The Paris - Nice is the first World Tour race of 2018. The previous races are considered pre-season by many riders and fans but the French race will mark the start of the serious business. As usual, the race will take the riders from the outskirts of Paris to the Mediterranean Sea. The first few stages are really flat and will be battled by the sprinters. However, from the 4th onwards the route turns very hilly. The most important stage will most likely be the one finishing in Fayence after 220 kilometers and the climb to the Col de Bourigaille.
In terms of winners, the race has been very varied. This same route has provided many different results, even with Alexander Kristoff taking the overall win last year in what was considered a major surprise. However, it is much more likely that a puncheur or hills rider takes the overall given the amount of stages with difficulties. Nevertheless, it is difficult to say who is the most successful rider so far. It would probably go to Hubert Dupont, who took one win and one other podium finish. The French will be at the start this year but given this is his first race of the season it is unlikely that he will be a contender.
Favorites:
- Mikel Nieve (Team Katusha - Alpecin): Mikel Nieve is one of the top riders that prepared the Paris - Nice more carefully. He even went to Qatar and we could see him attacking in a couple of stages, most likely preparing himself for this race. We cannot forget that even if he could not climb onto the podium in the last Vuelta a España, he was 4th overall. He is also one of the few riders that have been on the podium of the 3 Grand Tours. His attacking style should also be helpful in this route without mountain-top finishes.
- Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team): Iglinskiy is one of those strange riders that can both perform in the cobbles and in the mountains. However, he was nowhere to be seen in the first cobbled classic of the season: the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. However, even if there are doubts as to whether he will be in top shape for the Paris - Nice he is one of the riders that have ridden considerably before the race. It will also be interesting to see whether he can cope with one week of racing as he has only been in the podium of a stage race once.
- Jelle Vanendert (Lotto - Soudal): It would be quite strange to have Jelle Vanendert in a race and not consider him a favorite. This is the case even if it is the first race of his season, as it is the case in the Paris - Nice. The Belgian is probably the best rider on the hills and this route without a time trial suits him quite well. However, the nature of the race also means that it is prone to surprising results and he only managed to take the win in 2015. Nevertheless, he will surely be in the mix when we en the week of racing.
- Daniel Moreno (Euskaltel - Euskadi): There are not many stage races where Dani Moreno will find himself leading the Euskaltel team as he will have to work for David Lopez and Hubert Dupont in most of them. However, this is going to be the case in the Paris - Nice and the Spaniard should be a rider to take into account. He was very solid last year even though he had a role of a domestique and he might improve on that this season as he is expected to enjoy more freedom. At 30 years old, he should take advantage of this opportunity.
Other riders with a shot at the podium are Simon Clarke (HTC - Highroad), Emanuele Sella (Movistar Team), Tom Slagter (Cannondale - Drapac), Jose Serpa (Lotto - Soudal), Davide Rebellin and Michele Scarponi (Astana Pro Team).
Among the sprinters in the race we can find Mark Renshaw (BMC Racing Team), Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL - Jumbo), Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep Floors), Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Marcel Kittel (UAE Team Emirates) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi).
The Paris - Nice starts with a stage for the sprinters in the outskirts of Paris. The town is on the shore of the river Seine, around 50 kilometers to the west of Paris. After a loop in the north of the city, the riders will then have to tackle a 33 kilometers circuit around the city 4 times. It only includes the easy Cote de Vert, which should not be a problem for any rider. Therefore, a mass sprint is expected and the winner of the stage should be wearing the first leader's jersey. The only difficult point for the riders might be the rain.
Many teams wanted to put a rider in the early break but only 5 of them succeeded. The group was formed by Paul Martens (Sunweb), Yoann Offredo (IAM), Tejay van Garderen (Trek), Moreno Moser (Astana) and Samuel Dumoulin (Orica). They were 3' 15'' ahead of the peloton at the first intermediate sprint, in Mantes-la-Jolie. They still had 3 laps of the final circuit to complete, so the peloton looked to have it in control. It was surprising to see Tejay in the front group but he did not seem to come to France to battle for the GC. Meanwhile, Mark Renshaw (BMC) was quickest in the sprint of the group ahead of Mark Cavendish (IAM).
The Cote de Vert only gave points twice out of the four times it was climbed. The second time came with 54 kilometers to go. We could see important riders like Andrew Talansky (HTC) and Tanel Kangert (Katusha) working at the front of the pack, which made it clear that many riders had come to the race to prepare for further objectives. They were keeping the gap to the break under control and always below the 4 minutes mark. In the battle for the KoM points, Paul Martens was successful as he will be the first leader of the classification.
Sylvain Chavanel (FDJ) was clearly very confident after his dominant win in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and attacked just before the last climb to the Cote de Vert. He joined the early break soon after and was still carrying the responsibility to fight against the peloton. With 11 kilometers remaining they were 35 seconds ahead over a peloton led by Jos van Emden (Quickstep), Sergey Lagutin (Katusha) and Simon Yates (HTC). The slippery roads were quite dangerous and Peter Stetina (Cannondale) took a tumble that might mean he loses time at the finish line today.
