Shite, i accidentaly edited the stage 7 and saved changes, so now there is stage 8 instead of it.
And stage 7 is gone for good. I think that those of you who read about stage 7 are lucky, because i will not rewrite it, but hey, here is the final outcome of the race. Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 26-11-2012 19:53
Thanks guys and here it comes, judge yourself if it ended up any good.
Paris - Nice, stage8
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One big ramp from start to the finish, that is last stage of Paris-Nice and the decisive moment for the outcome of the whole race. Only the last kilometre is pretty flat, but before the riders get there, there are another more 8.8 kilometeres going straigh up. This is the slope, where the race can be won or lost. Tell that to Peter Sagan, who is coming to the days as the provisional GC leader, just seconds better than his big rivals Cancellara, Voeckler or Horner. As this course should suit climbers obviously, the latter two are the favourites for both the stage and the yellow jersey.
The weather is ideal today and in these nice climatic condition, the first serious leading time was set by B.Samoliau from Movistar. He handled the 9.8 km course in 19.58, 24 seconds faster than the previous provisional leader.
One of the best performances from the Liquigas team today, came from Italian climber Valerio Agnoli, who had good legs today and finished in 20.19. That was enough for 48th best time in the end of the day.
Few minutes later the best times from F.Schleck (19.17) and than Gesink (19.08!), who smashed the other earlier times and were looking for possible stage win.
Here is Moreno Moser from Liquigas (in white instead of rightful owner Sagan), who had perfect Paris-Nice, but not the last stage. The MTT was not obviously to his liking, or he had very bad day, because he droped today from place 5th to the final 19th spot, still good race for him.
Ag2r rider Nicolas Roche was named as one of the favourites for today and he pretty disappointed with 15th place. That was still enough for hime to move to the final 5th spot in general classification.
Here we pictured the national cycling hero Thomas Voeckler from Europcar, riding to the first checpoint. And he had 3rd best time behind Gesink and Schleck.
Right behind him, Chris Horner came just one place further, 3 seconds down on first check! These two were battling maybe for the overall win. The last three kilometeres and split check of Peter Sagan should decide the race! Cancellara was some 40 seconds slower than the best at the first split. Not overall for him.
And the yellow jersey has a bad day, or more likely this is not yet a terrain for his abilities. His gap to Gesink is more than a minute already on the check and he already lost several places in the GC. But look at how he is fighting with every remaining breath.Meanwhile Carrara jumped ahead of Roche in provisional overall battle thanks to 10th place at the finish.
But Horner was sprinting to the line, every second counts. And he is fourth with 19.32, one place behind Voeckler, who finished with 19.28, four seconds faster. That means Voeckler leads the GC with 3 seconds to Horner. Is he the Paris- Nice 2012 edition winner? What a drama!
And Voeckler really wins the whole race, as neither Cancellara 46th(20.18) or Sagan63rd(20.43) can do anything. Spartacus droped to 3rd overall and Peter Sagan is only 6th in the end, after 5 days in yellow. He will be both disappointed and happy with this race probably?
The comment of Avin, the journalist noob a.k.a Paris-Nice 2012 summary and results
We are at the end of exremely interesting 8stages long usual opener to big spring races. It was a race full of twists and interesting racing. We saw the break making it to the line, two stage wins of young Peter Sagan and the final battle between Horner and Voeckler. And to the liking of the home fans, experienced Voeckler can in the end celebrate the great win, one of his biggest ever.
Here he is cheering in the yellow jersey.
The race was also very successful for Team Liquigas-Cannondale, which entered the race with extremely young squad and still they worked as the team perfectly. Moreno Moser was super-domestique for Slovakian wonderkid and still managed to finish in top 20 himself and second best young rider behind his leader. And Sagan? well, he loose the GC on the slopes of Col d'Eze, but two stage wins, 5days in yellow, white and green jersey. Not bad for the 22 year old if i may comment it. We have this picture from green jersey ceremony. It looks like Peter is already asking that lady for the date, or is he whispering something else?
Thanks for the support, i also think the race was a success in the end, Peter earned many CQ points with his performance in France and showed, that everybody need to count with him even for week-long stage races with several hard climbs.
