Tommy V and Tommy DG beat the bunch
One day after promising to keep trying for a stage win, French champion Thomas Voeckler delivered on that vow when he grabbed a dramatic stage victory in Paris-Nice. The Team Europcar captain was one of four breakaway riders who stayed out front until the final kilometres, this quartet fending off the chase of the main bunch due, mostly, to the relentless driving of stage one winner Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil).
The Belgian was on a stubborn mission to get back the yellow jersey he lost yesterday to stage three winner Matt Goss (HTC Highroad), and picked up first place in the two intermediate sprints during the 191 kilometre stage. Knowing that this could put him back at the top, he was utterly committed in making sure the break reached the line. Voeckler also rode hard but also conserved a little for the final sprint in Belleville, which he won ahead of Reme Pauriol (FDJ), De Gendt and Remi Di Gregorio (Astana).
“I am waiting since 2003, since my first Paris-Nice, to win a stage here,” he enthused afterwards. “I was second on two occasions, including last year. So it’s a big satisfaction to do it today. I told myself that with the hills that were there today, that it would be better to go from a long way out to have more of a chance. “
Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo) and Peter Sagan (Liquigas) led in the defeated peloton, some 13 seconds later. That put De Gendt back at the top of the general classification, ten seconds ahead of Voeckler and sixteen up on Pauriol. Goss dropped to fourth, 21 seconds back.
“Initially I just wanted to go to take the intermediate sprint bonus seconds,” admitted a delighted De Gendt. “I thought I’d end up with Goss in the bunch, but that I could recover the yellow jersey. Finally we continued to race, and they didn’t succeed in bringing us back.”
The break got going just six kilometres after the start in Crêches-sur-Saône, when De Gendt, Voeckler and Pauriol surged clear. Nine kilometres later Di Gregorio and Francis De Greef (Omega Pharma-Lotto) bridged across and together the quintet eked out a lead of over five minutes.
The riders had the shared goal of trying to stay away until the end, but also each rider had his own motivation. For De Gendt, yellow was the thing that spurred him on. For Voeckler, Di Gregorio and De Greef, it was a possible stage win. Pauriol also fancied the thoughts of the latter, but he occupied himself with the goal of taking first at the summit of as many of the day’s seven category three and two climbs as possible. He was the most consistent of those in the break in winning five/six primes, and ended the day in the King of the Mountains jersey.
De Gendt admitted afterwards t hat he didn’t really believe that they could do it. “I had good legs, so I chose to ride in front. But I was not expecting it at all,” he said. “I just rode for the yellow jersey.”
Indeed, with 50 kilometres to go, the gap was just two minutes fifteen seconds and this made it doubtful that they could stay clear. But they were in a defiant mood and wanted to make the peloton work for it, so they really started to put the hammer down. Their advantage was reduced by a minute over the next thirty kilometres, but while the lead group dropped to four when De Greef cracked sixteen kilometres from the finish, the remaining four were fully committed and dug in even further.
Behind, the chase was faltering a little and Quick Step’s Jerome Pineau accelerated clear. He was recaptured two kilometres later and while teams such as Garmin-Cervélo and Sky Procycling drove the bunch along, the quartet still had 28 seconds advantage three kilometres from the line.
They conceded only five seconds over the next two kilometres and, with De Gendt being totally committed to keeping them clear, remained well ahead to the line. There Voeckler led out the sprint and held off a hard-chasing Pauriol to grabby his first-ever Paris-Nice stage win.
The race gets more difficult from this point onwards, and the general classification battle will continue to ramp up. Both Voeckler and De Gendt are playing down their chances at this point. “Tomorrow is a difficult stage, and I have about thirty seconds ahead of the real climbers,” said the latter. “Maybe this will be enough, but I do not think so.”
Voeckler is a solid climber, but fears another type of stage. “I know that in 2004, I managed to go from the tricolour jersey [of French champion] to the yellow jersey in the Tour de France,” he said. “I wish I could do it on Paris-Nice, but with the time trial on Friday, I don’t think I have any chance of winning.”
That’s what they are saying now, but if today’s performance made anything clear, it’s that the pairing of Thomas and Thomas will not go quietly in this race. They’ll continue fighting, continue attacking, and Paris-Nice will be all the better because of it.