Submitted by Alistair Forbes.It was a typical cold grey Scottish autumn day for the 14th International Critérium de Levallois — even though we were in Paris.
The race was very animated right from the start, with two riders clear on the second of the 60 laps.
These two were Loic Desriac and Thomas Rostollan, and between them they scooped up all the early primes.
About one third into the race a series of ferocious attacks produced a chasing group of 17 riders, who eventually caught the two leaders.
For the rest the race was already over.
The break eventually lapped the bunch, then some of them went straight through and continued their attack
With ten laps left the Dutch rider Leander Schreurs got clear on his own and built up a lead of around 30 seconds.
However this advantage was reducing all the time and by the bell he only had nine seconds.
In a frantic finish the German rider Michaël Schweizer snatched victory from the Dutchman right on the line.
In third place was the former Belgian Under-23 Champion, Dmitri Claeys.
This was Schweizer’s third victory in the race (2007 , 2009) and the sixth by his team.
A team from Endura Racing was listed on the start sheet, but they didn’t show up.
The Glasgow Wheelers did their best, Jason Roberts, Robbie Hassan and Dave Smith all finished in the bunch – albeit two laps down.
Rob Wardell and Grant Stevenson dropped out with punctures & cramp.
As a prologue to the main event there was a race by cycle couriers, followed by a ‘gentleman’s’ race. Both of these will be developed further next year.
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Result – International Critérium de Levallois
1 SCHWEIZER Mickaël LEXXI TEAM TRIKOT 2h23’59”
2 SCHREURS Leander TEAM KOOPMANS CUBE
3 CLAEYS Dimitri NETAPP Ã 00mn02 s
4 DESRIAC Loïc CC ETUPES à 00mn17 s
5 GRATIOT Alexandre CC NOGENT sur OISE
6 DUPUIS Clément AS MARCOUSSIS
7 SINNER Benoit TEAM BONNAT 91
8 BIDEAU Jean – Marc BRETAGNE SCHULLER
9 SCHLECHTER Pit DIFFERDANGE
10 GUCWA Zbigniew VC ALBI Ã 01mn06 s
11 SWEIZER Christoph LEXXI TEAM TRIKOT
12 COLLADO Fabrice AS CORBEIL ESSONNES
13 HADDOU Nadir AUBER 93
14 RIEGERT Alexandre SABLE SARTHE CYCLISTE
15 DEL MERQUETTE Rémi SELECTION WALLONIE
16 ROSTOLLAN Thomas AVC AIX EN PROVENCE
17 NIAY François ARGENTEUIL VAL de SEINE à 05mn08 s
18 DURUY Olivier ARGENTEUIL VAL de SEINE
19 LE HYARIC Stéven CC NOGENT sur OISE
20 DONNAY Laurent SELECTION WALLONIE
21 DELAMARRE Christophe LES BLEUS DE France
22 MAS Clément CC VILLENEUVE ST GERMAIN
23 MERCIER Alexandre SELECTION SUISSE
24: TANIS Quentin MULTISPORT CYCLING TEAM
25 ROBERTS Jason GLASGOW WAEELERS
26 VILLEMIN Pierre – Michaël CSM PUTEAUX
27 LOLLIEROU Erwann AS MARCOUSSIS
28 MAS Damien CC VILLENEUVE ST GERMAIN
29 HASSAN Robert GLASGOW WAEELERS
30 KRAMER Remko LEXXI TEAM TRIKOT
31 MERCIER Yves SELECTION SUISSE
32 TALLONNEAU Gwennaël AS MARCOUSSIS
33 MATHIS Guillaume CSM PUTEAUX
34 GAUTHIER Rémy AS MARCOUSSIS
35 MOUCHERAUD Paul CHARVIEU CHAVAGNEUX
36 MANTAY Reik LEXXI TEAM TRIKOT
37 DEBUCQUOY Raphaël MULTISPORT CYCLING TEAM
38 KWIATKOWSKI Grzegotz VC ALBI
39 THILL Tom DIFFERDANGE
40 POOS Christian DIFFERDANGE LUX
41 SMITH David GLASGOW WAEELERS
42 CAUCHIES François MULTISPORT CYCLING TEAM
43 SARREBOUBEE Rémi AVC AIX EN PROVENCE
44 NIKLES Ismael SELECTION SUISSE
45 MORTENSEN Mikkel TEAM BONNAT 91
46 SINNER Christophe TEAM BONNAT 91
47 VAN DIERMEN Johnny TEAM KOOPMANS CUBE
48 GUILLOU Florian BRETAGNE SCHULLER
49 NORMAND Ronny: MULTISPORT CYCLING TEAM
50 HARBONNIER Sébastien DIFFERDANGE
51 NANNI Nazarrio SELECTION WALLONIE
52 DEBUCQUOY Didier MULTISPORT CYCLING TEAM
53 AUBERT Romain SELECTION SUISSE
