03 June 2009

The first part of the race was dominated by a four-man break, with Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Arnaud Coyot (Caisse d'Epargne), Timothy Duggan (Garmin-Slipstream) and David Le Lay (Agritubel). Their maximum advantage was 9'35" at km 50.
Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Arnaud Coyot (Caisse d'Epargne), Timothy Duggan (Garmin-Slipstream) were caught in the descent of the Côte de Signy-l'Abbaye. David Le Lay finally had to surrender 10 kilometres from the finish, setting up the bunch sprint.
Jimmy Casper (Besson Chaussures - Sojasun) won the sprint before Yauheni Hutarovich (Française Des Jeux) and Cyril Lemoine (Skil-Shimano). Last year's winner Jens Voigt came in 16th.
Andy did a lot of work for the team. His reaction:



Photos by Graham Watson
1. Jimmy Casper (Fra) Besson Chaussures - Sojasun 4h42'15" (40.390 km/h)
2. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française Des Jeux
3. Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Skil-Shimano
4. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
5. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Katusha
6. Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
7. Aurélien Clerc (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
8. Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin - Slipstream
9. Alexandre Pichot (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom
10. Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne
16 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
34 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
85 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0'34"
General Classification after stage 1
1. Jimmy Casper (Fra) Besson Chaussures - Sojasun 4h42'05"
2. Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 0'02"
3. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française Des Jeux 0'04"
4. Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Skil-Shimano 0'06"
5. David Lelay (Fra) Agritubel 0'07"
6. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad 0'10"
7. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Katusha
8. Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
9. Aurélien Clerc (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
10. Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin - Slipstream
18. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
36 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
86 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0'44"





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