Despite the efforts of Sylvain Chavanel, the break was caught back and with 3 kilometers to go BMC was controlling the pace. They had Jure Kocjan (BMC) ready to lead Mark Renshaw, while Fran Ventoso (Movistar) was on his wheel. On the right-hand side of the road, the Quickstep train was trying to move forward as Enrico Gasparotto (Quickstep) was moving Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) to the front with Mark Cavendish behind. We could see other sprinters like Tyler Farrar (Discovery) and Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) close to the front but others like Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) were a bit too far. With 3 kilometers to go they still had time to move forward but they would have to use some energy.
Jure Kocjan was doing a perfect leadout for Mark Renshaw as the Australian looked for yet another win in this start of the season. Lloyd Mondory moved across to grab his wheel as Fran Ventoso was losing ground and Enrico Gasparotto had to move aside after the big effort that he had to do to bring the French forward. Fran Ventoso, Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar were still relatively close to the front but it was difficult to think of anyone else having a chance to win the day. We also heard the news that a crash had taken down many riders and Geraint Thomas (Tinkoff) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Cannondale) were forced to abandon.
Jure Kocjan was still leading Mark Renshaw with 600 meters to go. The Australian was very late to start his sprint but Lloyd Mondory was still behind him. The rider that was making progress next to the fences was Fran Ventoso, who was taking over them quite rapidly. Tyler Farrar and Mark Cavendish were a bit behind and even though they had also started to sprint they did not look like coming fast on the leading riders. The rain had probably made the race a bit harder than expected and many of the sprinters were not even showing their face in the final sprint.
Mark Renshaw wins in Mantes-la-Jolie! It is yet another win for the Australian in this early part of the season, his 5th so far in not too many days of racing. It was a very tight sprint in the end with both Renshaw and Lloyd Mondory starting their rush really late. The Australian has to thank Jure Kocjan for a very good delivery to the last kilometer. The second place went to Fran Ventoso, who proved again that he is very fit in this early season and would have a few more wins if it wasn't for Renshaw. Mondory took the third position ahead of Kenny van Hummel and Tyler Farrar.
The stage met all the expectations that we had placed on it before the racing started. There was an interesting attack from Sylvain Chavanel in the closing stages of the day but it would always be difficult to beat a committed peloton looking for a mass sprint. Nevertheless, we missed quite a few sprinters in the last few kilometers. It is likely that the crash that happened with 7 kilometers to go meant that several of them lost their helpers and they could not position themselves properly ahead of the last few kilometers. The stage tomorrow should be quite similar as the profile is even flatter than today.
The second stage in the Paris - Nice will take the riders south, starting the trip towards the Mediterranean. The stage will finish in Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche, a town really close to Auxerre. The riders will have to tackle a circuit around the finishing town of close to 20 kilometers. In principle, the outcome of the day should be a mass sprint but the length of the stage is above 200 kilometers so it is unlikely that it will be an easy day for the riders. The weather is again quite wet and there is a moderate wind expected from the East that should mostly help the riders along the route.
It was more than 60 kilometers of racing before the break of the day settled at the front. BMC had not been keen to let go a group of any significant size. In the end, only 2 riders formed the break: Martin Elmiger (Orica) and Christophe Riblon (Cofidis). With 98 kilometers to go they had a gap of 3' 15'' over the peloton but the expectation was that they would be relatively easy to catch back as soon as the pace picked up a little bit in the bunch. It was going to be a very long day in the saddle for the riders but many expected it to be quieter than what it was in the first part of the day.
The riders from BMC were more than capable of keeping the break within range as they had Eros Capecchi (BMC), Javier Moreno (BMC) and Brent Bookwalter (BMC) working at the front of the group. At the Cote de la Ferte-Loupierre they were losing 3 minutes with the front group but they still had 42 kilometers to go and the couple of riders in the break were starting to show signs of being tired. Tejay van Garderen (Trek) won the sprint for the remaining KoM points in the peloton and tied at the front of the classification with Paul Martens (Sunweb).
Sylvain Chavanel (FDJ) tried to attack from 30 kilometers out again but all he achieved was that the early break was caught right after the second intermediate sprint of the day, which was at the first passage through the finish line. They had 18 kilometers to go in which the teams of the sprinters would have to put a high pace to avoid attacks from riders that may put in danger the mass sprint. In the sprint for the remaining points, Mark Renshaw (BMC) was first. It looks like the Australian has the green jersey of the race in his sight.
Right after they exited the town of Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche there was a massive crash in the peloton. Only a group of around 50 riders managed to stay in the front group as a lot of cyclists that did not crash got blocked. The worst part was for Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Simon Clarke (HTC), who had to abandon the race. The front group pushed on and with 3 kilometers remaining Jure Kocjan (BMC) was leading it with Mark Renshaw right behind. Quickstep was also well positioned with Enrico Gasparotto (Quickstep) as the last man for Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep). We could also see Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel), Mark Cavendish (IAM) and Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r) close to the front.
Many of the favorites for the win in the GC had been left behind or crashed and did not make it into the front group but we still had a lot of sprinters there. Jure Kocjan was once more making a great effort for Mark Renshaw and with 1 kilometer to go they were clearly leading the bunch. They had Alexander Kristoff, Kenny van Hummel and Mark Cavendish on their wheel. On the other hand, Lloyd Mondory had dropped down the order as Enrico Gasparotto could not keep up with the pace imposed by the BMC riders. We had the reference to the first chasing group and it was very considerable: 3' 30''.
Mark Renshaw started the final sprint at the front but Alexander Kristoff had perfectly followed his wheel and with 600 meters to go it was hard to say who would take the win today. They were clearly ahead of the rest of the sprinters but Kenny van Hummel was trying to close the gap with Mark Cavendish, Nacer Bouhanni and Fran Ventoso right behind. The group was not very big but most of the sprinters had made it. However, many lacked the support that they normally enjoy and a few struggled to get into position in time. It was likely that either Renshaw or Kristoff won today.
Mark Renshaw wins in Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche! We are going to run out of words to describe the performance of Mark Renshaw at the start of 2018. We are still in February and the Australian has raised his hands 6 times. This time he fended off Alexander Kristoff, who had taken advantage of the tow but could never get ahead of the BMC rider in the last few meters of the stage. It is the 4th time that Kristoff finishes a sprint in the 2nd place this season. Kenny van Hummel was also close to the front but never threatened for the win. The top 5 was completed by Nacer Bouhanni and Lloyd Mondory.
In terms of the GC this was a very important day due to the crash that happened in the first passage through Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche. The first group of chasers lost 4 minutes and riders like Michele Scarponi, the last winner of the Vuelta, had to go home. Among other favorites, the most important that lost time were Mikel Nieve (Katusha), Tom Slagter (Cannondale) and Jerome Coppel (Quickstep). It will be down to only a handful of riders to battle for the top positions of the GC and we could see sprinters filtering in the top 10 at the end of the week.
The third stage of the Paris - Nice is not as completely flat as yesterday but the mass sprint will still be the most likely option by a good margin. The race will continue its trip south with the stage finishing at the motorsports circuit of Magny-Cours. It is located only a few kilometers south of Nevers. The wind and the rain will be the biggest threat to the riders. They will have to be very careful given that yesterday the crash that affected the peloton decimated the number of riders that will eventually fight for the podium in the GC.
The only difficulty of the day was the Cote de la Chapelle Saint-Andre, which was placed 106 kilometers from the finish line. Nevertheless, it was not more than a tiny climb and the riders would not have trouble getting over it. The break was formed of 4 riders: Rigoberto Uran (Orica), Alexandr Kolobnev (Vacansoleil), Anthony Roux (Cofidis) and Grega Bole (Tinkoff). They had built a gap of 5' 30'' over the bunch so far. Roux was the first on the KoM sprint while BMC and Quickstep were setting a pace in the peloton that was not difficult for anyone to follow.
The second intermediate sprint of the day was placed in La Machine, 38 kilometers from the finish line. The quickest in the sprint of the peloton was Mark Cavendish (IAM), who beat Fran Ventoso (Movistar) and Tyler Farrar (Discovery) for the remaining points. It was worth noting that Mark Renshaw (BMC) and Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) were not fighting for those points today. Meanwhile, the gap to the break was steadily decreasing and had been reduced to 3' 30''. Euskaltel and LottoNL were also putting riders to work at the front and the race situation was completely controlled.
With 9 kilometers to go, the break was still working as a unit and they were causing more problems than expected to the peloton. They still had 30 seconds and the chase was led by Romain Bardet (Quickstep), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL) and Javi Moreno (BMC). The teams of the sprinters probably need to put better rouleurs to chase them down. Nevertheless, they still had plenty of time to chase them down and the terrain was very favourable for the peloton. At the back of the pack, Cadel Evans (Lotto) was struggling to keep up with the pace as he was affected by his crash yesterday.
Alexandr Kolobnev fought hard after leaving behind his break fellows but was eventually caught with 4 kilometers to go. BMC was again dominating the preparation of the sprint but in this case it would be Tom Boonen (BMC) that would act as lead-out man for Mark Renshaw. They probably allowed Jure Kocjan (BMC) to fight for the stage on his own. Marcel Kittel (UAE) was well positioned right behind the Australian. LottoNL had built a train today and Danny van Poppel (LottoNL) was ahead of Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL). Stefan van Dijk (Vacansoleil) was following them. They were already inside the Magny-Cours motorsports complex and quickly approaching the last kilometers.
Even if it was not Jure Kocjan at the front today, Mark Renshaw was equally well delivered to the last kilometer by Tom Boonen. However, it looked like the Australian was starting his final sprint a bit too early and he had Marcel Kittel following his wheel closely. The German had a very good race in Qatar but he has not been in the mix for the stage wins so far in the Paris - Nice. Lloyd Mondory was not well positioned but Enrico Gasparotto (Quickstep) did an effort to get him close to the front. He was alongside Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) and Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r).
It was a very tight sprint as Mark Renshaw was still ahead with 600 meters remaining but Marcel Kittel was already trying to get around his outside. Lloyd Mondory and Alexander Kristoff had also properly taken their wheel and were chasing the stage win. However, the gaps started to appear after them and even Nacer Bouhanni, who was 5th at the time looked too far from the front to be a candidate for the win. A bit further back, Kenny van Hummel was trying to make up group after his sprint train completely collapsed with around 1.5 kilometers to go.
Mark Renshaw wins in Magny-Cours! It was already difficult to describe his season so far yesterday and today he added a third win in a row and the 7th in the season so far. It was not easy at all this time as Lloyd Mondory was probably the fastest sprinter but the advantage that Tom Boonen had given him was enough to take the win, albeit it was a win by a really small margin. The second place went again to Lloyd Mondory, who has lost many sprints in this early season to Renshaw. A bit more disappointing was the performance of Marcel Kittel as the German was in a prime position to take the win. The top 5 was completed by Alexander Kristoff and Nacer Bouhanni.
We were lucky not to have any crashes in the final kilometers but another of the riders that should fight for the overall GC lost 1' 45''. Emanuele Sella (Movistar) had suffered a fall halfway through the stage and was caught towards the back of the bunch, were gaps appeared. Otherwise, the rain and the bad weather respected the riders in the last part of the stage and it was a relatively easy stage for the favorites in the GC. The picture will most likely change tomorrow with the finish in Belleville after the climb to Mont Brouilly.
The first 3 stages were very clear opportunities for the sprinters but this one finishing in Belleville is not that straight-forward. The route is quite bumpy in the last 60 kilometers but the difference is made by the Mont Brouilly, which top is 14 kilometers from the finish line and has 2 kilometers averaging above 10% gradient. Therefore, there are many options in the stage: a break of riders that have lost time in the GC, a late attack in the hills or a sprint of a reduced group are all on the table. It is a nice change to the first few stages of the race.
There were again plenty of kilometers until the break of the day settled at the front. It was formed by 3 riders: Jan Bakelants (Discovery), Warren Barguil (FDJ) and Richie Porte (Movistar). It was a long day for the riders and with 105 kilometers they held an advantage of 5' 15'' over the main bunch. At the peloton, BMC, Quickstep and LottoNL - Jumbo were controlling the pace but they had to burn some of their riders in the early part of the day not to allow a big group to get away. However, they still had many flat kilometers to recover before the hills started.
The day was not going to be easy for the peloton if they wanted the stage win. Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff) and Tom Slagter (Cannondale) attacked in the first categorised climb and at the Col de Champ Juin they reached the early break riders. They had lost time in the GC but were very good riders in the hills that should not be allowed to recover. Quickstep was leading the group and even Jerome Coppel (Quickstep) was collaborating at the front. However, the gap was still more than 3 minutes and they had 44 kilometers ahead of them that were not ideal for a peloton to chase.
The second intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Regnie-Durette. However, it was not the battle for the points that triggered a fight because a few kilometers earlier Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) decided to attack and he dragged the leader, Mark Renshaw (BMC), with him alongside Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r) and Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL). It did not look like the brightest of the ideas but Mondory is probably the best sprinter over the hills and might prefer a difficult race. They were 1' 35'' behind Pavel Brutt and Tom Slagter, who had left the rest of the break behind. Meanwhile, the peloton was 2' 15'' from the leaders and led by Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto).
Pavel Brutt and Tom Slagter were looking good for the stage win at the bottom of the Mont Brouilly. They had 50 seconds on Warren Barguil and Jan Bakelants while the peloton was 1' 55'' behind. The group of the leader had been caught back and there was a bit of a standstill with no team willing to increase the pace too much ahead of the climb. Javi Moreno (BMC) was leading them to the first ramps but the Spaniard was not putting a pace that would leave anyone behind. Many sprinters are positioning themselves close to the front in order to be well positioned for the steep slopes ahead.
There were no attacks at all in the peloton during the climb to Mont Brouilly and the sprinters will be grateful for that. Bart de Clercq (Quickstep) took the lead of the peloton in the last couple of kilometers and put a pace that was hard enough to drop quite a few riders but it did not destroy the peloton. Pavel Brutt and Tom Slagter were still ahead but their gap had dropped to 1' 15''. It was a hard call as they still had 14 kilometers to go, most of them flat. Several sprinters had gone through the climb at the front group and they surely would have enough domestiques to try to chase them down in the flat.
Davide Rebellin (Astana) triggered the attacks in the descent of the Mont Brouilly and he dragged a group with him. Next to move was Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) but all they made was cut the gap of the two riders ahead until they were caught with 6 kilometers to go. Another rider trying to join the attacks was Jure Kocjan (BMC), who clearly has the blessing from the team to try to win a stage for himself after many times helping Mark Renshaw. However, in the end it was a 60 riders group that would probably battle for the stage win in Belleville. The only riders in the top 10 missing were Tyler Farrar (Discovery) and Mark Cavendish (IAM).
Michael Rogers (Vacansoleil) tried a late attack for the win but with 2 kilometers to go it was difficult to leave such a big group behind. Brent Bookwalter (BMC) was trying to put some order at the front of the bunch as the sprinters all piled up right behind him. We could see the leader, Mark Renshaw, surrounded by other top sprinters like Nacer Bouhanni, Lloyd Mondory, Kenny van Hummel and Marcel Kittel (UAE). Nevertheless, it was not guaranteed at all that a sprinter would take the stage given a few of them should be tired from the previous climb.
Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) did a good run and with 700 meters to go he was clearly ahead of the rest of the sprinters. Two French, Nacer Bouhanni and Lloyd Mondory, were trying to close the gap but they actually seemed to be losing ground with Kenny van Hummel and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel). There were also puncheurs trying to join the party as we could see Davide Rebellin and Rui Costa (Ag2r) on the left-hand side of the road. We could definitely say that Mark Renshaw would not be winning today because he had completely disappeared from the top positions.
Fran Ventoso wins in Belleville! The Spaniard lost quite a bit of ground in the last meters of the stage but had enough time to celebrate his win. Ventoso must have been one of the riders that better saved his energies today as we had barely seen him through the day expect for the last kilometer. The 2nd place went once again to Lloyd Mondory, who is still to take a win this year. It was a close affair with Kenny van Hummel, 3rd, while the top 5 was completed by Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) and Jure Kocjan (BMC).
Less than 60 riders made it to the finish line with the same time as the winner today and fortunately it was not down to crashes this time. A few of the sprinters, like Tyler Farrar and Mark Cavendish, dropped from the top positions in the GC and they will have it progressively more difficult in the next stages. We could also see how Mark Renshaw struggled today at the final sprint and he crossed the line in the middle of the group. Once we hit the harder hills it is expected for him to drop time to the hills specialists.
We already talked about Jean-Chistophe Peraud in here
We were saying that Jean-Christophe Peraud had found a second youth when we talked about him almost 3 seasons ago. However, it turned out to be a lot more than that. The French has so far been among the World top riders in the last 3 seasons and he even finished in the top 10 of the World Tour rankings for 2 seasons in a row, something he had not managed before. We also mentioned that it was a long shot to get another podium in a Grand Tour but he did exactly that and grabbed the 2nd position in the 2017 Tour de France right behind his fellow countryman Jerome Coppel.
In this time, Peraud has consolidated as the indisputable leader of the Discovery Channel team. The Americans have other very good climbers and all rounders like Robert Kiserlovski and Peter Velits but they are in general subordinated to working for Peraud when they are in the same squad. Nevertheless, as with most of the riders there is always some aspect that can be improved. The main criticism that he has received is his difficulty to convert good performances into wins. In the last couple of years, despite being a top rider he was only able to win a stage and the GC of the 2016 Criterium du Dauphine.
Looking forward to 2018, his main target is again the Tour de France but there are other races where he will be looking to get good results, like the Tirreno - Adriatico and the Tour de Suisse. After several good results in the Criterium du Dauphine, Peraud stated earlier in the season that he wants to have his last race to the Tour de France later in the calendar. He will also be at the Dauphine but played down his chances in that race. He was also looking forward to the late year classics in Italy after he got a 7th in Lombardia last season.
The French should probably start to think how he wants his career to finish, given that he is already 33 years old and will not have many years at the top left. The Tour de France is probably the race he is keen to add to his palmares but we can say the same for most of the riders in the peloton. If 2018 brings more wins instead of only good results he might be a happy riders at the end of the season.
The difficulties that the riders will be facing in the race are increasing as the race moves forward. Today's stage is not too hard but it will not be resolved in a mass sprint either. The riders will move towards Rive-de-Gier, a town located in between Lyon and Saint-Etienne. They will have a loop around the town that includes the climb to the Cote de Sainte-Catherine, which is 11 kilometers long although the average gradient is not impressive. Still, it should be enough to reduce the front group quite considerably and the outcome of the stage is quite hard to predict. A sprint in a reduced group is the most likely outcome.
There were a couple of small categorized climbs early in the day and at the second one, the Cote de Plantigny, the break was already settled at the front. The group of 6 was formed by riders like Peter Sagan (Sky), Ian Stannard (Sunweb), Julien Simon (IAM), Moreno Moser (Astana) and Mikel Landa (Discovery). The had 3 minutes on the main bunch with 113 kilometers to go. In between the two group, Chris Anker Sorensen (Cofidis) was still trying to bridge the gap to the break. Back at the peloton, Euskaltel was very much present at the front alongside BMC to set the pace.
The second climb of the day was the longest that the riders had tackled in the Paris - Nice so far, although not very hard. It was the ascent to Saint-Martin-en-Haut. BMC had considerably increased the pace in the peloton with Eros Capecchi (BMC) and the support from Brent Bookwalter (BMC) and Franco Pellizotti (BMC). The gap had therefore decreased to 3' 30''. Moreno Moser was first at the top and took other the provisional lead of the KoM classification. Meanwhile, quite a few riders were already dropping off the back of the pack.
The climb was followed by a quick descent towards the finish line, where the second intermediate sprint was placed. The break had grown in size since the first time we talked about them as Chris Anker Sorensen and Jonathan Castroviejo (UAE) had bridged the gap. However, they only had 2' 10'' over the peloton with 27 kilometers remaining and a climb along the way. It would be a struggle for them as Lotto had joined the chase and even Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto) was relaying at the front. They were probably working for an attack from Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) in the climb.
Emanuele Sella (Movistar) was the first rider to attack in the group of the favorites and he was rapidly joined by Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff). However, with 5 kilometers still to climb they still had not opened a gap and other riders like Rui Costa (Ag2r), Mikel Nieve (Katusha) and Tom Slagter (Cannondale) tried to join them. Nevertheless, all of them had lost significant time in the GC and were not a threat but they still had the hardest part of the climb to be tackled. Meanwhile, the early break was still 55 seconds ahead but losing time quite fast.
The peloton was already catching up to some of the riders in the early break as Jelle Vanendert attacked close to the top of the climb. However, even if Lotto had prepared that attack quite well with Jose Serpa (Lotto) doing a considerable effort, it had come way too late and without terrain to be dangerous. Rui Costa and Tom Slagter were also trying to attack but it was unlikely that they would be dropping any significant rider behind considering they still had 13 kilometers of favorable terrain to the finish line. There were still 4 riders from the break that had a gap at the front.
The descent back towards Rive-de-Gier was quite dangerous as the rain was falling again on the riders and the roads were quite wet. Fortunately, there were no serious crashes. However, the circumstances were used by Moreno Moser to attack from the front group and with 5 kilometers to go he had 25 seconds over Julien Simon, Mikel Landa and Simon Yates (HTC) and 45 seconds on the bunch. He was taking risks but it could be the way to a win. Meanwhile, Paul Martens (HTC) tried to attack from the peloton but he could not open a gap at all and many of the favorites were taking caution.
Moreno Moser got to the bottom of the descent with a nice gap and as he entered the last kilometer he had a big enough gap to celebrate the stage win. The peloton had caught up with the rest of the riders from the early break and we could see Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek) trying to take advantage of the slow pace in the group to snatch a few seconds at the finish line. In the end, close to 100 riders kept up with the main group and we could see all of the riders in the top 10 still within the group.
Moreno Moser wins in Rive-de-Gier! The Italian took some risks in the descent of the climb to Sainte-Catherine and it paid off as he takes the stage win in Rive-de-Gier. It was probably not as close as the 14 seconds that he ended up putting on the peloton say as he was relatively slow while celebrating in the last kilometer. The sprint of the group was surprisingly won by Domenico Pozzovivo ahead of Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r), with Tom Slagter and Anthony Roux (Cofidis) completing the top 5. Not many of the top sprinters actually fought for the final positions as the flat at the bottom was only a couple of kilometers and many were badly positioned.
The GC did not change much as all of the riders in the top 10 were in the main bunch of around 100 riders. Nevertheless, we saw riders like Fran Ventoso (Movistar) struggling in the climb, which does not bode well for the following days. The Cote de Sainte-Catherine was not hard enough for the strongest hills riders to open gaps but the following days are hillier and the likes of Jelle Vanendert will surely try to put some time on the sprinters then. Tomorrow's stage in Fayence is perfect as it is the only stage that finishes in an uphill, although only 1.5 kilometers long.
The 6th stage of the Paris - Nice is most likely the hardest of the race. The route is relatively easy for the first part but in the last 60 kilometers there will be a continuous up and down the hills, including the Col de Bourigaille. This will reduce the size of the group quite considerably before tackling the final 1.5 kilometers, an uphill finish within the streets of Fayence. The total length of the route is 220 kilometers, which is a lot for the early part of the season, although those riders that will ride the Milano - Sanremo will be grateful for getting to tackle long distances.
The early part of the stage had the only difficulty of the Cote de Bonnieux. A break had already settled at the front by the time they reached the climb. The group of 7 had a gap of 2' 40'' and included riders like Sylvain Chavanel (FDJ), Romain Bardet (Quickstep), Marco Pinotti (Sky), Paul Martens (Sunweb) and Damiano Caruso (Cannondale). At the top of the climb, Martens was the only rider interested in the points. BMC was controlling the pace in the bunch but they were not particularly worried about the break, even if it had a couple of riders that were very close in the GC.
BMC did not want any surprises today and they started to pull back the gap with the early break quite soon. At the Cote de Tuilieres, with 57 kilometers to go, they had already cut it to only 2 minutes. This did not give the break much hope of making it to the finish. They had the whole team chasing, which made clear that they did not have another option than Mark Renshaw (BMC) for the GC. Meanwhile, a lot of riders had already dropped from the bunch and the group had only about 100 riders. Frank Schleck (Quickstep) had crashed a bit before but had no problems rejoining.
Rafal Majka (Trek) was the only rider in the break that was interested in the KoM points at the Cote de Mont-Meaulx. With 42 kilometers to go, the gap had not come down much more and was still around the 2 minutes mark. Surely BMC did not want to catch them too early not to encourage other riders to try to attack. However, Lotto was starting to join the chase with a couple of riders but it would be for Jelle Vanendert (Lotto). Their teammate Cadel Evans (Lotto) had already been dropped from the bunch as he was still suffering from the injuries he suffered in one of the crashes earlier in the week.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in Fayence, just before the start of the climb to the Col de Bourigaille. Emanuele Sella (Movistar) and Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff) had attacked from the bunch just before the sprint in order to try to start the climb slightly ahead of the group. The peloton was in a standstill mode as they let the two riders go and the gap to the break had actually increased to 2' 15''. They were probably waiting to increase the pace again in the climb. Meanwhile, Sylvain Chavanel had won the two intermediate sprints and had 4 bonus seconds as a result.
The only dangerous attack in the first part of the climb came from Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) but the French rider did open a gap in front of the group. With 3 kilometers to the top of the climb, Dupont had joined forces with Paul Martens, who was clearly not having the best of the days. They were 1' 05'' behind the front group, which had been joined by Emanuele Sella and Pavel Brutt. The peloton was 1' 35'' behind the leaders and led by Javier Moreno (BMC) and Jose Serpa (Lotto). The pace was enough that some riders like Fran Ventoso (Movistar) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) were starting to struggle.
Pavel Brutt was leading the race at the top of the Col de Bourigaille after attacking from the front group but his gap was not too big. Romain Bardet was only 15 seconds behind, while the rest of the early break was 35 seconds behind. Back at the group of the leader, Hubert Dupont had not managed to hold on to his gap and had been reeled in and the climbing pace was not that high. The gap to Brutt was still 1' 30'' but with 19 kilometers to go it was not clear whether he had a chance for the stage. Among those that were close to losing contact we could see Alexander Kristoff and Simon Yates (HTC).
A couple of riders, like Jonathan Hivert (Sky), tried to attack at the start of the descent but they were not allowed to leave the group of the leader. However, it was Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) that managed to open a gap in the lower part of the descent and dragged Mark Renshaw with him. The leader clearly did not want Mondory to get any kind of advantage. With 8 kilometers to go, close to getting to the flat that would take them to Fayence, Pavel Brutt was still ahead while Mondory and Renshaw were 45 seconds behind. The reaction in the group came from Katusha but they were already 1' 10'' behind Brutt when the pace increased again.
Lloyd Mondory and Mark Renshaw were about to be caught in the flat towards the final uphill finish but the French decided to push on. He caught up with Pavel Brutt with 2 kilometers to go but the chase was quite fast. It was not very organised but riders like Fran Ventoso and Rui Costa (Ag2r) were trying to bring Mondory back. Among the favorites if it come down to a sprint uphill we could see some puncheurs well positioned, like Davide Rebellin (Astana), Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto), Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) and Dani Moreno (Euskaltel). They were quite close to starting the climb.
The pace in the group slowed down a little bit at the start of the climb but they had not caught Lloyd Mondory yet and at the flame rouge he had a margin of 20 seconds, which might be enough to take the stage win. That would be a big surprise as he is a rider that can go over the hills but today's stage was quite hard and the uphill finish does not favor him at all. Rui Costa was leading the charge to get to him with Davide Rebellin and Bjorn Leukemans behind. Meanwhile, Mark Renshaw was starting the struggle and any gaps at the finish line would cost him the yellow jersey.
Lloyd Mondory wins in Fayence! The French takes his first win of the year against all odds in an uphill finish. Mondory had been 2nd in sprints plenty of times this season so it is a major surprise that he was able to hold on ahead of the puncheurs even if he started the final climb slightly ahead. Jelle Vanendert was the closest rider to him at the finish line but could only be second, 4 seconds behind the winner. A group of 7 riders finished 9 seconds behind, with Rui Costa third and Davide Rebellin and Mikel Nieve (Katusha) completing the top 5.
Among those missing at the group was Mark Renshaw. The leader was relatively good in the final rush but he could not avoid losing 38 seconds against the winner. The yellow jersey will therefore go to Lloyd Mondory but the French will probably face an uphill struggle to maintain it in the last couple of stages. Nevertheless, Alexander Kristoff proved last year that it is possible for a sprinter that can handle the hills to do it. The gaps in the GC are very small so any incident or bad day for anyone will mean that they are out of the chase for the GC podium.
The penultimate stage in the Paris - Nice will take place very close to the Mediterranean but it will be plagued with difficulties. The riders will spend the first half of the stage in the mountains close to the Cote d'Azur, including difficult climb like the Col de Vence and the Col de L'Ecre. The middle part of the stage is easier as they descent towards the sea to finish with 2 laps in a circuit around Biot. The stage has cumulative climbing well above 3,000 meters so it is clearly not a day for the sprinters, especially considering that the last couple of kilometers are uphill.
Quickstep could not be bothered at all about controlling the pace of the race and they decided to let a group of 14 riders get a gap. The main riders in the group were Peter Sagan (Sky), Ben Hermans (Katusha), Yoann Offredo (IAM), Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale), Jurgen van den Broeck (Sunweb), Simon Gerrans (Trek) and Pieter Weening (Tinkoff). At the top of the Col de Vence they had already built a 7 minutes gap over the main bunch but they still had 147 kilometers to go. Nevertheless, the pace in the peloton did not indicate that they would be chased anytime soon.
