Tour du Poitou-Charentes

Stage 4:  Latille to Vouille, ITT, 22.1km

By Cathy Mehl

“I still cannot believe it,” commented the TT winner from the Basque Country. “My emotions on the podium were so strong. I was thinking of my first trainer, my family, my friends, my former and current team mates, Johan Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong who gave me a spot in this Team. This is the reward for hard work.”

Like RadioShack teammate Lance Armstrong, Markel Irizar is a testicular cancer survivor (2002). After six years in the Euskaltel team, Irizar followed his friend Haimar Zubeldia to Team RadioShack in 2010.  The teammates train together and are normally workers not winners.  However both recently found themselves in the winners circle.

“Maybe this all happened with a bit of luck,” continued Irizar. “Because Haimar broke his wrist in the Critérium du Dauphiné, he missed the Tour. The only thing he and I could do was train.  So we trained hard for two months in the Pyrenees. Team Director Alain Gallopin gave us a new roster for the rest of the year. We were motivated to perform well in the races that suit us, namely the Tour de l’Ain, the ProTour races in Canada and the Italian classics at the end of the season. The Tour du Poitou-Charentes was too flat for us but there was a time trial.  So we saved our strength in the early stages to do well today and we succeeded. Alain Gallopin told me that we had a chance to win. He was right!”

“After the Tour de l’Ain, Irizar and Zubeldia didn’t go home,” explained Team Director Gallopin.  “They continued their training in the mountains. Already last Sunday in Plouay, I saw that Markel was in superb shape. He had to take advantage of this situation. I think we can see other nice things this year from our two Basque riders.”

Haimar Zubeldia finished third in the prologue at one second behind Irizar. “I was hindered by a rider I caught up with.  It might have cost me that one second, but honestly I am more happy with the victory of Markel than I would have been with a win of myself,” said Zubeldia.

Two years ago Markel Irizar finished second in the prologue of Paris-Nice, showing his TT skills. In 2009 he won the overall mountains classification in the Tour Down Under.

“But this is my first real victory in my professional career,” concluded Irizar. “It is my job to help my teammates. A time trial is the best opportunity for me to land on the podium. I am more than happy today but I will continue working for the others.”

Irizar will defend his jersey in tomorrow’s last stage. “It will be hard,” said  Gallopin. “Martin Elmiger is second within the same second as Markel. Elmiger is fast and there are bonification sprints. It will be hard, but not impossible.”

At only 15-seconds off the leader’s time at the start of the time trial, the big results launched Team RadioShack riders into top spots on the classification as well.  Irizar took over the leader’s jersey on same time as Elmiger with Zubeldia rounding out the podium one second back.  Sergent also moved into the top ten and holds fifth place for the classification.

A short early morning road stage ending in a sprint won by Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur – Sojasun) gave way to afternoon full of excitement for Team RadioShack.  Engoulvent won the sprint ahead of Nacer Bouahanni (FdJ) and his teammate Jimmy Casper.  A day-long break of two riders stayed away until the final 6km of racing, setting up the sprint with Engoulvent taking top honors.    Anthony Roux (FdJ) still held five seconds over Anthony Ravard (Ag2r) on the general classification after the third stage.

Top Ten Results Stage 4

1 Markel Irizar Team RadioShack 26:01:00

2 Martin Elmiger AGR - La mondiale 26:01:00

3 Haimar Zubeldia Team RadioShack 26:02:00

4 Ignas Konovalovas Cervélo Test Team 26:18:00

5 Jesse Sergent Team RadioShack 26:24:00

6 Rafaâ Chtioui Acqua e Sapone 26:30:00

7 Wouter Poels Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 26:34:00

8 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho Team RadioShack 26:37:00

9 Paul Poux Saur - Sojasun 26:40:00

10 Yaroslav Popovych Team RadioShack 26:41:00

Team RadioShack Results on Stage 4

11 Fumiyuki Beppu   26:45:00

20 Geoffroy Lequatre  26:57:00

39  Jose Luis Rubiera  01'27"

General Classification after Stage 4

1  IRIZAR  Markel              RSH        ( ESP )  11h20'53"

2  ELMINGER  Martin      ALM       ( SUI )    00"

3  ZUBELDIA  Haimar       RSH        ( ESP )   01"

4  KONOVALOVAS  Ignatas           CTT         ( LTU )   17"

5  SERGENT  Jesse            RSH        ( NZL )   23"

6  CHTIOUI  Rafai              ASA        ( TUN ) 29"

7  POELS  Wout VAC       ( NED ) 33"

8  ROUX  Anthony            FDJ         ( FRA )   36"

9  ROLLIN  Dominique     CTT         ( CAN ) 44"

10  BOUCHER  David        LAN        ( FRA )   45"

Team RadioShack on General Classification after Stage 4

79  RUBIERA  Jose Luis ( ESP )      02'55"

97  BEPPU  Fumiyuki  ( JPN )        04'59"

98  LEQUATRE  Geoffroy ( FRA )                 05'11"

108  PAULINHO  Sergio                  ( POR )                  07'59"

110  POPOVYCH  Yaroslav  ( UKR )             08'07"

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson