Under The Sun…
The renowned Corniche of Nice nicknamed "Promenade des Anglais" was taking the spring sun this morning when the 128-rider pack took the start of the 7th and last stage of the 60th Paris-Nice. On the route were the Col de Vence and the Col de Gourdon, coming before the seven laps on the Corniche. After Axel Merckx had tried to escape, five riders found themselves at the front: Azevedo, Basso, Kirchen, Cuesta & Miholjevic. At the back, the Deutsche Telekom boys controlled the race. When the five men reached Nice, the gap between the breakaway and the pack was about one minute. With three laps to go, the escapees were caught, as the race was really fast.

Jalabert climbs on the podium despite a fall
On the second intermediate sprint, Laurent Jalabert finished second, being credited of a handful of seconds which allowed him to rob the overall third place from Kivilev. Last attempt from Nico Mattan had no chance to go further.. .

Mc Ewen again!
The rush for the final sprint was tulmutuous. The Fasso Bortolo team-mates prepared the sprint for Petacchi; but the Mapei, AG2R and Domo teams were as active. Tom Steels, who had already won two times on the Promenade des Anglais was about to win, but Australian Mc Ewen overcame him in the last 30 meters, capturing his second stage of the week. So Vinokourov wins Paris-Nice, ahead of two Frenchmen, Sandy Casar (Best Young Rider) and Laurent Jalabert. As for the others classifications, Pettachi is the Best Sprinter (Green & White Jersey), Vladimir Miholjevic the Best Climber, Axel Merckx the Most agressive Rider and Cofidis the Best Team of the week.

Question: It was the very first time that Paris-Nice that the Race to the Sun was organized by A.S.O; what is your first comment?
Jean-Marie Leblanc: Honestly, I'm very happy. First of all, because we've supplied the teams with a good race, then, because the competition was really exciting. Except for the first stage, the race was unpredictible, with breakaways, solo attacks and superb wins, the likes of Jalabert's in Saint-Etienne, not to mention the up-and-coming French rider Sandy Casar, who is a promising talent. For us, that's good!

Q: Wasn't the route too hard for an early-season competition?
JML: It was a though Paris-Nice but it was no too hard. There were no time-trial and no high-moutain-stage. And Paris-Nice has changed: nowadays, the riders have already trained more than 15.000 km, so it doesn't seem too hard. With easier stages, the race would have been boring.

Q: The public as well as the journalists were numerous: another satisfaction?
JML: The key element was the good weather. It's not always the case in April. So the public came and the race was disputed. The riders felt like attacking a lot and it gave a spomtupous show. Don't remember that the Race to the Sun is really coveted and it's a key competition, a good preparation for the Classics.

Q: Last divine surprise, the French riders were the main actors of the race, a good sign for the coming season…
JML: We've rarely seen the French riders so active so early. Apparently, they are no longer afraid of the foreing teams. They don't hesitate to attack and to take the lead of the pack. Only one French team is qualified for the 2002 Tour de France, so they want to prove that they deserve a wild-card. At the beginning, we told them : "OK Guys, your turn now!" And they listened to us…