October 21/07 3:42 am - Chrono des Nations Les Herbiers Vendée: report by Jean-Michel Lachance

Posted by Editor on 10/21/07
 

Hard Day at Le Chrono des Nations France
By Jean-Michel Lachance

I just arrived back from Le Chrono des Nations at Les Herbiers, France. I decided 3 weeks ago to take part to this race as I had sold my old bike from 2005 season to a french resident and that was in the same time of my school break so I thought it could be a good end of the year trip and a good occasion to visit some friends.

During the previous weeks, I had had decent 'sensation' on the bike, but woke up to a very average day the morning of the race. The circuit was 38,4km long with no major difficulties and I thought I could average 43-44 km/h.

Going into the race, I quickly realised that it would not be the 'performance' of the year but I kept going the best as I could. The wind turned to be very hard and even harder on the second part of the race and on the very long finish straight. My split were: 18, 21, 22 and finish in 23 in about 42km/h of average and a big 5min53 behind race winner Michael Christensen of Denmark, top 4 finisher at Stuttgart worlds.

Considering the fact that my last race was the Track Nationals one month and a half ago, I am not too disappointed in the result. My Ergomo computer showed 330watts - 92RPM, and 176HR average at the end of the race which is good for me, but the few kms spent at low wattage at 35km/h in the headwind made me lose time very quickly.

This race is organized by ASO as le Tour de France and everything is well planned and the crowds is impressive. Winner in the elite men category was hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi with a very impressive time of 59min18 over 48,3km.

Finally, that was my last race in the pink uniform as I am moving to team Volkswagen-Trek next year. It is now the time for a good recovery and then start the training again in about one month. Hopefully, I will go 1-2 at the London Forest City Velodrome. I wish we could have a track like this in the Quebec province.

A+

U23 Men, 38.4 km

1. Mads Christensen (Den) Danish National team, 49:24.9
2. Yoann Offredo (Fra) CC Nogent-sur-oise, at 1:24.9
3. Alexandre Roux (Fra) UC Sable, 2:03.0
4. Sebastien Fournet-Fayard (Fra) Cr4c Roanne, 2:18.6
5. Romain Lemarchand (Fra) US Creteil, 2:22.5
6. Stephane Rossetto (Fra) CC Nogent-sur-oise, 2:28.6
7. Pawel Wachnik (Pol) Cr4c Roanne, 2:39.1
8. Alexandre Binet (Fra) Vendee U, 2:51.0
9. Yann Moritz (Fra) Spanish National Team, 2:55.4
10. Olivier Migne (Fra) Vendee U, 2:55.5

23. Jean-Michel Lachance (Can) Garneau Crocs, 5:52.1


Elite Men, 48.3 km

1. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Credit Agricole, 59:18.2
2. Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) Saunier Duval - Prodir, at 0:36.7
3. Stef Clement (Ned) Bouygues Telecom, 2:13.5
4. Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2r Prevoyance, 2:26.1
5. Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel), 2:34.4
6. Gustav Larsson (Swe) Unibet.com, 2:53.8
7. Matti Helminen (Fin) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed, 2:57.1
8. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom, 3:54.6
9. Gregor Gazvoda (Slo) Perutnina Ptuj, 4:01.8
10. Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Predictor - Lotto, 4:06.1

Women, 20.6 km

1. Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Team Flexpoint, 29:21.8
2. Bridie O'Donnell (Aus) Team Kingdom Diamond, at 0:23.2
3. Priska Doppmann (Sui) Raleigh Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team, 0:40.2
4. Tereza Hurikova (Cze) Czech Republic National Team, 0:45.7
5. Emma Pooley (GBr) Team Specialized designs for women, 0:46.4
6. Sarah Duster (Ger) Raleigh Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team, 0:48.7
7. An Van Rie (Bel) AA-Drink Cycling Team, 0:49.7
8. Marina Jaunatre (Fra) Vienne Futuroscope, 0:59.5
9. Edwige Pitel (Fra) Team Uniqa, 1:17.2
10. Lada Kozlikova (Cze) Team Uniqa, 1:26.3

18. Larssyn Ruegg (USA) Team Specialized designs for women, 2.57.7