Paris-Nice

Stage 1:  Saint-Arnoult-enpYvelines to Contres, 203.5km/126mi

By Cathy Mehl

It was a chaotic day in Paris-Nice with wind splitting the peloton apart and crashes marring the day.  The Shack’s Levi Leipheimer went down with under 25km to go, but was able to finish with a large group at 17-seconds off the winning time.  Barreling down the finishing straight with only fifteen riders left in contention, Team Sky’s Greg Henderson overtook Grega Bole (Lampre) to snatch the win in an exciting victory for the British team.  Third place went to Jeremy Galland of Saur-Sojasun.  After a strong showing in the prologue on Sunday, Lars Boom (Rabobank) kept his yellow jersey for another day and continues to lead in Paris-Nice.

After the race Leipheimer tweeted, “Stage 2 of Paris Stress.  I mean Nice was war!  Lots of crashes from fighting in the wind all day.  I had a crash in the final 25km, seem to be ok.” 

Another crash took out defending champion Alberto Contador (Astana) who quickly received a bike change from his teammate and then a tow from the Rabobank team car to salvage the stage by returning to the front chasing group.

The break of the day included Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil) and Albert Timmer (Skil-Shimano) who tallied up an advantage of five minutes.  Rabobank chased to protect the lead for Boom, and with 50km to go the peloton was all together.  As the catch was being made, the race changed direction and the wind immediately became a factor.  Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano) attacked and the peloton chased but crashes ensued and splits formed in the peloton.

Caisse d’Epargne drove the pace, hoping to gain time for Alejandro Valverde and their work paid off with a small selection arriving at the line, seventeen seconds in hand.

Tuesday’s Stage 2 is 201.5km/125mi from Contres to Limoges on a stage with three Cat. 3 climbs on the day as the race continues south toward Nice.

Top Ten Results

1        Gregory Henderson (NZl) Sky Professional Cycling Team     4:22:17        

2        Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre - Farnese Vini                

3        Jeremy Galland (Fra) Saur - Sojasun                     

4        Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team Katusha              

5        Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                   

6        Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale                 

7        Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank               

8        Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                 

9        Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia                     

10      Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas – Doimo

Team RadioShack Results

45      Jani Brajkovic (Slo)

93      Levi Leipheimer (USA) 0:00:17

102    Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra)

122    Tiago Machado (Por) 0:04:53

130    Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) 0:07:12

142    Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr)

170    Christopher Horner (USA)

General Classification after Stage 1

1        Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank  4:33:11        

2        Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank    0:00:05        

3        David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions   0:00:13        

4        Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne         0:00:14        

5        Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas - Doimo 0:00:15        

6        Gregory Henderson (NZl) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:00:20  

7        Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack          0:00:25        

8        Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana                   

9        Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas - Doimo           0:00:29        

10      Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervélo Test Team

Team RadioShack on General Classification

15      Jani Brajkovic (Slo) 0:00:35

 79     Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) 0:01:14

116    Tiago Machado (Por) 0:05:21

127    Christopher Horner (USA) 0:07:34 

133    Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) 0:07:47 

157    Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) 0:08:19 

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson