The first 4 stages of this year’s Paris – Nice made for a gentle first act. But starting with stage 5 the much tougher second act gets underway. Today’s 170km stage from Sisteron to Vence appears suited to the punchier riders but is much tougher than stage 3. It features two short sharp climbs in the last 20 km as well as multiple short to mid-length climbs throughout the stage. There are 5 class 2 climbs and a class 1, so the KOM jersey will definitely be up to for grabs today.
The bookies appear unsure about the favorites with everyone from a punchy sprinter like Bar to to GC favorite Lecuisinier showing up in the top 10
We get an initial attack from 13 riders including 4 from Gazelle but that is too big a break and Zoidl shuts it down.
4 of those riders have second go at it, they are: Egger, Kruijswijk, McKenna, and Foss
Just behind them is Penko and 41 seconds behind him are Antonijevic and Iturria.
5 more riders bridge across to the last two and form a 7-man chasing group. The additions are: Budenieks, KOM leader Malecki, Hansen, Bevin, and Abreu.
With 140km to ride the two groups come together to form a 12-man break of the day. Their lead is 3.’01. Closest on GC is Abreu who is 25th 1’46 off the lead. Gazelle, Grieg, Puma and Swisslion all have 2 riders in the break.
At the sprint point with 135km to ride Kruijswijk, Malecki, and Bevin take the points.
By the time the break reaches the next obstacle, the Col de Luens, their lead is up to 4’16. The Col de Luens is a 5km climb with another category 2 KOM point at the top.
Then the peloton finds a new sense of urgency and by the time they are halfway up the Col de Luens the lead is down to 2’04. Generali and Duolingo among the team pushing.
Up front Iturria starts the attacks this time. Malecki again well placed.
But this time his timing isn’t quite as good and McKenna takes first despite the bush in his face.
The lead over the peloton is down to 1’34 and a few riders have been dropped from the pack. Soon after the pack eases off and with 80km to go the lead is back to about 2’20.
With 71km to go and the lead still in the 2’20 range the breakaway riders are 1.6km from the top of the next Cat 2. This time Bevin goes first.
Malecki counters and he and Bevin get a gap.
This time Malecki leaves no doubt and takes maximum points.
The full points are: Malecki 10 (40) Bevin 8 (10) McKenna 6 (16) Egger 4 (18) Kruijswijk 2 (10)
The group comes back on the descent except for Penko who has been dropped and is about 50 seconds back. The peloton is another 1’52 behind that.
With 51km to go the eBuddy led peloton catches Penko. The gap to the remaining 11 riders is 2’05.
In the break, 1.3km from the top of the next climb, Kruijswijk goes to the front for his teammate.
A very close contest at the line and Malecki only gets 3rd.
The results are Budenieks 10 (10) McKenna 8 (24) Malecki 6 (46) Iturria 4 (4) Abreu 2 (2)
And the other Swisslion rider, Antonijevic, has been dropped. He is 31 seconds behind over the top.
Anyone betting on Bar to win will be disappointed because he has been dropped by the peloton which is down to 129 riders.
After a short descent the breakaway has reached the bottom of the 5km climb to the Côte Dde Gourdon. They have 40km left in the stage and a 2’24 advantage over the peloton.
The peloton is now being led by Aegon and Generali. A 46 rider group including Carapaz and a lot of the 2nd tier mountain goats, riders like Teklehaimanot and Kirsch has been distanced reducing the peloton to 70 riders.
2km from the top Iturria attacks the break, this time Malecki is struggling. Antonijevic has not been able to rejoin.
But at the KOM Kruijswijk helps his teammate out by taking maximum points.
There is still a Category 1 KOM 7 km from the finish but Malecki’s lead is safe for today and he will wear the KOM tomorrow.
Abreu has been dropped from the break and they have 2’37 over the peloton. The next 25km are mostly downhill before the two finishing climbs.
Many of the dropped riders have been able to rejoin the peloton but Carapaz has not.
But forcing over the climb from Festina and Bennelong splits things up again and a front group of 48 gets a gap.
Most of the GC favorites are in the front group but Faglum Karlsson has been dropped meaning Alarcon is isolated. Alll 3 top King Power riders have also been dropped: Azman, Smith, and Teklehaimanot. Lower tier leaders like Vervaeke and Mamykin have also been dropped.
Under the 10km banner the break begins the penultimate climb of the Côte de la Colle Sur Loup. The 3.2km climb is followed by a quick descent, a sprint point and the final climb. The peloton led by Festina, eBuddy, Rakuten, UBS and Air France has cut their lead to 1’56.
With 1km to the top Iturria attacks. Malecki and Foss, who was attacking on the last flat section, have been dropped.
Iturria holds his attack and takes the Cat 1 climb ahead of Budenieks.
McKenna takes 4th for 8 points , he is 8 points behind Malecki in the KOM.
The lead is 1’49 with 6.7 km to go, the breakaway has a shot to win this.
Kruijswijk takes the sprint points and along with McKenna opens up a 21 second gap on the next 5. There is 5km to go about half uphill and then a few km flat to the finish.
3.5 km to go for the leaders. Kruijswijk and McKenna have 21 seconds on a group with Egger, Budenieks, Hansen and Bevin. Then 33 seconds to Iturria and Malecki (foreground).
The peloton are another 1’24 back. It is down to 37-riders, no further big names have been dropped. Budenieks started the day 1’09 behind in the young rider competition so he has a shot at that jersey.
A the peloton reaches 3.5 km to go they haven’t given up, Kennaugh chasing hard.
Up front Egger and Budenieks have dropped Hansen and Bevin and are closing on the front 2.
But as they reach the flat section with 2k to go Kruijswijk and McKenna stretch their lead back to 25 seconds. The Dutchman, who is the weaker sprinter of the two, has been doing all the work. With the time bonuses he has already earned, he needs 2’09 to take yellow and his lead is very close to that.
Behind the peloton has lost momentum as Kennaugh pulled off and it looks like the breakaway riders will take it. Impressive ride by the Green jersey, Coquard, who must be frustrated that they aren’t quite going to catch the breakaway.
1 km to go, Kruijswijk still pulling McKenna to the finish, the next group has closed it back to 17 seconds.
600 meters to go, Kruijswijk opens the sprint but McKenna is quickly along side him.
And McKenna wins it for Moser. Kruijswijk will be first loser but the gap could still be big enough for yellow, with the bonus seconds he now needs 1’57.
21 seconds later Budenieks outsprints Egger and for the final podium spot.
54 seconds behind the winner Bevin tears past Hansen in the final 200 meters to take 5th.
In our 4th one-on-one sprint Iturria beats Malecki for 7th. They are 1’22 down.
Finally, 1’52 behind McKenna, Groenewegen wins the field sprint for 9th ahead of Roglic. The green jersey was dropped in the final kilometers. Kruijswijk misses yellow by 5 seconds.
In the end the stage was not very selective and there were no changes in the green jersey. Although in the GC Kruijswijk takes 2nd and McKenna, moves up to 8th overall. They will be challenged to hold those places tomorrow.
Similarly Budenieks is likely only borrowing the white jersey, but for now he has 22 seconds over Malecki and 30 seconds over Novak. The Stage 5 breakaway riders feature prominently on the leader boards as Malecki also leads McKenna by 8 points and Kruijswijk by 14 points in the KOM competition. Budenieks helps Evonik expand their lead in the team competition to 4’27 over EA Vesuvio.
On the down side Faglum Karlsson loses 4’02 and Carapaz loses over 8 minutes so clearly Volvo putting their eggs in the Alarcon basket. All 3 of King Power’s top riders lost almost 7 minutes so they will be looking for breakaways from here on out.
Paris - Nice 
