Arkaitz Duran (ESP/FOT) 0:00.
10. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 0:00.
11. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
12. Dario Cataldo (ITA/QST) 0:00.
13. Egoi Martinez (ESP/EUS) 0:00.
14. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 0:00.
15. Anders Lund (DEN/SAX) 0:00.
16. Jürgen Van den Broeck (BEL/OLO) 0:00.
17. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
18. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 0:00.
19. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
20. Oscar Pujol (ESP/CTT) 0:00.
…
26. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
29. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
30. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
31. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
35. Jérôme Coppel (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
36. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 0:00.
38. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 0:00.
41. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 0:00.
43. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
46. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 0:00.
48. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
49. Jean-Christophe Péraud (FRA/OLO) 0:00.
53. Christophe Kern (FRA/COF) 0:00.
58. Matthieu Perget (ESP/GCE) 1:11.
64. Mauricio Soler (COL/GCE) 1:11.
70. Julien Loubet (FRA/ALM) 1:11.
71. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 1:11.
73. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 1:11.
75. Laszlo Bodrogi (FRA/KAT) 1:11.
78. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 1:11.
79. Sébastien Chavanel (FRA/FDJ) 1:11.
83. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 1:11.
86. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) 1:11.
92. Jérémie Galland (FRA/SAU) 1:11.
93. Denis Menchov (RUS/RAB) 1:11.
96. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 1:11.
111. Stéphane Augé (FRA/COF) 1:51.
117. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 2:06.
118. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 2:06.
120. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 2:37.
123. Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA/BTL) 2:49.
126. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 4:22.
128. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 4:22.
129. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 4:22.
132. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 4:22.
133. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 4:22.
147. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 5:37.
152. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 5:37.
155. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 5:37.
157. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 5:37.
158. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 5:37.
159. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 6:01.
162. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 7:03.
164. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 7:03.
170. Vincent Jérôme (FRA/BTL) 11:56.
175. Mauro Finetto (ITA/LIQ) 17:41.
175 coureurs au départ. 175 classés.
Overall Results:
1. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 4h55:58.
2. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/THR) à 0:02.
3. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 0:05.
4. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 0:10.
5. Dario Cataldo (ITA/QST) 0:12.
6. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 0:12.
7. Jérôme Coppel (FRA/SAU) 0:14.
8. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 0:14.
9. Gorka Verdugo (ESP/EUS) 0:15.
10. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 0:15.
11. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 0:15.
12. Christian Knees (GER/MRM) 0:16.
13. Rubén Plaza (ESP/GCE) 0:17.
14. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 0:17.
15. Jean-Christophe Péraud (FRA/OLO) 0:17.
16. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 0:18.
17. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 0:18.
18. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) 0:19.
19. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 0:19.
20. Peter Velits (SVK/THR) 0:20.
…
22. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 0:23.
25. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 0:25.
28. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 0:28.
35. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 0:32.
36. Laurent Lefèvre (FRA/BTL) 0:32.
40. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 0:34.
42. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 0:35.
43. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 0:35.
45. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 0:37.
46. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 0:38.
47. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 0:38.
51. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 0:47.
52. Christophe Kern (FRA/COF) 0:47.
53. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 0:49.
54. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 0:49.
61. Mauricio Soler (COL/GCE) 1:33.
64. Denis Menchov (RUS/RAB) 1:35.
70. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 1:41.
75. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) 1:47.
76. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 1:47.
78. Julien Loubet (FRA/ALM) 1:48.
81. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 1:50.
82. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 1:51.
87. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 1:55.
92. Laszlo Bodrogi (FRA/KAT) 1:56.
94. Jérémie Galland (FRA/SAU) 1:58.
96. Matthieu Perget (ESP/GCE) 2:03.
99. Sébastien Chavanel (FRA/FDJ) 2:05.
112. Stéphane Augé (FRA/COF) 2:37.
114. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 2:45.
118. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 3:05.
119. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 3:13.
122. Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA/BTL) 3:24.
126. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 4:47.
129. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 4:57.
134. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 5:06.
136. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 5:07.
138. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 5:12.
142. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 6:06.
145. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 6:10.
148. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 6:17.
153. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 6:27.
154. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 6:30.
160. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 6:52.
161. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH) 7:21.
165. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 7:51.
168. Vincent Jérôme (FRA/BTL) 12:26.
175. Mauro Finetto (ITA/LIQ) 18:04.
Article by: AFP