Now soon to the one of the main targets of this season and one of the biggest races of cycling called Milano - San Remo, preview and report coming this week for sure, so stay tunned.
Meanwhile there are interesting things happening in Italy (Tirreno), as Eros Capecchi was a part of the winning break in stage 4 to Chieti. This brutal 250kms long stage catapulted him to the 3rd place in GC and to the KOM jersey lead.
Vincenzo Nibali sits in top 20 before the last two stages, mountainous fifth to Prati di Tivo and final flat TT. The goal should be to finish in top 10 with both leaders, especially Vincenzo will try something in the mountains, to get his legs in shape for his goals MSR and April classics.
Milano - Sanremo is on of the biggest races in cycling, we can let Wikipedia do the talking, there is nothing much to add.
Milan – San Remo (Italian: Milano–Sanremo), "the Spring classic" ( "la classica di Primavera" ), is an annual cycle race between Milan and Sanremo. It is the longest professional one-day race at 298 km. The first was in 1907, when Lucien Petit-Breton won. Today it is one of the 'Monuments' of European cycling.
In the early years the main difficulty was the Passo del Turchino, but when cycling became more professional the climb was too far from the finish to be decisive. In 1960 the Poggio, a few kilometres before the finish, was introduced. In 1982 the Cipressa, near Imperia was added. The other hills are the 'capi', the Capo Mele,Capo Berta and Capo Cervo. From 2008 on the organisers added 'Le Manie' as well, between the Turchino and the 'capi'. The 'Turchino' and the 'Manie' are longer climbs, while 'capi', Cipressa and Poggio are rather short. The climbs are neither steep nor long for professional cyclists. As such, many sprinters are capable of keeping with the main peloton on these climbs, and therefore the race most often ends in a mass sprint.
Being the longest professional one-day race, Milan – San Remo is an unusual test of endurance early in the season. It is won often not by the fastest sprinter, but one best prepared early. The Cipressa and Poggio have foiled many sprinters who could not stay with the front group.
Startlist:
Spoiler
Race Favourites:
Only the strongest riders of the whole cycling business can call themselves favourites, coming to this monument. Strong flat riders with fast finish, plus several strong attackers specialized on longer races.
Team Liquigas - Cannondale came to the one of most important races in their homeland, with almost strongest squad possible. Although the plans for the race are somewhat disrupted by the unlucky injury for Daniel Oss, lime green coloured boys are ready. There are two main cards to play with.
Peter Sagan has the strong season so far with three wins and several other podiums. He certainly hopes, that year 2012 will be also the one for breakthrough in biggest cycling classics. He is the Liquigas man to finish the race in the sprint.
Meanwhile the other co-leader is Vincenzo Nibali, also with the perfect season so far (see the article about Tirreno-Adriatico below for details). He is one of the best punchers and also downhill riders in the field, thus his time can come at the Poggio. He can cover the moves, or pull his own.
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 29-11-2012 19:22
Great news for Team Liquigas - Cannondale came from Italy few days after the 6th place in Paris - Nice GC for Peter Sagan.
I made a mistake with last report about Tirreno - Adriatico, because it was three stages remaining, not two. And it was the hilly stage 6, which brought Vincenzo Nibali the decisive advantage. After the break making it to the finish at Prati di Tivo as first (stage 5 where Nibali finished 2nd best of the GC favourites as 9th), Tom Danielson and Stijn Devolder held a 2 minute advantage to Italian stage racer.
But Nibali was part of the late aggresive move in stage 6, which catapulted him to the commanding lead. 10 kms long TT on final day could not change anything on fact, that Vincenzo Nibali won one of the most important races for his team!
Eros Capecchi is also worth mentioning. After fantastic first half of the race, he worked hard for his leader in the second and fell to final 33rd spot in GC, also coming short for the KOM jersey. He lost it only by one point to Pavel Brutt from Katusha.
Overall the team was working great and this could be the big boost on the way to April classics.
Edited by Avin Wargunnson on 29-11-2012 19:21
Thanks guys, our sponsors are extremely happy so far, especially for that T-A win, shame we lost Oss there.
And nice prediction Ian, you will see today evening how close, or far you were, i already played it and i can spoil a bit with information, that two of our riders finished somewhere in top 10.
But before that, there will be second interview with Peter about his win at K-B-K and about Paris-Nice. It will come sometime today before the MSR report.
Two things to look forward to, then
Hope the result will be up before the site moves, because that's planned for between Friday and Saturday, but I don't know at what time
As some of you maybe remember, i promised the interview with Peter about his K-B-K win earlier, but it would have been too short, so now here comes the bigger one, with old and new questions mixed together. I had a chance to meet him personally this time, we were in one of the many lovely cofee bars in Milano, two days ahead of the start of Milano-Sanremo.
Interview #2 - KBK, Paris-Nice and Milano-Sanremo...
Part1 via phone - KBK
Avin:Hello Peter, how do you feel as the fresh winner of K-B-K, one of the famous early season cobbled classics? Terminator:Hi Avin, how i feel? Not very good, because of the weather in Belgium, i am worried i could get a flu there, but i will shake it off. But i suppose you want to know about the race? (noisy laughing)
A:Yeah, that would be nice of you, however all your fans care about your health too, of course. T:I am pleased to hear that. And of course i am very happy man now, because of that prestigious win. I was not at my best in Oman and OHN, but i was just getting myself into form and that came at K-B-K.
A:So can you tell us some details about the race, how it went from your point of view? T:Sure i can, but there is nothing much to talk about. I told my teammates before the race that i feel great and i will win, if they are going to help me. And that was what happened, they worked whole day and Daniel Oss brought me to the last kilometre in perfect position. Then i just jumped on wheel of "Big George" Hincapie and started my sprint a bit later. I never looked back and i knew i am the winner.
A:Great, it almost sound that it was easy for you. I see you are still that same lad i met in school, funny and ambitious.Thanks for your time Peter and good luck in your next races in March! T:I am glad to hear, that i remained the same, apart from people stopping me at the streets now (laugh). Have a nice day Avin...
Part2 via meeting: Paris - Nice and Milano-Sanremo
Avin:Peter, lets start with important question.
Is your cofee any good? Because i ordered espresso and they served me this funny little something (strange look on little cup). Terminator:Hahaha, i suppose you are in Italy for the first time? Because here in Italy, the espresso is a real small and killer one, you should ordered yourself a "caffe americano".
A:I see, but lets go to the point and that is your cycling. It is almost a week, since the Paris - Nice ended, how you see the race from your perspective? Slovak media and sport fans are becoming cycling focused, they are delighted with your showing in France. T:Really? That is nice, i am happy that such a beautiful sport is becoming popular back home thanks to my contribution. The race was extremely successful for me, with two stage wins and also green and white jersey. Shame i was not able to hold better GC position.
A:You are maybe two hard on yourself mate, you still finished 6th in the WT stage race,right? T:Yeah, that is true, but i ride to win and i was in yellow jersey for five consecutive days, so loosing it in final MTT was a bit cruel. On the other hand, i learned much in France and the last stage was really not my terrain. So you are right, i should be happy. (still, Peter looks a bit disappointed).
A:I hope you will not be angry on me, but i have to ask. I saw a picture from green jersey ceremony and it did look like you were talking with one of the podium girls? T:Haha (a minute long laugh...). I see you are becoming the real jurnalist Avin. But this is a secret, i promised that to Brigitte. Or it was Michelle?Oops… (another big laugh).
A:You are right, this is your personnal thing, i am sure you enjoyed your..ehm..reward. But there is no time to celebrate, right? As Milano-Sanremo is knocking on the door. What do you expect of it? T:A win? (big smile). I am just kidding, it would be perfect, i mean i am so happy that my carrer is going this way, to the worlds biggest races, with such a history. We should have a dual leadership with Vincenzo, i was told to relax and wait for the Poggio and possible sprint finish. So i will listen to my coach and will try to stay calm and focused. But that is never a problem for me.
A:Good to hear that, you can be sure that i will have my fingers crossed for you and i believe that is the case with whole Slovakia and rest of your fans across the globe. T:Thanks Avin, have a nice day following the race and say hello to all my fans for me. I will try not to disappoint single one of them. Buona giornata!
Paris - Nice, stage8 
Milano-Sanremo: Preview 
