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Thu 07 Jul 2009France rejoices after rare stage win
CYCLING TOUR DE FRANCE:THE TOUR de France is always better for a stage win by a native rider, and there was widespread rejoicing when Thomas Voeckler rode into Perpignan’s Place de Catalogne blowing kisses yesterday, a couple of hundred metres ahead of the field.
Since no Frenchman has won the Tour for almost 25 years, and even stage wins are relatively rare, Voeckler’s achievement is as good as it is likely to get this year for the nation of Maurice Garin, the inaugural winner in 1903, and Jacques Anquetil, the first to reach five victories.
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