Traditionally the Tour de Picardie is often considered as a battle between the strong sprinters in which the riders lacking of significant speed are condemned to secondary role. However this year, even though final victory went to Sébastien Chavanel, an experienced sprinter of the Française des Jeux team, the race was the scene of an ever increasing battle. The Yellow Jersey changed shoulders after every single stage, rewarding the audacious attempts of Elmiger or Demaret both stage winners after having broken away from the pack. Their example could well give some ideas to the riders registered for the editions to come. So that the Tour de Picardie becomes an attackers story.
The period of the Classics was followed for a few by a short rest while others had already focused on the beginning of the stage races. It is in these conditions that the riders will take on the Tour de Picardie where the sprinters will be eager to organise real tests to evaluate their speed. In this exercice, the finishing sprints should prove to be intense with the likes of riders such as Sébastien Chavanel, Romain Feillu, Saïd Haddou or Jimmy Casper for the French side but also specialists like Cooke, Van Avermaet or Clerc, and of course the title holder Robert Hunter.
Favourable to bunched sprints, the course of the Tour de Picardie could also suit breakaway attempts. For such performances, the pack certainly won't be lacking of adventurers able to manage a decisive move: Philippe Gilbert or Pierre Rolland, for example are used to doing so.
| THE FAVOURITES IN THE 18 TEAMS | |
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BELGIUM Landbouwkrediet - Tonissteiner: Steels (Bel) Silence-Lotto: Hoste, Van Avermaet (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen: De Haes, Eeckhout (Bel) ESTONIA Mitsubishi-Jartazi: Tombak (Est) UNITED STATES BMC Racing: Moos (Sui), Cruz (Usa) Slipstream Chipotle : Farrar (Usa), Maaskant (Hol) GREAT BRITAIN Barloworld: Hunter (Afs), Cooke (Aus), Cheula (Ita) |
FRANCE AG2R - La Mondiale: Elmiger (Sui), Krivtsov (Ukr) Agritubel: Feillu, Casper, Lequatre (Fra) Auber 93: Brouzes (Fra) Bouygues Telecom: Clerc (Sui), Haddou, Martias (Fra) Bretagne - Armor Lux: Bonsergent (Fra) Cofidis: Duclos-Lassalle (Fra) Credit Agricole: Bodrogi (Hon), Hinault, Rolland (Fra) Française des Jeux: Se.Chavanel, Guesdon (Fra), Gilbert (Bel) Roubaix Lille Metropole: Baranauskas (Ltu) NETHERLANDS Cycle Collstrop: Bozic (Slo) Skil-Shimano: Bacquet (Fra), Rooijakkers (Hol) |
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A fierce sprinter and winner of two stages of the Vuelta last year, Robert Hunter triumphed as soon as the first stage heading to Albert and took command of the GC.
The successes of Mark Renshaw and Sébastien Chavanel in the following stages weren’t to trouble the calm of the South-African who however only just saved his leadership in the final moments of the race.
Indeed Janek Tombak who had managed a fine move with under 10 kilometres to go claimed precious bonus seconds on the finish line allowing him to move closer to Hunter overall. For only three tiny seconds, he failed to achieve the perfect hold-up.
