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La Montagne de Lure
182.5 km
Friday 13 March
Yellow jersey holder Chavanel finished 1:50 off the pace.
Franck Schleck was second, 58 seconds behind, with Luis Leon Sanchez third in the same time.
ALberto Contador (Astana) wins the 182.5-kms 6th stage.
Chavanel is 1:45 adrift with 1 km to go.
Under the red flame, Contador led Frank Schleck and Luis Leon Sanchez by one minute.
Yellow jersey holder Chavanel has been dropped by Jens Voigt, Kevin Seeldrayers and Nikki Sorensen. The Frenchman is in pain.
Contador is 2 kms from the finish line.
With three kms to go, Contador leads with
45 secs on Schleck and Luis Leon Sanchez
50 secs on Moncoutie
1:00 on the Cadel Evans group
1:05 on the Chavanel group.
Contador speeds towards the finish line with a 35 seconds lead over a group including Calde Evans, Samuel Sanchez, Frank Schleck, Luis Leon Sanchez and David Moncoutie.
Contador now leads Colom and Schleck by 24 seconds, the Cadel Evans group by 35 seconds and the Chavanel group by 45 seconds.
Chavanel tries to limit the damage by keeping a steday pace. He sticks his tongue out in pain.
With 6 kms to go, Contador has gone.
Chavanel is still in the main pack which does not lose too much ground on the three leaders.
Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez (Euskatel) surges in turn to try and join the leading trio.
Antonio Colom (Katusha) has joined Contador and Schleck in the lead.
Contador and Schleck catch Voigt. Three men in the lead with 7 kms to go.
Chavanel is struggling with 8 kms to go.
David Lopez Garcia (Caisse d’Epargne) attacked, followed by Contador and Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank).
Contador replied to a move by Vladimir Efimkin and took the lead in the peloton.
Voigt is speeding in his usual determined fashion and now leads the main pack by 20 seconds.
With 10 kms to go, Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), second overall, six seconds behind Chavanel, has lost touch with the leading group. David Millar has also been dropped.
Yaroslav Popovych (Astana) is increasing the pace at the front of the peloton with Contador in his wheel.
Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) has surged with 11 kms to go.
Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R), second in Paris-Nice last year, has been dropped.
Euskaltel still lead the peloton at a steady pace with the Astana on their heels.
As the road goes up, Flecha, third overall at the start, loses ground.
The peloton are back on Joly with 12 kms to go
Euskaltel are now in command at the front of the bunch.
At the foot of the climb, a few riders are dropped like Sebastien Auge or Samuel Dumoulin (both Cofidis).
Sebastien Joly (FDJeux) attacks as the race enters St Etienne-les-Orgues.
Tony Martin has been dropped at the back of the bunch.
With 20 kms to go, the Astana lead a packed peloton.
1. Martin 4 pts
2. Alexandre Botcharov (Katusha)
3. Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne)
Polka-dot jersey holder Tony Martin (Columbia) attacks to collect points in the penultimate climb of the day, the Cote des Mourres.
Result of the sprint in Forcalquier (km 155.5)
1. Feillu 3 secs 3 points.
2. Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo) 2 points
3. Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre) 1 pt
Feillu is the last escapee to insist. All his former breakaway companions have been caught in Forcalquier.
Riblon, Aramendia, Feillu and Lemoine are now left in the lead as their four companions have been caught by the bunch with 30 kms to go.
Km 150 - Only 28 seconds left. The break looks doomed.
Km 144 - The lead of the eight escapees stable at around one minute.
Results at the top of the Col de la Mort d’Imbert (km 141, 3rd cat)
1. Delage
2. Perez
3. Lemoine.
The peloton 55 secs behind
Km 137 - The gap down to 1:10 in the Col de la Mort d’Imbert.
The eight leading riders are in Manosque.
The Race to the Sun has stopped in Manosque ten times in the past. The first winner in 1955 was A. Buchonnet and the last was Urkaine’s Yaroslav Popovych in 2007.
Km 129 - The peloton reached the top of the climb 2:05 behind the eight.
Results on the Cote de St Martin-les-Eaux (km 129, 3rd cat) :
1. Delage 4 pts
2. Terpstra 2
3. Turgot 1
The average speed in the third hour of the stage is 46.5 kph (40.9 kph overall)
Km 120 - Astana have taken over from Team Columbia at the front of the peloton.
The gap between the eight escapees and the peloton is going up again (2:45) as the Columbia have given up the chase folowing Roy’s return in the main pack.
Km 110 - Perez has been droppped by the leading group and his team-mate Aramendia is waiting for him.
Roy has been dropped by the leading group and is now caught by the peloton.
Km 105 - Sensing that the break was losing momentum and cohesion, Lemoine and Aramendia have gone.
Team Columbia-High Road are leading the chase to defend Tony Martin’s polka-dot jersey. The lead keeps going down and is now 1:25.
BBox Bouygues Telecom team chief Jean-Rene Bernaudeau told www.letour.fr that Thomas Voeckler had received surgery in hospital in Orange for "a bad collarbone fracture".
Sebastien Chavanel (FD Jeux) has also taken advantage of the feeding zone to bid farewell to the race.
Jose Luis Arrieta (AG2R), involved in a crash in the second stage, has given up in the feeding zone.
The gap goes down to 2:15 as the race enters the Alpes de Haute Provence department (km 81)
Results at the top of the Cote des Ferrassieres (2nd cat, km 78)
1. Roy 7
2. Perez 5
3. Lemoine 3
4. Delage 2
5. Riblon 1
Peloton 2:50 behind.
The average speed in the second hour of the race was 32.6 kph (38.1 kph overall).
Simon Spilak (Lampre) has called it quits.
In the climb of the Cote de Ferrassieres (km 75) the gap has gone down to three minutes.
Results at the top of the Cote du Pas-du-Ventoux (2nd cat, km 51.5)
1. Roy 7 pts
2. Delage 5
3. Lemoine 3
4. Perez 2
5. Feillu 1
Results at the top of the Cote du Pas-du-Ventoux (2nd cat, km 51.5)
1. Roy 7 pts
2. Delage 5
3. Lemoine 3
4. Perez 2
5. Feillu 1
Km 48 - The lead of the nine-man break keeps diminishing: 4:20.
The nine escapees are climbing the Pas du Ventoux (2nd cat)and eye the famous Mont that the Tour de France will tackle on July 25.
Km 45 - The lead of the break goes down to 5:45 on a peloton led by the Astana team-mates of Alberto Contador.
France’s Cyril Lemoine (Skil Shimano)is the best placed rider overall in the leading group. He is 4:03 seconds behind Sylvain Chavanel.
The average speed in the first hour of the stage was 43.6 kph.
Thomas Voeckler has been taken to hospital in Orange for checks.
Km 30 - The gap between the breakaway and the main pack reaches 6:25.
Km 33 - Roy has caught the break. Nine men are in the lead.
Roy (FDJ) is still chasing, 45 seconds behind the bunch.
Result of the first bonus sprint in Rasteau (km 24.5)
1. Riblon 3 seconds and 3 points
2. Terpsrta 2
3. Delage 1
Km 20 - Mickael Delage (Silence Lotto), Javier Aramendia (Euskaltel), Romain Feillu (Agritubel), Niki Terpstra (Milram) and Cyril Lemoine (Skil Shimano) have been caught by Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Alan Perez (Euskaltel) and Sebastien Turgot (BBox Bouygues Telecom).
Jeremy Roy (FDJeux) is chasing.
The peloton is 2:20 adrift.
Local newspaper La Provence carries an interview with Frenchman Julien El Fare, winner of Tirreno-Adriatico’s first stage and its current leader, who lives in the area and gives his views about the Montagne de Lure, on which he trains frequently: “The road is rugged and demanding, it doesn’t give you any break. But it’s much better this side than on the other,” he said.
But El Fares said that, though grueling, the climb does not favour attacks because the roads are wide and reasonably straight: “Lure does not look like a real mountain pass and it’s hard mentally for escapees because they remain within sight of the riders chasing behind. Because of the long straight lines, the winner should ride at more than 22 kph,” he said.
El Fares forecast that the favourites would attack “from the start of the climb”.
In l’Equipe, Manuel Martinez reminds that Alberto Contador and yellow jersey holder Sylvain Chavanel have been in a similar situation before, “on an almost identical course”/
“It was on September 6, 2008, in the 7th stage of the Tour of Spain which finished at the top of the Rabassa in Andorra. A climb of 13.6 kms with a similar average of 6.6 percent. That day, Alberto Contador beat Chavanel by… 36 seconds”.
Voeckler has given up after his crash. His collarbone seeems hurt.
The 5th stage winner, Jeremy Roy (FDJeux) has broken with the peloton. He chases behind the break.
Thomas Voeckler has crashed at the back of the pack.
Km 13 - Five riders have parted comany with the peloton. They are Mickael Delage (Silence Lotto), Javier Aramendia (Euskaltel), Romain Feillu (Agritubel), Niki Terspra (Milram) and Cyril Lemoine (Skil Shimano).
Some 25 seconds behind are three chasers, Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Alan Perez (Euskaltel) and Sebastien Turgot (BBox Bouygues)
The main pack is 55 seconds behind.
The yellow jersey remains on Sylvain Chavanel’s back at the start of the stage seen as the decisive one in this Paris-Nice. The Quick Step team leader leads Spain’s Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank) by six seconds while Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) and favourite Alberto Contador (Astana) are 36 seconds adrift.
Italy’s Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre) retained his points classification green jersey but Germany’s Heinrich Haussler, winner of the peloton’s sprint yesterday, is on his heels, just two points behind.
The best climber’s polka-dot jersey changed hands and is now worn by German Tony Martin (Columbia), who collected 43 points on the seven hills of the 5th stage. Martin has made a big difference, with a 14 points lead over France’s Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues).
Belgium’s Kevin Seeldrayers (Quick Step) still hold the best young rider’s white jersey.
The team classification is still led by the Rabobank.
Km 51.5: Cote du Pas du Ventoux (2nd cat)
Km 78 : Cote de Ferrassieres (2nd cat)
Km 129 : Cote de St Martin des Eaux (3rd cat)
Km 141 : Col de la Mort d’Imbert (3rd cat)
Km 182.5 : Montagne de Lure (1st cat)
Km 24.5: Rasteau.
Km 155.5: Forcalquier.
The weather at the start is sunny (17 degrees) but windy, which could have an impact on the stage.
The start was given to 147 riders at 11:32.Jelle Vanendert (Silence Lotto) did not start.
Welcome on the 182.5-kms 6th stage of Paris-Nice between St Paul-Trois Chateaux and Montagne de Lure. This is widely seen as the decisive stage in this edition with the last climb taking the peloton at an altitude of 1,600 metres.