A few teams started to contribute riders to setting the pace in the peloton at the Col d'Ecre. We could see riders like Franco Pellizotti (BMC), Stefano Garzelli (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Euskaltel) at the front. However, the gap at the top had grown to 12 minutes and with 111 kilometers remaining the pace in the bunch would have to be quite hard to chase them down. That difference made Peter Sagan the virtual leader of the race. Meanwhile, Pieter Weening was collecting all of the available points in the climb and looked set to take the KoM jersey from his teammate Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff).
Pieter Weening kept taking KoM points at the Cote de Gourdon, the last categorised climb of the day. With 65 kilometers to go it was clear that the stage win would go to one of the riders in the break as the gap was still 11 minutes even if Quickstep had started to chase a bit more seriously. Even a rider like Frank Schleck (Quickstep) was contributing at the front of the bunch. At the same time, quite a few riders were dropping from the bunch and taking it easier for the rest of the day. From the Cote de Gourdon they would have a long descent towards Biot, where the 2 laps to the circuit would start.
The second intermediate sprint was at the first passage through the finish line. However, with the kind of gap that they had on the peloton no one was really thinking about the points. Jurgen van den Broeck was first through the kite but the group was still working as a unit. With 9 minutes on the peloton and 38 kilometers remaining the battle for the stage would be triggered quite soon. Meanwhile, Lotto started to work alongside Quickstep in the bunch but even though attacks from some of the pucheurs were expected it was a bit too early.
The first lap to the final circuit was a non-event as the situation barely changed but as soon as the riders headed for the final climb, Jurgen van den Broeck decided to attack. He still had 17 kilometers to the finish line but clearly thought that waiting for this spot in the final lap would not give him much of a chance. He opened a gap of 25 seconds over Yuri Trofimov (Dimension Data) and Carlos Barredo (Orica), who were trying to join him, and 40 seconds on the rest of the early break. Meanwhile, the peloton was still 7 minutes behind and there had been no movement so far.
There was a lot more movement in the final lap around Biot. Astana riders were quite active and halfway through the lap it was Davide Rebellin (Astana) trying to open a gap. Before him attacking, there had been attempts including riders like Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana), Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel), Rui Costa (Ag2r) and Philippe Gilbert (Vacansoleil) but hey did not go too far. Quickstep was controlling the race quite easily so far and Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) did not seem to have any trouble. Meanwhile, Jurgen van den Broeck was still leading the race, 15 seconds ahead of his chasers with 7 kilometers to go.
Jurgen van den Broeck did a very good job in the final lap but his work came just short of being converted into a stage win as he was finally caught shortly before the final climb. He tried to initiate the final rush for the line but Sebastian Langeveld attacked really hard and got past him already within the last kilometer of the stage. Jan Bakelants (Discovery) was trying to follow his tow as the two of them looked like being the strongest in the group. A bit behind, we could see Pierrick Fedrigo (Cofidis), Yuri Trofimov and Giampaolo Caruso (FDJ). Peter Sagan was supposed to be the favorite in this kind of finish but clearly did not have the legs to win today.
Sebastian Langeveld wins in Biot Sophia Antipolis! The Dutch pushed on in the climb and even though Jan Bakelants tried to get around him there was no stopping him to get his first win as a professional rider. It took him a long time but at 33 years of age he has tasted the win for the first time. Bakelants was 2nd but he crossed the line only narrowly ahead of Ben Hermans, with Pierrick Fedrigo and Giampaolo Caruso completing the top 5. It is interesting how very few riders attacked from the break and most thought that their best chance of a win was staying in the group and waiting for the final hill.
As the stage was finishing for the early break, there was a very important move in the peloton as a group of 12 riders managed to get clear of the bunch, including the leader, Lloyd Mondory, Maxim Iglinskiy and Dani Moreno (Euskaltel) among others. Crucially, Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) had not made it in the group and was trailing behind. Bjorn Leukemans (Lotto) was working for him but the gap to the group of the leader was 30 seconds as they entered the last kilometer. Maxim Iglinskiy was the first to try to snatch a few more seconds and attacked in the final climb.
Maxim Iglinskiy rolls through the line leading the group of the leader but he could not open any gaps between himself and the group of the leader. It was quite strange that it was his teammate Davide Rebellin closing the gap between him and the group. Both are in the podium of the GC at the end of today's stage but they should really work thinking about what the other is doing. Two Euskaltel riders were also in that group: Dani Moreno and Hubert Dupont. They are also tied in time with Iglinskiy so the podium is completely unclear ahead of the last stage of the Paris - Nice.
The biggest loser of the day was Jelle Vanendert. He was expected to put Lloyd Mondory under pressure and in the end, he lost time himself. He did not attack even once in the final circuit and the 31 seconds he lost meant that he dropped to the 6th position in the GC, just 1 second clear of Jonathan Hivert (Sky). Among those starting the day in the top 10, Mark Renshaw (BMC) and Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL) lost time as well. It is quite clear now that Renshaw was not a threat for the GC even if he had a very good start of the race.
