Pope John Paul II's visit to Spain next month has forced a change of date for the Tour of Castille and Leon.

The event, scheduled for 30 April-4 May, will now be staged on 20-24 May.

France's Laurent Brochard, of the AG2R team, collected the token prize of a giant Camembert cheese following his victory in the Paris-Camembert semi-classic.

The former world champion, who also won the French Cup event in 2001, crossed the line after 200 km of riding with a 40-sec lead over Carlos Torrent and Nicolas Vogondy.

Leonardo Piepoli, of the iBanesto.com team, claimed overall victory on the Tour of Aragon in La Muela, Spain, on Sunday.

The tour's 149km fifth and final stage was won by fellow Italian Alessandro Petacchi of Fassa Bortolo.

Ludovic Capelle, of the Landbouwkrediet team, raced to victory in the 91st edition of the Grand Prix de l'Escaut race in Schoten on Wednesday.

The Belgian rider inched ahead of Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) and Germany's Steffen Radochla (Team Coast) in a thrilling sprint finish.

France's Carlos Dacruz took victory in the Circuit de la Sarthe in western France after Australia's Allan Davis won the fifth and final stage from Angers to Le Mans.

Dacruz recorded an overall time of 16 hours, 35 minutes and 59 seconds with Russia's Alexei Sivakov second and France's Laurent Brochard third.

Germany's Jan Ullrich, who is considered to be Lance Armstrong's main rival in this year's Tour de France, was 20th overall - more than six minutes behind Dacruz.

Armstrong dropped out of the race on Wednesday after complaining of stomach problems.

Ukrainian rider Yuriy Krivstov and home favorite Sylvain Chavanel of France won the third and fourth stages of the Circuit de la Sarthe in northwest France on Thursday.

Krivstov finished the third stage, a 93-km route from Saint Gereon to Angers, in a time of two hours, 18 minutes and 18 seconds.

Later, Chavanel won the individual time trial - a nine-km dash around the medieval town of Angers - crossing the line in 10 minutes, 22 seconds.

France's Carlos Dacruz heads the overall standings with a time of 12 hours 56 seconds.

Four-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong of the United States retired from the Circuit de la Sarthe race during Wednesday's second stage.

The US Postal rider, who finished 26th in Tuesday's first stage, quit 70km from the finish line complaining of an upset stomach.

French rider Carlos Da Cruz, of FDJeux.com, dominated a sprint finish to win the first stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe.

The features American four-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and Germany's Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour winner.

But it was Da Cruz who stole the limelight,winning the 188km opening leg from Nantes to Fontenay le Comte.