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

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

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.

By |2019-02-03T16:30:06-08:00February 5th, 2010|Humor|0 Comments

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