BiciRace.com :: 2006 Critérium International

2006 Critérium International, Stage 2

Critérium International, France

Stage 2, Les Vieilles Forges (Les Mazures) - Montherme, 101K

26 March

The Italian Stallion Blasts into Lead

Dekker and Basso Looking Tough, photo: ASO

The Italian Stallion, Ivan Basso (Team CSC), won this morning's Stage 2 of the Critérium International. He turned the screws on Alexandre Botcharov (Crédit Agricole) and Juan Carlos Dominguez (Unibet.com), while overnight GC leader, Erik Dekker (Rabobank), was gapped before the line. Basso will wear the leader's jersey into today's final stage, an 8.3 TT.

Alberto Contador (Liberty Seguros-Würth) put in an early solo move that was washed away by the day's penultimate climb, the Côte du Mont Malgré. Ten riders took off, including GC leader Dekker and Basso. By the top of the côte, -18K, there were only four: Dekker, Basso, Botcharov and Dominguez.

The escapees increased their lead to a maximum of 1'00" on a group including their main GC rivals (Grivko, Astarloa, etc). Upon reaching the final climb of the day, the Côte de la Roche aux 7 Villages, Botcharov fired off the front. Basso and Dominguez quickly marked the move, but Dekker was caught out by mechanical problems.

In the sprint to the line, the Spaniard Dominguez faded slightly and it was Basso who ousted Botcharov in Montherme. Il Varesino, with 11" over Dekker, now looks poised to take the overall in this afternoon's 8.3K TT.

Recent Paris-Nice winner, No-Fuss Floyd Landis (Phonak), was forced to retire midway through the stage. L'Americano's hip still is causing some pain after yesterday's stage 1 crash. Also, Cofidis leader David Moncoutié was sent to hospital after coming down on the wet pavement and banging his knee.

Results: 2:37'45", 38.415 K/h
1 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC
2 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole
3 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Unibet.com
4 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 0.15
5 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak 1.02
6 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
7 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team CSC
8 Iván Gutiérrez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
9 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank
10 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française Des Jeux
11 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Barloworld
12 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner
13 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Milram
14 José Alberto Martínez (Spa) Agritubel
15 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R Prévoyance
16 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
17 Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
18 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Liberty Seguros-Würth
19 Bernhard Kohl (Ger) T-Mobile
20 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Phonak
21 Manuel Calvente (Spa) Agritubel
22 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile 1.11
23 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth 1.14
24 Moisés Dueñas (Spa) Agritubel 1.17
25 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld 2.59
26 Hubert Dupont (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance 4.01
27 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Agritubel
28 Marco Osella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi 4.37
29 Jorge García (Spa) Relax-GAM 5.42
30 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner
31 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) T-Mobile
32 Theo Eltink (Ned) Rabobank
33 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Barloworld
34 José Joaquín Rojas (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
35 José Luis Martínez Jimenez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
36 Mario De Sárraga (Spa) Relax-GAM
37 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
38 David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
39 Ivan Parra (Col) Cofidis
40 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Cofidis
41 Vicente Ballester (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
42 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Crédit Agricole
43 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
44 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
45 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
46 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Phonak
47 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Française Des Jeux
48 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Liberty Seguros-Würth
49 Steve Zampieri (Swi) Phonak
50 Axel Merckx (Bel) Phonak 5.50
51 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Crédit Agricole 6.32
52 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 9.10
53 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank

Mountains
K 2, Côte des Vieilles Forges
1 David López García (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4
2 Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2
3 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1

K 13, Côte du Mont Malgré Tout
1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth 6
2 David López García (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4
3 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 2

K 34.5, Côte de Roc La Tour
1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth 6
2 David López García (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4
3 Igor Antón (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2

K 42, Col du Loup (D.131-D.13)
1 David López García (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4
2 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Liberty Seguros-Würth 2
3 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française Des Jeux 1

K 51.5, Côte des Perrières
1 David López García (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4
2 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Liberty Seguros-Würth 2
3 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française Des Jeux 1

K 59, Côte de Meillier-Fontaine
1 David López García (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4
2 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Liberty Seguros-Würth 2
3 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française Des Jeux 1

K 63.5, Côte du Bois de l'Or
1 David López García (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4
2 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 2
3 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française Des Jeux 1

K 80, Côte du Mont Malgré Tout
1 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole 6
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 4
3 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 2

K 101, Montherme (Côte de la Roche aux 7 Villages)
1 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 4
2 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole 2
3 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Unibet.com 1

GC
1 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 7:06'53"
2 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 0.11
3 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Milram 1.06
4 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Barloworld 1.08
5 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 1.14
6 Iván Gutiérrez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 1.18
7 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank
8 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner
9 Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Unibet.com 1.39
10 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole
11 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 2.22
12 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Phonak
13 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française Des Jeux 2.41
14 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
15 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Liberty Seguros-Würth
16 José Alberto Martínez (Spa) Agritubel
17 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Phonak
18 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R Prévoyance
19 Bernhard Kohl (Ger) T-Mobile
20 Moisés Dueñas (Spa) Agritubel 2.56
21 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld 4.38
22 Christophe Laurent (Fra) Agritubel 5.40
23 Hubert Dupont (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance
24 Marco Osella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi 6.16
25 Theo Eltink (Ned) Rabobank 7.21
26 Mario De Sárraga (Spa) Relax-GAM
27 José Joaquín Rojas (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
28 Jorge García (Spa) Relax-GAM
29 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Française Des Jeux
30 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Barloworld
31 Thomas Ziegler (Ger) T-Mobile
32 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
33 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner
34 Manuel Lloret (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
35 Vicente Ballester (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana
36 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
37 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Phonak
38 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Cofidis
39 Axel Merckx (Bel) Phonak 7.29
40 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Crédit Agricole 8.09
41 David López García (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10.29
42 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 10.43
43 Björn Schröder (Ger) Milram 10.48
44 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance 10.49
45 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prévoyance
46 Aitor Hernández (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
47 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank
48 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
49 José Luis Martínez Jimenez (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 11.56
50 David Muñoz (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana