Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) survived a flurry of attacks to win the 66th edition of Paris-Nice on Sunday after Luis-León Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) took the slimmest of victories in the final stage around Nice.
The stage, which featured three cat. 1 climbs, was trimmed by 6.5km to 115km due to a landslide on the descent of the cat. 1 La Turbie. A small detour took the peloton to the final climb up Col d’Eze.
Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) seized the lead in Paris-Nice on Saturday as Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) outfought a seven-man breakaway in the final kilometer to win the sixth stage.
The 206km stage was another tough one, the longest of the race. It featured seven rated climbs, including the decisive cat. 2 Col du Tanneron with 20km to go.
Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) leapt away from a disintegrating breakaway to win stage 5 of Paris-Nice on Friday.
The 172.5km fifth stage from Althen-des-Paluds to Sisteron, across the heart of Provence, opened with a challenging Cat. 2 in the first 30km and traversed three more Cat. 3s before concluding with an 18km loop around Sisteron.
A 17-man break including danger man Barredo, 12th overall at 4:07, formed up and took a substantial lead on the bunch before first Rabobank, then Gerolsteiner queued up at the front and began a furious chase.
Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) won Thursday’s fourth stage of Paris-Nice, a 176km grind from Montelimar to Mont Ventoux.
The course covered four Cat. 3 climbs before tackling Ventoux’s “undiscovered” north face — a 17km final Cat. 1 climb finishing at the Mont Serein ski station, about 5km short of the observatory summit featured in the Tour de France.
As has been the tradition here this year, the racing got under way early with CSC’s Jens Voigt taking a flyer at the 11km mark, joined by three others — Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), Bernhard Eisel (High Road) and Dutchman Niki Terpstra of Milram.
Come the foot of Ventoux, the foursome still held some three and a half minutes over the chasing peloton. And that’s when Voigt made his move, chuggling alone solo toward the ski station.
First Gerolsteiner, then Quick Step drove the pursuit. It proved too much for young race leader Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), who fell off the pace at midclimb. Teammate Maxime Monfort stuck by him.
Up front, Voigt’s margin was less than two minutes with 5km to go. Behind, Robert Gesink (Rabobank) attacked out of the chase, marked by Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Evans and Yaroslav Popovych (Silence-Lotto) and Frank Schleck (CSC).
But only Evans could stick with the Rabobank man as he chased and eventually caught Voigt with just over 2km to go, and in the finale, it was the Aussie taking the stage win ahead of Gesink, with Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R) third.
Stay tuned for a race report from VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood, photos from Graham Watson and complete results.
Paris-Nice: Stage 5
1. Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto)
2. Robert Gesink (Ned), Rabobank
3. Rinaldo Nocentini (I), AG2R
4. Davide Rebellin (I), Gerolsteiner
5. Frank Schleck (Lux), CSC
Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) slipped into the leader’s jersey on Wednesday as Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas) won the third stage of Paris-Nice.
The 165.5km jaunt between Fleurie and St. Etienne began with an early break by Carlstrom, Bradley McGee (CSC) and Clement Lhotellerie (Skil-Shimano), who took off just 8km from the start and had a lead of more than five minutes 12km up the road.
The trio stayed away over the Cote de Plantigny, the Cote de St. Martin-en-haut, the Cote de l’Aubepin and the Cote de la Croix Blanche, building a margin of 10 minutes at one point.
On the final ascent, the category-1 Col de Croix de Chaubouret, the lead had been trimmed to just four minutes. Race leader Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) had blown up and dropped back.
[nid:73199]As Chavanel launched an attack from the bunch, followed by Damien Cunego (Lampre), Carlstrom and Lhotellerie shelled McGee and raced on toward the finish in St. Etienne, taking a lead of just 1:40 over the Chaubouret.
Behind, Chavanel and Cunego were joined by a larger group, but the numbers would not help their pursuit — Lhotellerie pulled the final 2km to the line, where Carlstrom came around him for the stage win. Forty-three seconds later, Pierre Rolland (Crédit Agricole) took the bunch dash for third.
In the overall, Chavanel assumed the race lead with a two-second margin over Karsten Kroon (CSC) and a further second over Luis-Leon Sanchez (Caisse D’Epargne).
Stay tuned for a complete report from VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood, photos from Graham Watson and complete results.
Stage 3: Top 10
1. Kjell Carlström (Liquigas), 165.5km in 4:39:14
2. Clément Lhotellerie (Skil-Shimano), same time
3. Pierre Rolland (Crédit Agricole), at 0:43
4. Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), s.t
5. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas), s.t.
6. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale), s.t.
7. Robert Gesink (Rabobank), s.t.
8. Damiano Cunego (Lampre), s.t.
9. Luis-Leon Sanchez (Caisse D’Epargne), s.t.
10. Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskadi), s.t.
Overall (after 3 stages)
1. Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), 12:37:01
2. Karsten Kroon (Team CSC), at 0:02
3. Luis-Leon Sanchez (Caisse D’epargne, at 0:03
4. Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskadi), at 0:08
5. Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), at 0:14
6. Manuel Garate Juan (Quick Step), at 0:18
7. Yaroslav Popovych (Silence-Lotto), at 00:19
8. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale), at 0:21
9. Robert Gesink (Rabobank), s.t.
10. Alexander Efimkin (Quick Step), at 0:34
Gert Steegmans (Quick Step) won Tuesday’s second stage of the 66th edition of Paris-Nice, a 201km stage from Nevers to Belleville.
Skil-Shimano’s Thierry Hupond took an early flyer on what proved to be another soggy stage, and the young Frenchman stayed gone until he blew up in spectacular fashion just before the final KoM, the 762m Col de Fut d’Avenas, with some 15km remaining in the stage.
Benat Itntxausti (Saunier Duval) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank), who had leapt away from the pack on the ascent, did the honors of reeling the exhausted Frenchman in, shortly before they themselves were reabsorbed by the peloton — and then race leader Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) took a flyer on the descent, quickly taking 15 seconds on the bunch.
Gert Steegmans (Quick Step) launched a pursuit, but it came to naught as the peloton chased in spurts, showing little organization. Then Steegmans, Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) and Michael Albasini (Liquigas) bridged up to Hushovd and the race was on with a vengeance with just under 6km to go, the foursome trading pulls just ahead of the ravening bunch, which found it slower going around the road furniture, roundabouts and other obstacles in the final kilometers.
With 1km to go it was clear the winner would come from among the four leaders, who began setting up for their sprint. Chavanel was on the front and clearly didn’t care for it, while race leader Hushovd sat back. As the chase closed in Chavanel found himself forced to lead out after all — and in the end it was Steegmans who came around for an easy win ahead of Hushovd and Chavanel.
To see how the race unfolded, click here for our live coverage.
