Tour de Picardie 2009. Stage 3. McEwen finally gets his win

fter being denied on stage two and taking his chances in a breakaway on stage one, Australian Robbie McEwen finally got the win he was looking for in stage three of the Tour de Picardie. Coming to the line ahead of his lead-out man Danilo Napolitano, the Katusha pair left the rest of the sprinters in their wake.

Under a light drizzle, the 112 remaining riders lined up for the first of two stages on Sunday. At the top of the first climb of the day, the Côte de Pont St. Mard (5 km), Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Diquigiovanni) took the points ahead of Alexandre Usov (Cofidis ) and Kristoff Vandewalle (Topsport Vlaanderen).

A breakaway formed at km 16 with four riders: Damien Gaudin (Bouygues Telecom), Rémy Cusin (AG2R), Andreï Amador (Caisse d’Epargne ) and Jimmy Engoulvent (Besson Chaussures). The quartet fought to stay clear, but lost Gaudin after 9km. He was replaced by is taken up by the peloton while Florian Guillou (Roubaix Lille Metropole), who had bridged to the move.

Finally, the four edged out 30 seconds on the bunch by the sprint in Manicamp (km 30.5), which was won by Engoulvent. But the sprint-hungry peloton never allowed the leaders to gain a minute. Guillou took the summit of the Côte de Bethancourt en Vaux before the peloton reeled them in close enough for Anthony Ravard (AG2R) and Sébastien Joly (FdJ) to get across.

Amador flatted out of the break, but the move had been doomed from the start and were brought back into the fold with 3km to go. Joly gave a valient solo effort, but Katusha controlled the pace to bring the peloton together for the final sprint. McEwen won handily ahead of his teammate Napolitano and the Italian Mattia Gavazzi (Diquigiovanni).

“It was important for me to come back into form soon after my fall in the Scheldeprijs that cost me my place in the Giro,” said McEwen. “It’s really important for a sprinter to win races.”

The finish was almost usurped by a rider from Caisse d’Epargne, but Napolitano quickly got onto his wheel, and McEwen and his teammate sprinted side by side to the line with the Italian respecting the prescribed order and taking second. “This afternoon, it may be Napolitano‘s turn,” said McEwen.

Results

1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha                                     1.55.03 (44.07 km/h)
2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team Katusha                                        
3 Mattia Gavazzi (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli        
4 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne                                       
5 Stéphane Bonsergent (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller                               
6 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel                                               
7 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne                            
8 Sébastien Turgot (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom                                
9 Kevin Peeters (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago                               
10 Alberto Loddo (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli

Tour de Picardie 2009: Stage 2. Napolitano only third

Results

1 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team         3.52.09 (46.263 km/h)
2 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Besson Chaussures-Sojasun                0.28
3 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team Katusha                            
4 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator             
5 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel                                   
6 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Caisse D’Epargne                           
7 Robert Wagner (Ger) Skil-Shimano                                
8 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Agritubel                                  
9 Nadir Haddou (Fra) Auber 93                                     
10 Florian Guillou (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole