The gap widens
The three escapees cleared the first sprint at Langogne without contesting it, in the order: Osa-Baranowski-Extebarria. The gap between them and the peloton was three minutes, and still growing.

Osa aims for the dots
At the Côte de Prévenchères summit, Osa picked up the mountain classification points before Baranowski and Extebarria. The three breakaway companions clocked up their maximum gap with the peloton at the Col du Mas de l’Ayre summit (6’55’’’). This climb was the second difficulty of the day, and they cleared it in the same order.

The chase is on
Led by the Quick Step riders, then Crédit Agricole, and lastly CSC, the peloton launched the offensive round the 150th kilometre of the race. From here on, the escapees’ advantage never stopped melting away: 3’15’’ at kilometre 168, and only 50” at kilometre 183. Extebarria was the first to be picked up (km 188), rejoining a peloton that almost immediately closed in on Osa and Baranowski also – the latter named Fighter of the Day. The operation worked on Osa too, who had greatly boosted his capital of points in the climbers’ classification.

The sprinters join the battle too
Under the impetus of CSC – the Team of leader, Jorg Jaksche – the peloton broke up into three chunks. There were six CSC riders among the ten men in the lead, including the yellow and white jersey and the double titleholder Alexandre Vinokourov. Rebellin, chasing Jans Voigt in the sprinter classification, was in the group and won the points in play in the second intermediate sprint, in front of Voigt and Jaksche, twelve kilometres from the finish.

Vino’s coup
At kilometre 208, with double-quick acceleration - leaving Jaksche and Rebellin powerless in the end – Alexandre Vinokourov gave the slip to the little “yellow jersey” band. He crossed the Côte de Buisson with a ten-second lead, ahead of Schleck and Julich. At the “Flamme Rouge”, Vinkourov took full advantage of the chasers jostling for position, in preparation for the final sprint, to hold on to his lead and cross the line solo. Jaksche (2nd in the stage) keeps the yellow jersey, while Rebellin (3rd) takes the lead in the sprinter classification from Voigt.

Did you particularly want to shine out today as a tribute to your friend Andrei Kivilev, who died on the Paris-Nice roads last year?
As a matter of fact, I was mostly thinking of a victory in tomorrow’s stage, on the 12th of March, which is the anniversary of his death. But it’s true, anyway, that – in memory of him - I did want to win one stage in this race. One year on, it’s still fresh in my memory. It’s impossible to forget.

When exactly did you feel you could pull off this victory?
I was keeping myself ready to strike at the right “roadside”. I just had to be there to react. Then, I knew that I couldn’t win without attempting an attack a little further off. With quality sprinters like the ones in the group, I had to get out ahead before the final sprint to be in with a chance. I made a push, and it was enough, mostly because I’m fairly far behind in the general classification, so the leaders didn’t try to counter my attack.

You’re quite far behind the leaders in the general classification, but are you thinking of defending your title all the same?
I can’t envisage a final victory at Nice because I’m not in good enough shape to aspire to it at this point in the season. I only really began preparing in December, so I’m lacking in rocket-power. And I still have a lot of objectives in view for next year. There’s the Tour de France - where I owe it to myself to be in good form to help Ullrich – the Olympic Games and the world championships. With all that, I’ve got my work cut out, so I have to be patient.