HTC-Highroad has signed one of the nice surprises from last season, Chris Froome. The British will help Pieter Weening in his bid for this year's Giro and will be given freedom to fight for races like Paris-Nice or Pais Vasco.
Another Dutch that leaves the Euskaltel team is Bauke Mollema. The rider was able to win a stage in the last Vuelta and will be joining Vacansoleil. Mollema is rumored to have signed a 1 year contract worth more than 300.000 euros.
Daniel Martin will be leaving the Garmin team at the end of the season and moving to Lotto-Belisol. The main task of the Irish will probably be helping Jelle Vanendert in the mountains, but he could have some free races for himself.
The Swiss Oliver Zaugg has announced in a press conference that he has reached an agreement with BMC Racing to extend his current contract. Zaugg won the white jersey last year in the Tour Down Under, but will be setting himself higher targets this year.
The race to the sun is usually the first good test for Grand Tour riders in the season, along with the Tirreno – Adriatico. This year’s route has a fairly long time trial that could bias the result more towards the experts in this discipline. The toughest mountain stage will be the fifth, when the riders will have to climb the Col de la Mure before the finish in Vernoux-en-Vivarais.
Favorites:
- Pieter Weening (HTC): Weening was one of the surprises last year, as the Dutch was able to grab the second spot in the podium of the Vuelta after winning the Tour de Romandie. The Dutch will need to gain time in the mountains, as the ling time trial could weigh on his chances for a win.
- Levi Leipheimer (Discovery): Leipheimer has progressed a lot in the winter and is ready to contend for his first major win. The long time trial will benefit the chances of the American, who will mostly suffer a bit in the mountains.
- Jean-Christophe Peraud (Radioshack): The Leopard team has been converted to Radioshack, but many of the faces leading the team are well known. Peraud will be on home soil, so he will get the bonus of home racing.
- Jelle Vanendert (Lotto): Vanendert ended last season with a great Vuelta, three stages, fourth overall and winner of the mountains and points classifications. If he is in good shape in the start of the season he can be very dangerous.
The Paris – Nice starts flat as a pancake. The organizers have substituted the usual prologue with a longer time trial later in the race. This leaves the sprinters with a great chance to grab the first win of the season in this circuit around the town of Houdan.
The fight to get into the break was hard today; it looks like many riders are keen to start the season in a good way. The peloton, especially Saxo Bank and Garmin, wouldn’t let a big group go away and pulled back 3 break tries. In the end, a group of 10 riders settled ahead after the mountain sprint, including Giovanni Visconti, Alessandro Ballan, Philippe Gilbert and David Millar. They had 4’ 30’’ on the pack in the first intermediate sprint.
Gilbert was the last man of the break to be chased down by the peloton. However, the work of the peloton wasn’t easy with the wind blowing through the flat terrain. 20 kilometers earlier it was announced that Chris Froome had had to abandon the rave. The British suffered a fall that wouldn’t let him continue. This is a big hit for HTC, as Froome was probably the best domestique for Weening in the mountains.
The stage was meant for a mass sprint and it delivered. The new Lampre rider, John Degenkolb, was the first to start sprinting but was getting caught by Francisco Ventoso, Alexandre Vinokourov and Tom Boonen. The main favorite, Farrar, was bad positioned and only his head can be seen in the picture above.
Alexandre Vinokourov wins in Houdan! The Kazakh recovered nicely and hold Peter Sagan behind, who takes second. Right behind came Francisco Ventoso to grab the third. Overall, a very much disputed sprint finish. It looks that the playing field has leveled up a bit, but still Vinokourov has been too much for the rising stars of sprinting.
Vinokourov holds the leaders jersey now and, better than that, 10 seconds on Tyler Farrar. This means the Kazakh could hold the yellow for the next 2 or 3 stages as there are not many mountains ahead.
The second stage takes us south from the outskirts of Paris. This part of France is as flat as it gets, so it will be difficult to avoid a mass sprint in Amilly. Saxo Bank has the best sprint duo on Goss and Farrar, but yesterday they failed to make it count.
