Station du Mont Serein Mont Ventoux
176 km
Thursday 13 March
Robert Gesink is the new Paris-Nice leader.
Sylvain Chavanel, the Paris-Nice leader at the start, finished 3:42 off the pace.
Top five placings in the 176-kms 4th stage of Paris-Nice between Montelimar and Mont Serein.
1. Cadel Evans (Aus, Silence Lotto)
2. Robert Gesink (Netherlands, Rabobank)
3. Rinaldo Nocentini (Italy, AG2R)
4. Davide Rebellin (Italy, Gerolsteiner)
5. Frank Schleck (Luxembourg, CSC)
Cadel Evans wins the 4th stage of Paris-Nice ahead of Robert Gesink.
Gesink was first at the top of the climb, one km from the finish.
Popovych is 30 secs behind the two leaders with 2 kms to go. Rebellin, Shcleck and Nocentini are five seconds furtehr adrift.
Evans and Gesink are two kms from the finish line.
Evans and Gesink are now the last two contenders with three kilometres to go. Popovych has been dropped.
Jens Voigt has been caught by three riders, Popovych, Evans and Gesink.
Behind Voigt, the strong men of this Paris-Nice are joining forces with 4 kms to go: Robert Gesink, Cadel Evans, Frank Schleck, Davide Rebellin and Yaroslav Popovych.
Robert Gesink surges at the front of the peloton. He is followed by Rebellin, Nocentini and Popovych.
Voigt at the 5kms mark. His lead remains stable: 1:40.
The chasing group are 1:40 behind Jens Voigt with six kms to go. Cahavanel is 15 seconds further back.
With 7kms to go, race leader Sylvain Chavanel is dropped. Maxime Monfort is waiting for his leader.
Three Quick Step riders have taken the reins of the peloton to help Spaniard Juan Manuel Garate, the team’s best climber.
Moreau and Anton keep beind dropped and coming back within the chasing bunch, who struggle to reduce the gap.
Davide Rebellin’s Gerolsteiner team-mates lead the chase, some 2:15 behind Jens Voigt.
Eisel and Terpstra have been caught in turn. Voigt maintains a 2:30 gap with the peloton.
Kuschynski has been caught by the chasing pack. Only Eisel and Terpstra are left between Voigt and the peloton.
Dropped at first, Christophe Moreau has fought his way back into the main chasing group.
Jens Voigt retains his 2:45 lead over the peloton with ten kilometres to go.
The main bunch, led by a Davide Rebellin team-mate, comprises some 35 riders. Among the other favourites to lose contact features Basque Igor Anton (Euskaltel).
Yellow jersey holder Sylvain Chavanel is at the back of the pack. He seems to be struggling. The peloton are 2:45 behind Jens Voigt.
The selection has started from the back. Moreau, Botcharov, Pineau among others have been dropped by the main pack.
Voigt now leads Eisel by one minute. Kuschynski is ten seconds further adrift.
Yaroslav Popovych (CSC) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) are tackling the climb in the front of the main pack. Both are serious contenders today.
Christophe Moreau leads the bunch in the beginning of the climb.
The peloton is 3:30 behind in Malaucene, at the bottom of the Ventoux.
Jens Voigt attacks from the foot of the climb and drops his breakaway companions. Kuschynski is the only one with enough strength left to chase the German veteran.
The leading riders are in Malaucene, at the bottom of the final climb to the Mont Serein. It is the first time a major cycling race finishes in the small ski resort on the northern flanks of the Ventoux.
The peloton are now speeding as the final climb is nearing. The break lost almost a minute in 7 kms.
Results at the top of the Cold de la Madeleine (km 154.5, 3rd cat)
1. Eisel 3 pts
2. Voigt 2 pts
3. Terpstra 1 pt
Km 150 - The gap has gone down to five minutes.
Results of the second intermediate sprint in Bedoin (km 147)
1. Kuschynski 3 secs and 3 points
2. Eisel 2 secs, 2 pts
3. Voigt 1 sec, 1 pt
The leading riders are now in Bedoin (km 147), host of a stage won by Joel Pelier in 1985. That day, the Frenchman took the overall leader’s white jersey.
Rabobank’s team chief Erik Dekker told www.letour.fr Robert Gesink had big ambitions today: “The strategy is very simple – go as fast as possible on the Ventoux. Gesink is in great shape, his first four days have been not far from perfect without any loss of time. He’s one of the favourites but he has never climbed the Ventoux, so we’ll see.â€
Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) and Tyler Farrar (Slipstream) have just crashed. Farrar is back on his bike while Kreuziger is on his feet, attended by race doctor Gerard Porte.
The average speed in the third hour of the race was 48 kph. The overall average speed so far is 43.6 kph. A strong tailwind is pushing the peloton towards the Ventoux.
Robert Gesink’s Rabobank and Sylvain Chavanel’s Cofidis lead the chase. The bunch is 5:40 behind the four escapees.
Results of the first intermediate sprint in Rasteau (km 108.5):
1. Kuschynski 3 pts, 3 secs bonus
2. Eisel 2 pts, 2 secs
3. Voigt 1 pt, 1 sec.
The leaders are now in Rasteau (km 108), a town which hosted two Paris-Nice stage finishes in 2004, won by Alexandre Vinokourov, and 2006, won by Tom Boonen.
The race enters the famous vineyards of the Cotes-du-Rhone, and will cross the villages of Cairanne, Seguret, Sablet, Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise, familiar to wine lovers.
Km 81: the peloton trails the four escapees by 7:15.
The four escapees - Eisel, Terpstra, Kuschynski and Voigt - are in the feeding area in Valreas (km 84). The town hosted a Paris-Nice stage in 1988, won by Soren Lilholt.
The average speed in the second hour of the race was 42.6 kph for an overall average speed of 41.35 kph. The peloton are pushed by a strong tailwind.
Results at the top of the Cote de Serre de Turc (km 62.5, 3rd cat):
1. Kuschynski 4 pts
2. Eisel 2 pts
3. Voigt 1 pt
Paris-Nice is a familiar race for Jens Voigt, one of the four men in the front. The German won the prologue in Issy-les-Moulineaux in 2005 and finished in the final top 10 four times, in 1999, 2002, 2004 and 2005.
Results at the top of the Cote de Bourdeaux (km 49.5, 3rd cat):
1. Voigt 4 pts
2. Eisel 2 pts
3. Kuschynski 1 pt
The gap at the bottom of the Cote de Bourdeaux (km 48) was 6:05.
Agritubel team chief Denis Leproux told www.letour.fr his leader Christophe Moreau had surprised him in yesterday’s stage and could try something again today on the Ventoux:
“He’s feeling better than he expected, better than we expected too. He was feeling pretty good yesterday and if he’s in the same shape today, he could do something on the Ventoux. He knows the climb well and has been up the Ventoux this side once before. It looks like the peloton are going to reach the bottom all together and then everything will depend on the day’s form.â€
The average speed in the first hour of the race was 40.1 kph.
Riders in the race per nation (only 23 nations left after Ireland’s Deignan quit):
France: 36 (38 at the start minus Fedrigo and Cherel)
Spain: 23 (27 at the start, minus Pereiro, Duran Aroca, Albizuri and Gomez Marchante)
Italy: 19 (20 at the start, minus Cioni)
Netherlands: 14 (15 at the start, minus Curvers)
Germany: 10 (12 minus Knees and Wagner)
Belgium: 11
U.S.: 8
Australia: 6
Russia: 4
Switzerland: 3
Austria and Ukraine: 2
Belarus, Denmark, Finland, Britain, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Norway, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia: 1
Spain’s Jose Benitez (Saunier Duval) is now chasing on his own behind the four-man break.?
Results at the top of the Cote de Puy St Martin (km 24, 3rd cat);
1. Eisel 4 pts
2. Voigt 2 pts
3. Terpstra 1 pt
Km 23 - The gap between the four escapees and the peloton climbs to 3:15.
The weather is forecast to be sunny all day on the race, with a temperature of 10 degrees on the finish line.
AG2R rider Stephane Goubert, the old man of the Paris-Nice peloton, will celebrate his 38th birthday on the slopes of the Ventoux. He started his professional career 14 years ago.
Jersey holders on the 4th stage:
Yellow jersey:
1. Sylvain Chavanel (France, Cofidis)
2. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spain, Caisse d’Epargne) 3 secs behind
3. Gorka Verdugo (Spain, Euskaltel) 8 secs
Green jersey:
1. Thor Hushovd (Norway, Credit Agricole) 69 pts
2. Gert Steegmans (Belgium, Quick Step) 51 pts
3. Karsten Kroon (Netherlands, CSC) 37 pts
Polka-dot jersey:
1. Clement Lhotellerie (France, Skil-Shimano) 34 points
2. Kjell Karlstrom (Finland, Liquigas) 19 pts
3. Thierry Hupond (France, Skil-Shimano) 15 pts
White jersey:
1. Luis Leon Sanchez
2. Robert Gesink (Nehterlands, Rabobank) 18 secs behind
3. Lhotellerie 1:50 behind
Km 20 - The gap between the four breakaways and the peloton goes up to 2:40 in Puy St Martin, at the foot of the first climb of the day.
Km 15 - The lead of the four escapees reaches 30 seconds.
Four men broke at kilometre 11 : Belarus Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), Austria’s Bernhard Eisel (High Road), Germany’s Jens Voigt (CSC), and Dutchman Niki Terpstra (Milram).
Cofidis team director Francis Van Londersele was confident Sylvain Chavanel would successfully defend his yellow jersey at the start of the 4th stage in Montelimar: "Sylvain is pretty well, he is relaxed. The yellow jersey was not our main goal on this Paris-Nice. Now we’re going to do everything to keep it. Sylvain can count on his team-mates and especially David Moncoutie and Maxime Monfort on the Ventoux.
"He worked differently in the winter with his physical trainer and it all clicked into place. He worked hard and stabilised at a personal level with the birth of his second child. As a result he had results straightaway in the Tour Mediterranean and the Het Volk, which took pressure off his shoulders.
"This first yellow jersey in his career proves he went up a gear. It’s also the result of all the hard work made by the Cofidis team in recent years," he told www.letour.fr
Ireland’s Philip Deignan (C.A) did not start.
The start was given at 11:52 to 149 riders.
Km 24 - Cote de Puy-St Martin (3rd cat)
Km 49.5 – Cote de Bourdeaux (3rd cat)
Km 62.5 – Cote de Serre de Turc (3rd cat)
Km 154.5 – Col de la Madeleine (3rd cat)
Km 175 – Mt Serein-Mt Ventoux (1st cat)
Km 108.5 – Rasteau
Km 147.5 – Bedoin.
There were three stage finishes on the Ventoux, at Chalet-Reynard. The stage winners were : 1984 – Eric Caritoux. 1986 – Eric Van Lancker. 1987 – Sean Kelly.
The roadside on the finish line is covered with snow, but the weather is splendid. It should be a beautiful and spectacular finale.
French sports minister Bernard Laporte will be on the race today and will congratulate the winner on the finish line at the Mt Serein ski resort.
Welcome on the 176-km 4th stage of Paris-Nice between Montelimar and Mt Serein. With the last climb on the northern side of the Ventoux, this should be the decisive stage in this Paris-Nice...
