Dumoulin wins bug-infested Etoile de Besseges.

Samuel Dumoulin, Little Big Man on the podium.

Sometimes in stage racing, it’s a bugs life.

A stomach big (or perhaps some funky energy bars) took out 25 riders before the final stage of this years’ Etoile de Besseges.

Unfortunately, the sick list included overall leader Arnaud Molmy (Roubaix Lille Metropole). Yesterday Samuel Dumoulin lost the stage and jersey to Molmy after cutting the course but won back the title based on the stronger immune system.  Allez Sammy, your intestinal tract is formidable!

Niko Eeckhout (An Post-Sean Kelly) took advantage of a top notch lead-out from his team to claim the fifth stage of the shiny 2010 Etoile de Bessèges. Niko beat out Kazakh Valentin Iglinsky (Astana) and Dutchman Hans Dekkers (Landbouwkrediet) to take his first win of the season.

The overall win goes to the mini-Frenchman, Dumoulin. He beat Borut Bozic in a sprint to win stage three and then triumphed over Molmy and an aggressive stomach bug to win the Etoile.

You see, mes amis, if you want to win a bike race, you must train the legs and the lungs but do not forget the intestines.

Dumoulin wins stage four in Etoile de Besseges, then un-wins it.

Dumoulin wins 71st place!

The Twisted Spoke crystal ball, the one we got a wanderinggygpy.com, is proving highly effective.

After citing Samuel Dumoulin’s aggressive riding style in his stage three win, the micro Frenchman was back in action the next day in the Etoile de Besseges. However, the small rider for Cofidis Credit en Ligne made a big mistake this time around.

You can cut corners to win a race, but not literally, mes amis. Sammy, fait attention! Despite beating Arnaud Molmy (Team Roubaix-Lille Métropole) across the line in the 140k run around Gran Prix d’Ales en Cevennes, the race commissaries decided Little D was a tricheur, a cheat, for having cut the course in the final kilometer.

How, exactly, Dumoulin accomplished this trickery was not revealed — secret back alley, unfair use of sidewalk, cutting though neighborhood bakery? The upshot was Arnaud landed in first place and Dumoulin was relegated to cycling Siberia. “Dumoulin wins 71st place” doesn’t grab much attention in the Le Monde sports page.

Adding insult to injustice (perhaps) Molmy also inherited the overall race lead from Borut Bozic, who started the day with a 16 second advantage over Niko Eeckhout (An Post – Sean Kelly) and the two wily Frenchman.

Sammy D, no more hanky-panky, mon ami. Just because you are small and sneaky, do not think the judges will miss your little games. It you are Mark Cavendish, perhaps they cut you some slack. But Dumoulin, bah non.

Micro-Frenchman Dumoulin wins stage three of Etoile de Besseges.

The mini-man of the moment.

Samuel Dumoulin is a pint sized pit-pull.

The diminutive rider is like the kid that never gets to ride the roller coaster because he’s still too small. At the ProTour races, Samuel appears out of place, a junior rider that crashed the party and hopes nobody notices he snuck in with the adults.

But give the micro- Frenchman who rides for Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne his due. In the uphill bunch sprint at stage three of the Etoile de Besseges, it was Dumoulin who knocked off Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) and Dutchman Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano).

The French police probably have a file on Dumoulin because he’s always on the attack. In the 2008 Tour de France he wonstage three from a small break. What he might lack in size or horsepower he seems to get back in race smarts and aggressive riding.

The 148-kilometre stage from Gran Prix du CC Rhone to Ceze-Languedoc was Samuel’s kind of race. Constant attacks from the gun. A 13 rider move went clear; when that failed, nine men launched another attack, failure again.

Finally, Sandy Casar (Francaise Des Jeux), Christophe Kern (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne), Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur – Sojasun) and Sander Armee (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) made a move that stuck. Succes, mes amis!

Then, with one finishing circuit of Ceze-Languedoc remaining, the peloton vac’d up the break and little Sammy began to think big.

Skil-Shimano and Borut Bozic’s Vancansoleil team fired up the locomotives but Dumoulin was the rider in charge. Uphill finish? That’s nothing, a man this size is always having to look up.

One thing is for certain, you Dumoulin looks significantly taller when he stands on a winners podium.

Bozic has deja vu all over again, wins stage 2 of Etoile de Besseges.

Two for Mr. B.

Eh bah, c’est deju vu, mon vieux.

How do you say groundhog day in French? Borut Bozic of the Sunny Vactionioners team (Vancasoliel) wore the same jersey, rode the same bike and got the same result, beating the same two guys in the sprint to St. Ambroix. This is his kind of vacation and the 40th edition of the Etoile de Besseges stage race is shaping up to be a Bozic favorite.

Who’s the big etoile? The star is slovenian Bozic who continues to impress fans and depress the other fast men. Two first place wins, two bottles of champagne and already, so early in the season, four podium girls, flowers and kisses.

Between Bozic and last year’s revelation Johnny Hoogerland, things look bright for the Sunny Vacationers. Directeur sportif Hilaire Van Der Schueren was obviously pleased the team executed his orders to the letter.

“All eight rode a perfect race and we were in control. The sprint train of Marco Marcato, Alberto Ongarato and Borut Bozic is having a great start of the season and they practice well to stay in front when competition grows in the upcoming weeks.”

The 29 year sprinter has the leader’s jersey, with time bonuses giving hims a 10-second advantage over Molmy and Eeckhout on general classification.

The race was aggressive from the start but nobody blew doors until the French duo of Laurent Lefevre from the B-b-beat box Bouygues Telecom team and Benoît Vaugrenard managed to jump clear after 40 kilometers — but a 2 minute gap was all they accomplished.

The chasers made the catch on the first of six 7.3-kilometre finishing circuits in St. Ambroix. Francaise Des Jeux’s Anthony Geslin and Yoann Offredo took solo shots at glory and were almost immediately slapped silly. They promised not to do that again in the near future.

The teams of the sprinters took firm control for the final three circuits and then it was replay, deja vu, double your pleasure time for Borut Bozic. Should he win tomorrow, somebody’s going to claim he’s ready to beat Mark Cavendish. A least in France in early February in the Etoile.

Etoile de Besseges. Borut Bozic and Vacansoleil shine in stage 1.

Bozic busts loose.

Score one for the Sunny Vacationers.

The team sponsored by the vacation company (Vancan, short for vacation, soliel, sun in French) won the first stage of the Etoile de Besseges. Slovenian Borut Bozic, operating on tired legs, still sprinted to the win over An Post-Sean Kelly team’s Niko Eeckhout and Frenchman Arnaud Molmy.

“It was more than perfect how the team rode today. It’s unbelievable that I already win right now, my teammates convinced me to participate in the sprint, as in my opinion I wasn’t good enough to do a sprint,” said Bozic.

Julien Loubet (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Floris Goesinnen (Skil-Shimano) executed the break of the day at kilometer 18 and were soon in another time zone, gaining almost 10 minutes before the chase group got the wake-up call.

Française des Jeux and Vacansoleil ramped up the speed and made an earlier than expected catch with two circuits of 19.5 kilometers to go. Even the late arrival of guest Johan Coenen (Topsport Vlaanderen) only postponed the inevitable. Au revoir, Julien and Floris, you got your airtime on France 2 — see you at the bar at La Casqille.

Yes, it was all work for the Sunny Vacationers but the sun was in fact shining for the 146km race from Aigues Mortes to Le Grau du Roi. In the bunch sprint, Bozic put a stop to the FdJ train and its sprinter Sébastien Chavanel — who experienced the meager thrill of fourth place.

“This is surely not our last victory in the coming weeks. The leader jersey is a good support and I will see what is going to happen day by day,” said Bozic. Okay, big fella, rest up, vacation time now.