In Plouay, sprinters in for a surprise
Thor Hushovd won the bunch sprint into Plouay, but ended up in second another time this season, as...
Thor Hushovd won the bunch sprint into Plouay, but ended up in second another time this season, as the timely (or untimely, whichever way you look at it) attack by Thomas Voeckler spoiled the sprinters' party to battle it out for first in a mano a mano. The Norwegian power house declared after the race that "I felt very good but when Thomas Voeckler attacked in the final there was nobody to close the gap." The fact that there weren't any Crédit Agricole riders left was due to "my team-mates had ridden on the front." The good thing for him was that "I won the sprint easily. It is a disappointment to finish second but I am content that it is Thomas who won."
Third-placed Danilo Di Luca kept his ProTour lead and finished third on the day. His main objective was to "take as many points as possible. I am very satisfied with that third place and I want to thank my team, who has worked very hard for this achievement." He described the very end of the race where he was able to make the best use of his team by following "in the slipstream of Filippo Pozzato and then he slowed down so I could take the most points possible. I want to thank him for that."
One rider who finished way down but still had a good day was Mickael Buffaz of Cofidis, ending up in 108th place. He was part of the main break of the day and said that "I went with Benoît Vaugrenard, Laurent Lefèvre and Nicolas Vogondy in the first lap. We managed [to maintain] the gap that the peloton allowed us."
The Frenchman was surprised that he could keep the rhythm up as the chasers got closer and was "a bit disappointed that I got caught ten kilometres from the finish."
And last but not least Bouygues Telecom was certainly happy with the day's outcome. Voeckler's team-mate Jérôme Pineau declared that the "victory of Thomas Voeckler is foremost a victory of the team. Thomas wasn't the strongest, but he knew how to ride well. He showed that when riding with your head you can beat the best."
His directeur sportif agreed that "Thomas has done something incredible today; leaving the peloton where he did was strong, but holding on was grand. One can't but admire him."
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