There was to be no last minute reprieve from the race organisers on the final day of Étoile de Bessèges in France, with those outside the time limit yesterday not being permitted to start today.
It meant Ireland’s Sean Downey and Ronan McLaughlin took the proverbial early bath and drove from France back Belgium as their team mates battled out the last day’s action in France.
In this morning’s stage the three remaining An Post riders in the race – Gediminas Bagdonas, Mark McNally and Niko Eeckhout – all finished in the bunch after a short road race before the afternoon TT.
The freezing conditions again forced a route change this morning, with one of the climbs taken out. The sprint finish was won by Frenchman Stéphane Poulhies (Saur-Sojasun).
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In the afternoon, the riders faced an individual TT of 9.7km, with a climb up to the finish. Gediminas Bagdonas, giving his Lithuanian TT champion’s kit its first outing of 2012, was best of the An Post-Sean Kelly trio in 29th place, 1:09 down on TT winner Jérôme Coppel (Saur–Sojasun).
The GC leader going into the final stage, Pierre Rolland (Europcar) could only manage 10th in the TT and so the overall race win to 25-year-old Coppel, the long-heralded great hope of French cycling.
Stage 5a
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1 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 1:40:35
2 Justin Jules (Fra) Veranda Rideau U
3 Bobbie Traksel (Ned) Landbouwkrediet
4 Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
5 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Saur - Sojasun
6 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis Le Crédit en Ligne
7 Armindo Fonseca (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller
8 Anthony Ravard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
10 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator
21 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) An Post - Sean Kelly
67 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post - Sean Kelly
68 Niko Eeckhout (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly all same time
Stage 5b
1 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:14:25
2 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis Le Crédit en Ligne 0:00:26
3 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:32
4 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling 0:00:33
5 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) FDJ - Big Mat 0:00:38
6 Franck Vermeulen (Fra) Veranda Rideau U 0:00:39
7 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:00:40
8 Dominique Cornu (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 0:00:43
9 Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fra) Vélo Club La Pomme Marseille 0:00:47
10 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 0:00:48
29 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) An Post - Sean Kelly 0:01:09
38 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post - Sean Kelly 0:01:21
46 Niko Eeckhout (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly 0:01:40
Final GC
1 Jérôme Coppel (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 12:40:08
2 Franck Vermeulen (Fra) Veranda Rideau U 0:00:25
3 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis Le Crédit en Ligne 0:00:26
4 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 0:00:28
5 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:32
6 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling 0:00:33
7 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) FDJ - Big Mat 0:00:37
8 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur - Sojasun
9 Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fra) Vélo Club La Pomme Marseille 0:00:46
10 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 0:00:48
27 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) An Post - Sean Kelly 0:01:09
34 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post - Sean Kelly
68 Niko Eeckhout (Bel) An Post - Sean Kelly 0:17:15
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