The break had it easier at the start of the stage and a big group was soon set up. The group of 12 riders included some good riders like Beñat Intxausti and Alberto Contador, but also the likes of Daniele Bennati, Tom Boonen and Fabian Cancellara. The understanding was very good in front and they had 6’ 30’’ on the pack with 100 km to go.
Back in the peloton only Garmin seemed interested in following and that meant that the rhythm wasn’t that good. The chances of the break were increasing with every kilometer, as the difference was as big as 3’ 15’’ with 30 km to go.
Other teams like Saxo Bank and Liquigas realized that the break was going to be successful, so they started collaborating with Garmin. That meant that the peloton was closing in fast. Alexander Kristoff tried a desperate attack with 6 to go, but it was going to be hard with the peloton that close.
Kristoff was eventually caught with 3 kilometers to go, when the sprint trains were in full shape. Matthew Goss did a perfect job of taking Tyler Farrar in the best possible position. Vinokourov took Farrar’s wheel, but was going to need a lot of strength to catch up. Far behind Bart de Clerq and Matthew Goss followed halfway through the sprint.
Tyler Farrar wins in Amilly! A very dominant sprint won by the American, who never felt the pressure of Vinokourov behind him. If the Saxo Bank team can prepare the sprints as they did today it is going to be very difficult to stop Farrar. Jacob Fuglsang ended the sprint very strong to finish third ahead of Bart de Clerq.
Alexandre Vinokourov has been able to retain both the yellow and green jerseys ahead of tomorrow's stage. It will be a little bit harder tomorrow, as the small Cote de Becoup can upset the main sprinters.
Another rather long stage awaits the riders today. A mass sprint finish is the most probable outcome again, but the small Cote de Becoup may upset some of the sprinters, as its 5 km averaging more than 5% could prove tough if the pace is high.
A break of 5 riders soon took shape, while the peloton was taking things easy in this start of the stage. Romain Feillu (Euskaltel) won the first intermediate sprint, ahead of Kenny Van Hummel, Davide Rebellin, Ron Ruijgh and Simon Gerrans. They were already 7' 55'' ahead of the peloton by that time.
Team Garmin wasn't keen on letting the break steal the yellow jersey from Vinokourov, so they started chasing soon enough with some sporadic help from Juanjo Cobo (Saxo Bank). They went through the second intermediate sprint in Essey with a deficit of 1' 55'' on the break.
The break was eventually reeled back in while climbing the Cote de Becoup. Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep) was the first at the top, but Michael Albasini was aware enough not to lose the mountain's jersey. It was all downhill towards the finish now.
The Lotto train was the best today, with Rojas leading Andre Greipel in the final straight. However, the German soon run out of fuel and entering the last kilometer Tyler Farrar was already in front ahead of Peter Sagan, Sylvain Chavanel and Andre Greipel.
Peter Sagan wins in Nuits-Saint-Georges! The Slovak goes easily past the American, who didn't seem to have his best day today to win by a good margin ahead of Sylvain Chavanel. This gives Vacansoleil its first win of its short history.
This win gives Sagan the second place in the overall classification tied with Alexandre Vinokourov, while Tyler Farrar is now third 2 seconds behind. The challenge will be higher tomorrow for the sprinters, as the profile of the stage is quite hilly, but someone like Vinokourov may go through the hills.
The Paris Nice starts to get interesting in this fourth stage. Even though not much from the top candidates is expected, but even if the sprinters can go through all the hills they might be a little bit worn out for the final sprint. It is difficult for an attack in the last climb (Col de Fontmartin) to succeed, as there are 35 km from its top to the finish.
The break of the day had already taken shape by the second climb of the day, the Cote des Propieres. A group of 11 riders was led by Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha) over the top. Other important names in the break were Jose Joaquin Rojas, Alessandro Ballan, Yauheni Hutarovich and Rigoberto Uran. They had 5’ 50’’ on the peloton at that time.
The mountain jersey, Michael Albasini (BMC), was also in the break. He attacked from the base of the next climb (Ecorbans) to pick the mountain points. He had 25’’ on Uran and Ballan, 1’ 05’’ on the other part of the break and 8’ 05’’ on the peloton.
HTC, Garmin and Lampre were the teams most interested in chasing down the break, and they started to do so in the flat central part of the stage. In the Cote de Regnie Durette, 60 km to the finish, the peloton was losing 4’ 10’’, so they seemed to have everything under control.
The pace of the pack wasn’t that good on the last two climbs of the day, as the break still held 2’ 50’’ on the top of the Col de Fontmartin. Saxo Bank and HTC were now chasing and they had 35 km to reel them back in.
The chase by the pack wasn’t successful though and with 10 kilometers to go Tom Danielson (Garmin) attacked from the break. The former World Champion soon opened a small gap of 20 seconds, while the peloton was 2’ 10’’ behind.
The small misunderstanding between the other riders in the break meant that Danielson had 35’’ on them with 3 kilometers to go. The American was on his way to the first win since the 2009 World Championship.
Tom Danielson wins in Belleville! The Garmin rider completes a very long break to win the first hilly stage on the Paris Nice. This is the second stage win for Garmin, after Vinokourov’s win in the first stage.
Jose Joaquin Rojas (Lotto) takes the second place ahead of Ballan and Van Summeren. All of them lose 27 seconds on Danielson. That means that the American is the new yellow jersey of the Paris Nice. The peloton is led by Alexandre Vinokourov, 1’ 24’’ behind the winner.
The GC is now led by Tom Danielson, with 30 seconds on Alessandro Ballan (Liquigas), 31’’ on Jose Joaquin Rojas and 33’’ on Thibaut Pinot. Among the favorites, all of them are losing 1’ 34’’. The mountain jersey had a big fight today between Albasini and Nocentini, with the Swiss keeping the jersey by just 2 points.
The most decisive stage along with the time trial arrives in the fifth day of racing. The first part of the stage is pretty tough, with the climb to the Col de la Croix Chaubouret, 10.5 km averaging 6.6%. After that, the stage is easy, with only a central part of two climb around Vernoux-en-Vivarais. The crucial part of the stage arrives with the climb to the Col de la Mure, only 8 kilometers away from the finish. This is a real climber’s mountain, with 8.1 km averaging 7.8%. The top favorites should play a big role in today’s stage.
A surprising break took shape today, as most of the sprinters went ahead at the sprint in the base of the Col de la Croix Chaubouret. Alexandre Vinokourov (Garmin) was the first in the top of the 10.5 km, 6.6% climb. He had 25 seconds on Farrar and Fuglsang, 45’’ on the other sprinters and 4’ 50’’ on the pack.
The group of 10 riders consolidated in front, and even Lars Boom (Saxo Bank) was able to bridge the gap. Vinokourov won the second intermediate sprint, where the Col de Motreynaud starts (8km, 4.8%). The pack never looked interested in following and they went through the sprint 6 minutes behind.
Movistar, Garmin and Liquigas tried to chase the break down, but they were still losing 4’ 30’’ at the Col de Comberon, the last climb before the Col de la Mure.
The group of sprinters, that also includes other names like Janez Brajkovic (Discovery), Sylvain Chavanel or Lars Boom, starts the last climb with 3 minutes on the pack. The climbers will have to do great to catch them.
The favorites for the GC weren’t in a rush, as they waited until the last 2.5 km of the climb to attack. Xavi Tondo was the first to do so, when they were losing 2 minutes on the break.
Francisco Ventoso (Euskaltel) crossed the mountain sprint with a small gap on the disorganized group of escapes. Behind them, Xavi Tondo, Pieter Weening and Laurens Ten Dam were the strongest followers.
The descent was really short and the last kilometers towards Vernoux-en-Vivarais are slightly uphill, what will make some riders suffer. As Ventoso has 4 km left he has 10’’ on Sagan and Chavanel and 20’’ on Brajkovic and Kennaugh. The first favorites are Tondo and Weening, 1’ 20’’ behind.
The first five joined before the last kilometer. Once the sprint started Janez Brajkovic (Discovery) looked the strongest. Behind him, only Chavanel tried to follow.
Janez Brajkovic wins in Vernoux-en-Vivarais! The Slovenian comfortably won the sprint ahead of the four other riders that remained from the initial breakaway. The yellow jersey will go to Peter Sagan, as the Vacansoleil rider had accumulated a lot of bonus seconds in the previous stages.
Pieter Weening (HTC) and Xavi Tondo (Euskaltel) both cross the line 1’ 24’’ behind the winner. They are the first among the favorites, but it will be very hard for them to regain their loss. They end the stage in the 11th position overall, 1’ 43’’ behind. Rolland and Peraud were the following riders from those that came in the bunch, 1’ 58’’ behind.
All in all, this was the strangest stage I have seen since I started writing this story. When in the first intermediate sprint the riders sprinted for the points, they were waiting for the bunch to catch them. Somehow, the pack just decreased a lot the pace and let them take a big advantage. Besides, the men in the break were never collaborating. We will see if some of them pay today’s effort, as Vinokourov spent his entire green bar today.
Worse than that, he is the best of the riders in the break for the following stages. It looks like he will win the whole race.
sutty68 wrote:
It's really close on the GC at the moment
The Paris Nice doesn't have the toughest mountain stages, so it's normal when they are all in a few seconds. Tony Martin won the race last year by 36 seconds and all the difference was made in the time trial
The Paris Nice has a quite long time trial this year. The 27 kilometer test should make some differences between the specialists and the rest of the field. However, only the first 18 km are purely for time trialists, as in the last part of the stage there is a tough hill with percentages up to 7.5%.
Samuel Sanchez (Saxo Bank) was the first favorite for the stage win to hit the road. He was playing no part in the GC, as he was already losing more than 4 minutes. He easily beat the best time so far with a 39’ 05’’, 16 seconds better than Pinotti.
The next rider was Levi Leipheimer (Discovery). The American has progressed a lot during the winter in his TT abilities and was improving Sanchez’s time in the intermediate by 3 seconds. He hadn’t a good time in the hill, but in the end he crossed the finish line 1st, 2 seconds ahead of the Spaniard.
Thor Hushovd (Garmin) should be doing well in the time trial, but the Norwegian didn’t have a good performance today. He crossed the line 7th, 21 seconds behind Leipheimer, when many strong riders had to run yet.
Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) was able to match Leipheimer’s time in the intermediate point. His better hill abilities let him improve the time of the American in the finish line by only 4 seconds: 38’ 59’’. Not many riders who could improve the Belgian time remained in the road.
The last of the candidates for the stage win was Rigoberto Uran (Sky). However, the Colombian never looked dangerous and crossed the line in the 10th place, 21 seconds behind. Even though it was not a great time trial for him, he would move up the GC for sure.
Peter Kennaugh (Sky) started the stage fifth, 19 seconds back. However, time trialing is not one of his best abilities and he ended up losing 45 seconds in the finish with Vanendert. He was 47th when he crossed the line.
Francisco Ventoso (Euskaltel) was the next up. The time trial is not his strength and he couldn’t even improve Kennaugh’s time. He ended 52nd, 46 seconds behind.
Janez Brajkovic (Discovery) was very grateful that the time trial included a hill. The Slovenian was 21st in the first intermediate and improved to 19th at the finish only 29’’ behind Vanendert. Considering his main rivals, this gave him a shot to get the yellow.
The second in the GC is Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep). The French was already losing 3 seconds with Brajkovic in the intermediate, so he was tied with the Slovenian. The deficit increased in the second part of the stage as he finished 30th, 35 seconds behind.
Peter Sagan (Vacansoleil) was going to suffer to defend his yellow jersey. The Slovenian suffered all the way but was able to keep the yellow by 1 second! He was 35th in the stage 37 seconds behind.
This leaves the GC very packed ahead of the last two stages. The last one will probably allow for a small change in the GC, as the Col d’Eze is very close to the finish line in Nice.
