Circuit Cycliste Sarthe

Hugo Hofstetter left with huge cut in ear after dramatic crash at Circuit de la Sarthe, questions safety of disc brakes.

Danish sprinter racks up another win, leads general classification.

The BMC rider injured his knee, hip, and elbow in a hard fall during the Tour de Haut Var

Thomas Dekker (Garmin-Barracuda) scored his first victory since his comeback from a two-year doping ban in the fifth and final stage at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France.

1. Luke DURBRIDGE, GreenEdge in 11:52:00 2. Manuele BOARO, Saxo Bank +8 3. Nelson OLIVEIRA, RadioShack-Nissan +8

Dutchman wins stage, Modolo assumes overall lead in first of two stages Wednesday

Stage 4: Abbaye de l'Epau - Bonnétable

• 1. Daniele BENNATI (ITA), Leopard-Trek , 4:00:04
• 2. Nacer BOUHANNI (FRA), Française des Jeux, s.t.
• 3. Stéphane BONSERGENT (FRA), Bretagne-Schuller, s.t.
• 4. Fabien BACQUET (FRA), Auber 93, s.t.
• 5. Jure KOCJAN (SLO), Team Type 1, s.t.

Overall, after stage 4

• 1. Anthony ROUX (France), Française des Jeux , 15:51:02
• 2. Biel KADRI (France), Ag2r La Mondiale, at 0:05
• 3. David MILLAR (Great Britain), Garmin-Cervelo, at 0:09
• 4. Pierrick FEDRIGO (France), Française des Jeux, at 0:12
• 5. Alexandre GENIEZ (France), Skil-Shimano, at 0:13

Daniele Bennati (Leopard-Trek) won for the third time this week with victory in a bunch sprint in the final stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe in France.

Anthony Roux (FDJ) won the fourth stage at the Circuit de la Sarthe and took over the race leader’s jersey at the French race.

Stage

• 1. Anthony ROUX, (FRA) Française des Jeux, at 4:26:33
• 2. Biel KADRI, (FRA) Ag2r La Mondiale, at s.t.
• 3. Pierrick FEDRIGO, (FRA) Française des Jeux, at s.t.
• 4. Thomas VOECKLER, (FRA) Europcar, at s.t.
• 5. Nicolas VOGONDY, (FRA) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne, at s.t.

GC

• 1. Anthony ROUX, (France) Française des Jeux, at 11:50:58
• 2. Biel KADRI, (France) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 5
• 3. David MILLAR, (Great Britain) Garmin-Cervelo, at 9
• 4. Pierrick FEDRIGO, (France) Française des Jeux, at 12
• 5. Alexandre GENIEZ, (France) Skil-Shimano, at 13

Stage 2a: Saint-Mars-la-Jaille - Angers

• 1. Michel KREDER (NED), Garmin-Cervelo, 2:25:19
• 2. Daniele BENNATI (ITA), Leopard-Trek, s.t.
• 3. Anthony RAVARD (FRA), Ag2r La Mondiale, s.t.
• 4. Stéphane BONSERGENT (FRA), Bretagne-Schuller, s.t.
• 5. Kevin LACOMBE (CAN), SpiderTech Powered by Planet Energy, s.t.

Overall Standings, after stage 2a

• 1. Daniele BENNATI , (Italy) Leopard-Trek , 7:16:05
• 2. Samuel DUMOULIN , (France) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne, at 0:04
• 3. Thierry HUPOND , (France) Skil-Shimano, at 0:04
• 4. Nacer BOUHANNI , (France) Française des Jeux, at 0:06
• 5. Johan Esteban CHAVES RUBIO , (Colombia) Colombia Es Pasion Coldeportes, at 0:06

Stage 2b (ITT)

• 1. Daniele BENNATI (ITA), Leopard-Trek, 8:13
• 2. David MILLAR (GBR), Garmin-Cervelo, at 0:06
• 3. David ZABRISKIE (USA), Garmin-Cervelo, at 0:06
• 4. Anthony ROUX (FRA), Française des Jeux, at 0:07
• 5. Biel KADRI (FRA), Ag2r La Mondiale, at 0:08

Michel Kreder delivered victory for Garmin-Cervélo in the morning sprint stage at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France on Wednesday.

Stage 1

• 1. Daniele Bennati, ((ITA)) Leopard Trek
• 2. Samuel Dumoulin, ((FRA)) Cofidis,le Credit En Lig.,
• 3. Nacer Bouhanni, ((FRA)) Fdj
• 4. Pablo Forero Juan, ((COL)) Colombia Es Pasion
• 5. Jure Kocjan, ((SLO)) Team Type1-Sanofi Aventis

Daniele Bennati (Leopard-Trek) claimed his first win on the 2011 season after kicking to victory in the opening stage at the Circuit Cyclist Sarthe in France

Jure Kocjan has been knocking at the door of victory all season long for Team Type 1 – sanofi aventis. The 26-year-old Slovenian sprinter has scored two second places and a fourth at the MontePaschi-Eroica race over the gravel roads in Tuscany in the opening months of the season.

After knocking on the door all season long, Luís León Sánchez (Caisse d’Epargne) finally got the stage-race victory he’s been looking for.

Lance Armstrong has been forced to pull out of the Circuit Sarthe cycling race before Wednesday's second stage because of illness, his RadioShack team said.

Circuit de la Sarthe - Results

Luís León Sánchez (Caisse d’Epargne) came up first in the opening stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe on Tuesday in France.

Basque hills and French cobblestones dominate what’s sure to be an action-packed week of racing in Europe.

Armstrong to make rare Flanders appearance, Cavendish and Eisel on HTC-Columbia's Flanders team, Dominique Rollin heads the injury-plagued Cervelo squad

Lance Armstrong will ramp up his preparation for the Tour de France by taking part in the Circuit de la Sarthe from April 6-9, the organisers said Thursday.

Jet lag is a word that obviously isn’t part of Lance Armstrong’s vocabulary. While Europe has been gripped by its worst winter in decades, Armstrong’s road to the Tour de France this year has been full of sunny climes that would turn any jet-setting royal blue with envy.

The Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Pays de la Loire is a short stage race held in the Pays de la Loire region of France. The event has been held since 1975.

Agritubel's David Le Lay took a narrow lead in the Circuit de la Sarthe stage race in France on Wednesday, after winning the morning's 94km road race and then finishing 10 seconds off the pace, in 14th place, in the afternoon's 6k individual time trial. Jimmy Engoulvent (Besson Chausures-Sojasun) won the time trial, finishing one second ahead of Astana's Andreas Kloden. American Jeff Louder of BMC was eighth and moved into tenth place on the GC following the time trial. The race concludes Friday.

Enrico Rossi (Ceramica Flaminia) snagged a narrow victory after being away in an 150km breakaway Tuesday to surprise the peloton in the opening stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe in France. Rossi attacked at 35km in the 192km stage and won by a whisker ahead of the chasing pack, taking a 13-second victory ahead of the sprinters and grabbing the leader’s jersey as an added bonus. Besson Chaussures and FDJeux thought they had things under control to set up their fast men, Jimmy Casper and Sébastien Chavanel, respectively.

Editor's Note: Be sure to check out the VeloNews.com Cobbles Week home page, which will be updated with previews, interviews and race coverage as this week continues. The page includes Mapmyride maps of the three cobbled classics, a special retrospective gallery of spring classics covers from VeloNews, going back to 1987, and Graham Watson galleries. Basque hills and French cobblestones dominate racing this week in Europe.

Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) will mount a defense of his title at this week's 57th Circuit de la Sarthe, which begins Tuesday in France. The French rider broke his clavicle on March 13 in the sixth stage of Paris-Nice and wasn’t expected to race, but the former Tour de France yellow jersey-holder will be back in competition less than four weeks after his crash. Voeckler, a winner this year at Haut Var and Etoile de Bèsseges, has also confirmed he will start the Giro d’Italia next month.

The Astana cycling team on Sunday has denied earlier reports that Lance Armstrong would compete in next year's Tour of the Sarthe-Loire. Organizers said on Saturday the American seven-time Tour de France winner had confirmed his participation in the April 7 to 10 event. The Kazakh-financed team, however, issued a statement on Sunday denying that Armstrong is confirmed. "Contrary to certain announcements, Lance Armstrong will not be competing in the Tour of the Sarthe-Loire. Astana will confirm Lance Armstrong's schedule once it is finalized."

Christian Vande Velde powered to victory in Wednesday’s time trial stage at the Circuit de la Sarthe to deliver Slipstream-Chipolte its first European victory of its breakout 2008 season. Vande Velde’s consistent performances all spring finally paid off with an impressive victory on the 8.3km course in Angers. He covered the course in 10 minutes, 10.58 seconds (53.948kph) and stopped the clock 10 seconds faster than his closest rival, Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJeux).