Immediatly after the race started the first riders attacked. Several groups had a small lead but the bunch catched the
first breakaway groups immediatly. After 10 kilometers Khatuntsev (ODB), Mandri (AUB), Cardoso (POR) and Pardilla (VMC) took
a slight advantage.
At the top of the Côte de Apach (km 15.5), Khatuntsev passed Mandri and Pardilla to dominate the lead foursome. Cardoso
was quickly left behind, then Melero (ORB) and Roche (COF) caught up with him. Trailing them, Sonnery (FRA) successfully broke
away from the peloton.
Sonnery hung on to his 50’’ with the peloton behind by 2’40. Kolesnikov (ODB) and Van Ooiyen (UBD) caught
up with Sonnery at kilometre. 33.5. These three were 2’40 behind the breakaway, but the bunch lagged by 5’35.
The gap widened until the Rabobank and Bouygues Télécom teams took action and moved to the head of the bunch and started to
lead the chase. Driven by these two teams, the bunch reduced its distance to 4’40 after 50 kilometers.
At the top of the Côte de Luttange (km 64.5), Mandri took over the lead from Pardilla and Cardoso while Khatuntsev,
who had just fallen, came in 2’35 behind the other breakaways. Lone Kolesnikov remained 4’30 behind the leaders,
with the bunch now lagging by 6’30 before it picked up the pace, passing Kolesnikov and splitting into two groups.
But as they approached the food supply sector, the breakaways still had a 6’45 lead.
The bunch increased their speed, but at the Maizières-les-Metz sprint-bonification (km 85.5), Pardilla passed Cardoso
and Mandri with a 6’ lead over the others. At the top of the Côte de Fèves (km 94.5), the leaders (in this order: Mandri,
Cardoso, Pardilla and Melero) had a 5’55 lead over Kolesnikov and 6’25 over the bunch. This advantage was confirmed
by the sprint-bonification in Pierrevillers (km 107), which Pardilla won, followed by Cardoso and Mandri.
At the top
of the Côte de Pierrevillers (km 109.5), Cardoso came in first ahead of Mandri, Roche and Pardilla. Valynin (ODB) then broke
away from the peloton to catch up with Kolesnikov. The duo attacked the hill 6’ behind the leaders with the bunch
still 6’25 behind. Mandri took the Paradis sprint-bonification (km 120.5) in front of Cardoso and Pardilla, with a 5’55
lead over the bunch.
With only 15 kilometers to go, Roche picked up his pace, breaking up the lead group. He and Melero quickly pedalled ahead
of their former fellow leaders. Roche then Melero conquered the Col de Lessy with a 5’ advantage on Mandry. Meanwhile,
the head of the bunch shook things up as the Française des Jeux team split the peloton into pieces.
Less than 8 kilometres from the finish, the leading men had a near 3’ lead. The breakaways would have final say in
the day’s results. Nicholas Roche was the brilliant winner of this little plan, which earned him his first professional
win as well as the yellow jersey.
Cyrille Monnerais (FD Jeux), Maxime Monfort (Cofidis) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) came in with the first part of
the bunch.
Nicholas Roche was overwhelmed: "
I set myself the goal of winning a stage in this year’s
Tour de l’Avenir. My team decided to go for a bluff, that I would try to break away. It worked, but Monfort is still
our best element for the general ranking. This is my first professional win, so of course I’m very happy. To tell you
the truth, it hasn’t really sunk in yet".
