Moreau Wins Stage 4 of Four Days of Dunkirk; Leads Race

News & Results

05/11/2003| 0 comments
by Gerald Churchill

Moreau Wins Stage 4 of Four Days of Dunkirk; Leads Race

Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) has taken the lead in the Four Days of Dunkirk.

Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) has taken the lead in the Four Days of Dunkirk. Moreau did so by outsprinting Didier Rous (Brioches La Boulangere) to win Stage 4, a hilly, 179.5-km ride from Wimereux to Boulogne-sur-Mer in 4:35:27. Patrice Halgand (Jean Delatour) finished third at 0:09.

Today's stage featured seven climbs as the riders rode laps of a circuit around Boulogne-sur-Mer. Nine riders escaped early, but the peloton caught them easily. At 109 km, Cedric Vasseur (Cofidis) attacked, but the stage favorites overtook and dropped him.

Richard Virenque (Quick Step), and Nicolas Vogondy (La Francaise des Jeux.com) applied pressure, and the 14-man lead group split into two groups of seven, with Vogondy, Virenque, Anthony Geslin (Brioches La Boulangere), Christophe Edaleine (Jean Delatour), Javier Zapata (Orbitel), Nicolas Jalabert (CSC), and David Zabriskie (U.S. Postal Service) in the lead group. Moreau towed the second septet to the first one, and the 14-man group was together with 30 km left.

Eleven km later, Laurent Brochard (Jean Delatour) attacked. Halgand, Rous, and Moreau overtook him with 12 km remaining. Two km later, Moreau attacked, and only Rous could follow.

In the overall, Moreau leads Rous by 0:03 and Vogondy by 0:17. Moreau must weather tomorrow's two-stage challenge. He and the other riders will tackle a 19-km individual time trial in the morning and a 96.1-km road race in the afternoon. Will the Credit Agricole rider fend off the competition to win the Four Days of Dunkirk? Check in at http://www.roadcycling.com/ and find out!

Are you interested in cycling apparel, houseware, hats, auto goods, and bags? Check out the roadcycling.com merchandise store! The roadcycling.com merchandise store has all of those items and more for cycling enthusiasts like you. Click on the roadcycling.com merchandise store at the http://www.roadcycling.com/ website and find items that will let you show your love of cycling with pride!

 

Your comments
Your comments
sign up or login to post a comment