Frenchman wins Tour de Poitou Charentes in September sunshine

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Frenchman Benoît Vangrenaud carried off this year's Tour de Poitou Charentes on Saturday, at the end of four grueling days of competition. 

The 22^nd edition of the event, which had been moved from August to September for the first time in its history, was bathed in sunshine for the 649.3km route that took riders from the town of Celles-sur-Belle (79) to the regional capital Poitiers (86) for the big finish on Saturday.

Vangrenaud, 26 from Vannes, is part of the well-known Français des Jeux racing team, and showed promise in the 2006 Tour de France, where he carried off a number of ‘best young rider' awards.  In 2007 he was the time trial champion at La Poly, Normandie. 

He started the race with a 27^th place finish in stage 1 between Celles-sur-Belle and Saint Jean d'Angely (17), and only managed a 26^th position in the 175km second stage between St Jean d'Angely and Lacs de Haute Charente (16).  He took 1^st place in stage 3 which finished at Montmorillon after 175.8km, and he took 1^st in the 23km Saturday morning time trial circuit from Saint Savin (86).  The final 108.2km stretch from Lussac les Chateaux to Poitiers was completed on Saturday afternoon, with Samuel Dumoulin of Team Cofidis taking the stage, and Vangrenaud finishing 7^th.

Whilst many of the riders at this years Tour of Poitou Charentes may have preferred to have been riding in the more important UCI Road World Championships in Italy this weekend, the event provided a superb spectacle, with thousands of spectators greeting the riders along the route, and in Poitiers for the big finish.  The event will revert back to the last week of August for the 2009 edition.