Pierrick Fédrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) had a big smile on his face at the end of this afternoon in Porto-Vecchio after having won the Critérium International 2010, the three stages race in Corsica.
The second stage was won this morning by Russell Downing (Team Sky) in a bunch sprint at only a few millimeters from Michael Albasini (HTC-Columbia) and Pierrick Fédrigo.
The last stage, an individual time trial in the streets of Porto-Vecchio, was won by a time trial specialist, David Millar (Garmin-Transitions), ahead of the Spanniard Alberto Contador (Astana) and the Australian rider Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia).
On a quite technical route of only 7.7 kilometers long, the time trial specialists had an advantage especially in the first part of the race which contained numerous turns. However, after having followed Florian Stalder (BMC Racing Team) in Jacques Michaud's car (directeur sportif in the American team with a Swiss sponsor), I knew that the climb which immediately followed the start and a first part of the stage which was quite hilly, the stage win was reserved for a big rider.
A bit surprisingly, Lieuwe Westra (photo) of the Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team is the first rider to get below the 10 minutes line by getting a good reference time at 9'58". 60 riders followed, but only three of them realised a better time: Alberto Contador (Astana) was the first one by finishing the 7.7 kilometers 7 seconds quicker than the Dutch rider (2nd in 9'51"), followed by David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) who was the big guy who won the stage in 9'49" and Michael Rogers who finished 3rd in 9'53.
Pierrick Fédrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) finishes 13th at 17 seconds behind the Scottish rider and only 2 seconds behind the number two in the general classification, the best young rider Tiago Machado (Team Radioshack). The French rider thus keeps the yellow jersey and wins this 79th edition of the Critérium International.
The final classifications of the Critérium International 2010
After this last stage, the classifications of the Critérium International 2010 are as follows:
General classification
Since Michael Rogers took the 3rd place and 11 seconds on the young Portuguese rider Tiago Machado, the Australian rider gets up on the second step of the podium of the Critérium International 2010:
1/ Pierrick Fédrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) - 7h11'59"
2/ Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) - +00'14"
3/ Tiago Machado (Team Radioshack) - +00'15"
4/ Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - +00'19"
5/ David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) - +00'19"
6/ Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) - +00'22"
7/ Christopher Horner (Team Radioshack) - +00'25"
8/ Maxime Monfort (HTC-Columbia) - +00'26"
9/ Ben Hermans (Team Radioshack) - +00'35"
10/ Beñat Intxausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - +00'39"
Classification by points
Pierrick Fédrigo also won the green jersey, with 10 points more than David Millar, Russell Downing and Michael Rogers:
Pierre Rolland was almost certain he wouldn't loose his polka dot jersey today and the Bbox Bouygues Telecom team thus realises a very nice Critérium International with the yellow jersey, the green jersey and the polka dot jersey of the king of the mountains:
1/ Pierre Rolland (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) - 12 points
2/ Cedric Pineau (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) - 10 points
3/ Dimitri Champion (AG2R La Mondiale) - 8 points
4/ Pierrick Fédrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) - 6 points
5/ Renaud Dion (Roubaix-Lille Métropole) - 6 points
Best young rider classification
41 young riders below 25 finished this Critérium International and the Portuguese rider Tiago Machado of Team Radioshack is the quickest and goes home with the white jersey:
1/ Tiago Machado (Team Radioshack) - 7h12'14"
2/ Ben Hermans (Team Radioshack) - +00'20"
3/ Beñat Intxausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - +00'24"
4/ Dan Martin (Garmin-Transitions) - +00'41"
5/ Cyril Gautier (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) - +01'09"
Team classification
The American Team Radioshack is first in this classification, with 3 riders in the top 10 of the general classification: