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Contres
201.5 km
Monday 8 March
Top thrre placings in the first stage:
1. Gregory Henderson (Nzl, Sky)
2. Grega Bole (Slo, Lampre)
3. Jeremy Galland Fra, Saur Sojasun)
New Zealand’s Gregory Henderson (Sky) wins the first stage.
Tony Martin attacks in the last kilometre.
Contador is back in the group chasing behind the 17 leaders.
Alberto Contador crashed at the 3-km mark.
The 17 riders in the front lead the Contador group by 30 seconds with five kilometres to go.
The leading group includes the following 17 riders: Valverde, Luis Leon Sanchez, Garcia Acosta, Guttierez, Voigt, Tony Martin, Kreuziger, Boom, Roche, Millar, Bole, Ivanov, Kolobnev, Henderson, Marcato, Galland, Lemoine.
With 10 kms to go, ten men, involving four Caisse d’Epargne riders, the yellow jersey, Lars Boom, Jens Voigt and Nicolas Roche are leading the race.
Four Caisse d’Epargne riders, including Alejandro Valverde, attack at the front of the peloton. Lars Boom surged to hit back.
With 16 kms to go, Gilbert and Veelers are caught by the main bunch.
The race is extremely jittery and the peloton is split in seven little bunches. The leading favourites are all in the leading group behind Gilbert and Veelers.
The peloton is now only 15 seconds behind Gilbert and Veelers with 20 kms left in the stage.
France’s Pierre Rolland is struggling at the back after being hurt in the latest crash.
While Astana, Rabobank and Caisse d’Epargne lead the bunch, some 30 riders have lost ground, including four RadioShack men, probably tired after helping Leipheimer back after a crash.
25 kms to go and the gap between Gilbert, Veelers and the peloton is now 43 seconds.
Leipheimer, helped by his RadioShack team-mates, as well as former Giro winner Damiano Cunego, are now back in the peloton after being held by the latest crash.
Km 173 - The Rabobank and Astana lead the chase behind Gilbert and Veelers and the gap is now down to 35 seconds.
Levi Lepheimer (RadioShack) is one of several riders held by a crash at the back of the peloton. The pile-up involved some 30 riders but everybody was back on their bike.
Km 166 - Gilbert and Veelers now lead the peloton by 55 seconds.
Oddly enough, Tom Veelers know the area well. He won a stage of the Tour du Loir-et-Cher in Blois in 2005.
Km 165 - The gap between Gilbert, Veelers and the peloton is now 40 seconds.
Chris Horner (RadioShack) and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) were among the riders held by the crash. They’re making their way back into the peloton.
Philippe Gilbert and Tom Veelers attacked with 41 kms to go.
France’s Pierre Rolland was the most seriously hurt in a mass pile-up at the back of the bunch. He tries to make it back in the peloton with the help of Sebastien Turgot.
Km 149 - Romain Feillu and Albert Timmer have been caught by the peloton in Santenay. Their 146-kms break is over. Their maximum lead was 6:20 (km 32).
Km 146 - The latest gap is now 25 seconds.
Result of the sprint in Herbault (145 km):
1. Albert Timmer 3 points and 3 seconds bonus
2. Romain Feillu 2 pts, 2 secs
3. Lars Boom 1 pt, 1 sec
The peloton is 30 seconds behind the two escapees.
The average speed in the third hour and in the whole stage is the same - 47 kph.
Km 140 - The latest gap is 1:15 between Romain Feillu, Albert Timmer and the main bunch.
Km 131.5 - The gap has gone down to 55 seconds.
Km 123 - The peloton has split in three parts because of the wind. But the "bordure" is shortlived.
Km 116 - Gap now down to 3:40.
The Italian rider made it back on his bike and in the peloton.
47 : France
25 : Spain
15 : Belgium
14 : Netherlands
13 : Italy
7 : United States
6 : Germany, Russia
5 : Australia, Slovenia
4 : Britain
3 : Canada, Denmark, Ukraine
2 : Ireland, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Sweden
1 : Argentina, Belarus, Colombia, Estonia, Finland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland.
Rabobank and Astana are leading the chase and the gap with Feillu and Timmer is now down to 3:55.
Italy’s Danilo Napolitano (Katusha) crashed.
A hundred kilometres to go and the gap is down to four minutes.
The average speed in the second hour of the stage was 45.4 kph for an overall average speed of 46.9 kph since the start.
The two leaders are in the feeding zone in Ouzouer-le-Marche (km 92.5).
Km 84 - Feillu and Timmer now lead the peloton by 5:15.
Km 75 - The gap is increasing again as the peloton relax after the sprint. It is back to 4:20.
At 24, Albert Timmer has won three minor races including a team time trial in the Brixia Tour with Skil Shimano, the team he joined when he turned professional in 2007.
Results of the first intermediate sprint in Gaubert (km 66):
1. Romain Feillu 3 pts, 3 secs bonus
2. Albert Timmer 2 pts, 2 secs
3. Lars Boom 1 pt, 1 sec
The peloton 2:35 behind the two escapees.
Romain Feillu reaches the first sprint of the day in Gaubert, only 25 kms from his native town of Chateaudun.
Km 58 - The gap is now down to 2:50.
The Rabos are speeding up the chase, dropping a few riders in the process like Andre Greipel (Team Columbia) or French champion Dimitri Champion (AG2R).
Km 52.5 - Lars Boom’s Rabobank team-mates take the reins of the peloton and bring the lead down to 4:30.
Contres has hosted seevral cycling races in the past. It has been the finish of stages in the local Tour du Loir-et-Cher but also saw Swiss Martin Kohler win a stage in the Tour de l’Avenir in 2007. Contres is also a regular start spot for Paris-Correze.
Thanks to the tailwind, the average speed in the first hour was an impressive one: 48.4 kph.
The lead of Romain Feillu and Albert Timmer reached the six minutes mark after 30 kms and remains stable.
The temperature on the course is about six degrees with a strong tailwind.
... an now reaches 5:45 after 27 kilometres. It seems we’re heading for a long breakaway which the bunch will control until the finale.
It’s also Laurent Bezault’s 44th birthday. The French rider, who no works for ASO, took the Paris-Nice yellow jersey on his birthday in 1989.
We wish a happy birthday to Rabobank’s Joost Posthuma, who turns 29 today. The Dutchman won a Paris-Nice stage in Cannes in 2005.
Km 17 - The lead keeps increasing and now reaches 3:50.
Km 14 - The lead of the two escapees reached 3:10. The peloton looks happy to let them go.
According to Contres mayor Jean-Luc Brault, the town hosting today’s finish could host the Tour de France in the near future. "It will be a little short for 2012, but I can see it happen in 2013," he told local daily La Nouvelle Republique.
Km 11 - Romaind Feillu and Albert Timmer now lead the main pack by 2:30.
Km 9 - Feillu and Timmer now lead the peloton by 1:40.
"If Jimmy is in shape, he will go for the sprint victory. It’s one of the options but if could be a tricky and nervous stage. We’ll have to be on our guard", said Jimmy Casper’s Saur Sojasun team director Stephane Heulot.
Km 5 - The lead of Feillu and Timmer over the main bunch reaches 40 seconds.
The first atttack of the day was launched by France’s Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil), followed by Dutchman Albert Timmer (Skil Shimano). The gap at Km 4 is 25 seconds.
In Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui, Eric Bruna wrote: "Disappointing compared to his form of the early season, Sylvain Chavanel lost 29 seconds to Contador. Valverde, crowned in the last Tour Mediterranean, claims a 23-seconds eficit. On his debut race of the season, Frank Schleck, runner-up in the past two years, lies 42 seconds behind the Pinto’s pistolero.... who took along the way six seconds off title holder and fellow-Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez. What’s taken is taken... "
In l’Equipe, Philippe Bouvet believes that prologue winner Lars Boom will be a man to watch in the classics: "Lars Boom might not win Paris-Nice, but everybody who saw him fly on the cobbles of the Nieuwsblad circuit last Saturday are convinced that he will soon become a serious contender for Paris-Roubaix."
Km 66 – Gaubert
Km 145 – Herbault
The official start was given at 11:58.
In his notebook, Alberto Contador talks about his prologue :
“Hitting tempo at the outset cost me a little and it had an impact on this time trial, but later I was pretty comfortable. I didn’t manage to win, but that’s even better considering the team, because we have less responsibility. There are other riders who are very strong, but I also got some important time on people like Chavanel, Schleck and Valverde.”
On his blog, Chris Horner (RadioShack) tells about Gert Steegmans crash :
"Shortly after arriving at the bus it came across the radio that a RadioShack rider had crashed hard – which is never a good thing to hear. It was my teammate Gert Steegmans who had gone down. The wind had caught his front wheel and blew it out from under him while he going 35 mph. The next time you are driving in your car at 35 mph, open the door and jump out, and that will give you an idea of how Steegmans’ day went. He broke his collarbone, and of course is out of the race before it even really started. I only hope his family and girlfriend weren’t at home watching it live because that always makes it worse for them! The team called his girlfriend to let her know his condition as soon as they could."
Thanks to his win in the prologue, Lars Boom leads the general classification but also the king of the mountains, the young rider and the points standings. The Dutchman will wear the yellow garment while the polka dot jersey will be on the back of Alejandro Valverde, the green jersey will be worn by Jens Voigt and the white jersey by young Czech Peter Sagan. The team’s classification is led by Team RadioShack.
175 riders have gone. The official start will be given in a few minutes. Gert Steegmans (RadioShack), who crashed in the prologue, did not start.
Welcome on the 1st stage of Paris-Nice between St Arnoult-en-Yvelines and Contres (201.5 km).
