Welcome to a short coverage of the first stage of this years Paris - Nice, where will go out in a 3 km long Prologue. The biggest gaps won't appear today and the GC fight is set on hold here for the start. We do a GC prospect going for the win today and is the clear favorite to this stage. So if it all pans out the winner might be the future GC winner of the race. All we know for now is that we should start to see off this years lineup!
Emillien Viennet sets the time to beat for today with a 3'45 time and he has specifically decided to start as one of the first to set his claim on the stage victory. We shall see if this is enough to win!
Gabriel Chavanne is one of the favorites and has to be disappointed with losing the best time by 1 second. Showing that the French has set a strong pace for today
A few others have missed the best time :
Wen Hao Li +3 Rasmus Sterobo +4
Luke Durbridge doesn't seem like the man he once were and comes in at a provisional 5th best time missing the best time by a whole of 4 seconds. He really needs to up his game!
Lasse Norman Hansen seems to have one of those days we see in every Time Trial and gets really close to beating the best time. He has to be satisfied with a current 2nd provisional place by missing the best time with around a second!
Timofey Kritskiy will be part of the hunt for a GC place in the Top 5 and introduce himself with missing the best time by 4 seconds. The French seem to have upped the pace here on home soil and is looking to make the French proud.
Martjin Keizer is both GC competitor and the top favorite for today, but he has to please the French more by also missing the best time by 1 second! It seems like it is home for the Frenchmen. At least Keizer got a small second lead to the others and can take the lead when the Mountains come with better ease than others.
Rein Taaramäe is set to be the big surprise by several bookmakers and by losing 4 seconds only to the best time, he has a good backdrop for this race so far.
Robert Gesink is the final competitor to Viennet today and pleased is it to say, that the home crowd has a French winner, with Gesink missing it by 4 seconds! So a good start for our French riders here and they will hope Lecuisinier can up his game!
