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Thibault Benistant took a comfortable race win in the first MX2 race ahead of the impressive two stroke privateer of Adrien Petit
Arnaud Aubin finished third ahead of Mathys Boisrame
It was Francisco Garcia who took an impressive race win in the second moto on his BUD Kawasaki with Benistant second but that was still enough for the factory Yamaha man to take the overall
It was Kevin Horgmo who won the opening MX1 moto on his SR Honda
The Norwegian won by ten seconds over Adrien Malaval with Maxime Desprey in third
It was another strong moto for Horgmo winning the second moto but this time it was Desprey who finished second
Guyon was third on his Tech32 Triumph machine
Artists from southeast China's Fujian Province perform a Gaojia Opera play adapted from French comedic writer Moliere's masterpiece L'Avare
a traditional genre of drama popular in Quanzhou of Fujian
was inscribed among China's first batch of intangible cultural heritage at the state level in 2006
The Chinese Tour in France's Most Beautiful Villages
an event designed to boost Franco-Chinese cultural exchanges
was launched Tuesday in Pernes-les-Fontaines
The event is part of the celebrations marking the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism
18 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Tour in France's Most Beautiful Villages
including hand-puppet theater play "Notre-Dame de Paris"
dance "Tea Harvesting" and Dacheng theater play "Cymbal Offering," were presented by 20 performers from Fujian Province in southeast China
and it felt like being somewhere else," Mireille
who particularly enjoyed theater play "Cymbal Offering," said everything was impressive as the performances were so different from what she had seen before in France
part of the celebrations marking the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism
was co-organized by the China Opera Research Society
and the association of France's most beautiful villages
The initiative brings a selection of traditional Chinese theater pieces
which have been passed down for hundreds of years and remain vibrant in villages across Fujian
all renowned for their stunning landscapes and rich cultural heritage
Kevin Horgmo set the pace in the MX1 qualifying over Tom Guyon who is racing the 450cc Triumph – there was only a tenth of a second between them
Adrien Malaval was third fastest over Maxime Desprey with Adrien Escoffer rounding out the top five
Thibault Benistant and the impressive Adrien Petit set the pace pace in both groups
the new young face of the French far right meandered from stall to stall
"Here's my flyer; I'm not photoshopped," she said to one cheese seller
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, 22, is the newest face in France's far-right Le Pen dynasty, the third generation to run for election as she campaigns for this month's parliamentary race. She is the granddaugher of Jean-Marie Le Pen and the niece of Marine Le Pen
who won the party's highest ever presidential election score of 17.9% in April
"Fascists!" exclaimed one shopper
"You'll have to come up with a new insult," muttered the young candidate to herself
For decades the Le Pen family has been a kind of soap opera of the French far right
photographed and scrutinised at every turn
Jean-Marie often wheeled out his three blond daughters to symbolise the true French nation
In the 1980s Le Pen's gruesome public divorce battle saw his ex-wife pose in Playboy for revenge
The Le Pen daughters stayed close to the party
and married and divorced Front National figures
Against this backdrop Maréchal-Le Pen has attracted camera crews as she runs to be potentially the youngest French MP since the French revolutionary Louis-Antoine Saint-Just
who once led the Front National youth movement
But as well as her opponents' charges that she has been parachuted into a constituency she has few links to
she is also facing claims that she is just running to please her relatives
The day before her early morning leafletting in this part of rural southern France, Maréchal-Le Pen, who is still at university, was sitting a law exam in Paris. She is running in a corner of Vaucluse where Marine Le Pen took her highest constituency-wide score in the presidential vote: 31.5%
Hard right ideas have historically had a hold here
an area which was once the fruit basket of France but has seen local agriculture dying
arrived to work on farms or build power stations
and their descendants are long French born and bred
But fears persist on the right about the dangers of mass immigration
and becoming France's first Front National MP in decades
despite a difficult battle against the favourite
from the right wing of Sarkozy's UMP party
who has won six successive parliamentary elections
It has to happen naturally," Maréchal-Le Pen said
she worked on municipal and regional campaigns in the greater Paris area
when she once famously burst into tears after political questioning from camera crews
The word dynasty "makes me laugh" she said
citing a long list of French political families
including the Socialist leader Martine Aubry
daughter of European commissioner Jacques Delors
"I believe in the law of the strongest
and the real possibility of my election here means the opposition has become more virulent," she said
She insisted her aunt and her grandfather had not coached her
Le Pen senior simply said: "Be yourself
that's only thing that works in politics."
84 (pictured below) who pressed his granddaughter to run in this symbolic seat
The constituency includes southern Carpentras
the town where in 1990 the Front National was accused of being indirectly responsible for the desecration of a Jewish cemetery by neo-Nazi skinheads
recently convicted of contesting crimes against humanity for saying the Nazi occupation was not "particularly inhumane"
denied any role in inspiring the desecration and sees a possible parliamentary win as a vindication
who was six months old at the time of the attack
said her grandfather's name was wrongly sullied in Carpentras and never "publicly cleansed"
that her election would be "a wink at history"
At the market some told her: "Your grandad had the right ideas
but expressed them wrong." "Different generation
even if she said she was proud of her grandfather's integrity
Maréchal-Le Pen's campaign topics match those of her aunt: cutting immigration
promising protectionism against globalisation and most of all protecting the French "identity" and "way of life"
She says immigration should be limited drastically as France "can't assimilate our immigrant population and finance their lifestyle and identity demands as well"
she warns that this corner of France "is what France could look like in 10 years"
But while her aunt wants a referendum on bringing back the death penalty
At the other end of the market Roger Martin
a local teacher running for the hard-left Front de Gauche
warned of a climate in France where myths about immigrant criminals and so-called benefits spongers were taking hold
"Ninety per cent of immigrants in France pay taxes
they bring in much more than they cost," he said
"Marion is not aggressive like her grandfather
But the big difference is that Jean-Marie Le Pen didn't want power
Now Marine Le Pen's party wants to get to the heart of power and to me that's a problem."
In French parliamentary elections on 10 and 17 June the left needs to win a majority of seats to ensure the Socialist president
Polls predict the Socialists will narrowly beat Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party
hopes to capitalise on her historically high presidential score of 6.4m votes to see her party sit in parliament for the first time since 1986
The last FN MP was elected in 1997 but the result was annulled over funding irregularities
which has said that winning even one seat would be a victory
One poll has shown Marine Le Pen likely to lose to the leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon in northern Henin-Beaumont
The FN's key targets seats are in Vaucluse
Gard in the south where the lawyer Gilbert Collard is standing
wearing the white jersey for best young rider.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Peter Sagan Liquigas - Doimo) celebrates his second stage win at Paris-Nice.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Peter Sagan (Liquigas) powers to the line in Aix-en-Provence.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo) won the 157km fifth stage of Paris-Nice between Pernes-les-Fontaines and Aix-en-Provence
The Slovakian neo-pro won his second stage of the race in just five days
with an audacious attack with three kilometres to go
Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) failed to catch him before the line and rounded out the top three
Alberto Contador (Astana) finished two seconds down
“It was a terrible stage," Contador said
" We tried to control the breaks for 100 kms but it’s impossible for one team to control a race like Paris-Nice
Sagan is a very strong rider and I’m sure he will very quickly be a rival to watch in future races
Tomorrow is another hard stage with 220 kms
I may be the one in the yellow jersey but I’m not the only one who can do something tomorrow.”
After the cold conditions of the last few days
the fifth stage begun in perfect sunshine and despite yesterday’s efforts into Mende
the peloton was in no mood to relax and chased each of the attacks
Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) was the first rider to break clear and was quickly joined by four other riders
However the Astana-led bunch were intent on keeping things together with the second hour of racing rattled off at 45km/h
including Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) who was over six minutes down with over 100 kilometres still to race
Volodymir Gustov (Cervélo) and Sylvain Calzati (Team Sky) broke free and the trio soon became a foursome with Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) joining in the action
The leaders sped on and their advantage peaked at 1:20 before a combination of Astana
Caisse d'Epargne and Euskaltel - Euskadi began to work together
happy to have secured the final mountain points
With 25 kilometres remaining and the break almost in sight
Ag2R moved to the front and set what looked like a furious pace in order to set up Nicolas Roche for a sprint
with Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) one of many casualties
along with an unfortunate Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues Telecom) who punctured and was forced to take a teammate’s bike
With Cyril Dessel and Dimitri Champion leading Ag2R aggressive pace the stage looked set for a sprint finish but with three kilometres to go the front group of about 50 riders was forced to take a swift left-hand bend before a sharp climb
who was first to attack as the peloton slowed
He got a small gap but Sagan was the first to respond
catching the Frenchman and then launching himself up the road and cresting the top of the climb alone
The powerful Slovak had the strength to stay clear on the run in and despite brave attempts from David Millar (Garmin-Transitions)
and a final surge to the line from Valverde
Sagan hung on for his second win of the race and his blossoming career
he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor
he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France
With the help of the excellent editorial team
he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.