THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Paris-Nice: Rodriguez wins; Tyler tries his legs; Vino' one day closer
Alexandre Vinokourov pushed one day closer to delivering victory in the 61st Paris-Nice after surviving a cold, blustery day along France’s Cote d’Azur.
CSC’s Tyler Hamilton lit up the 194km sixth stage from Toulon to Cannes in what he called a “suicidal attack,” riding solo for more than 100 kilometers. His escape, which he described as “a training ride,” gave Hamilton the best climber’s jersey for his efforts.
ONCE’s Joaquim Rodriguez won coming into classy Cannes in a five-up sprint on the famed Boulevard de la Croisette after attacking on the Category 2 Col du Tanneron with 23km to go.
The Telekom team held things together nicely for the inspired Vinokourov, who has promised to win Paris-Nice in memory of his friend Andrei Kivilev, who died Wednesday after crashing in the second stage.
Tyler on fire
Tyler Hamilton came to the Paris-Nice for training. After a strong opening prologue, he and CSC team boss Bjarne Riis briefly flirted with the idea of a charge at the overall, but that ended when Hamilton struggled through Tuesday’s difficult climbing stage through the Massif Central.
On a cold and blustery Saturday, Hamilton attacked on the unrated climb at La Garde Frenet about 58km into the stage and charged off alone for the next three hours, putting in what he called a nice training ride.
“We talked about (attacking) this morning, it was more just for training,” Hamilton said. “An attack that early almost never works, the chances are very slim. I wasn’t expecting anything of it. I surprised myself and I felt pretty good.”
The funny thing was, Hamilton’s “training ride” earned him the best climber’s jersey after he gobbled up the points over four rated climbs, including the Category 1 Col de Bourigalle at 137km. Hamilton went down in a minor spill on one of the descents with no consequence. After getting a gap of more than four minutes, he was finally reeled in after coming off the Category 1 Col de Bourigaille.
Hamilton was even more surprised when he crossed the line at more than 17 minutes back and everyone scrambled to prepare him for the podium presentation. He hardly had to time to wipe off before he was on stage receiving flowers, trophies, jerseys and kisses from the pretty podium girls.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know I had until the end,” he said. “It’s nice for the day’s efforts. It was a suicidal attack, but why not try it? It was fun. It was good training and I’m feeling good.”
Vino in charge
Riders woke up to cold rain Saturday morning in Toulon, a rather shabby port city along the otherwise glittering French Riviera. This is supposed to be the race to the sun, but it’s been getting cloudier and cooler everyday since the race left Paris last weekend.
With six rated climbs, cold and rain, and the Paris-Nice’s longest stage facing them, the peloton was content to let Hamilton go on his little adventure.
Telekom seems to have reached an agreement with Cofidis to help Vinokourov win in the name of Kivilev. The two teams worked in unison to keep a lid on things until the day’s final climb, the Category 2 Col du Tanneron with 23km to go. Several riders went on runs for a chance at a stage-win, but Telekom’s main threats in the GC – Gerolsteiner’s Davide Rebellin and ONCE’s Mikel Zarrabeitia and Jorg Jaksche – seemed inclined to save their batteries for Sunday’s showdown in Nice and its three climbs up Col d’Eze.
“It was a very hard day with the cold. We worked hard to control it on the last climb and Jaksche tried to do a few attacks but it nothing special,” said Vinokourov, who consolidated his grip on the yellow and green jerseys. “Tomorrow is the last day of Paris-Nice. I know the Col d’Eze very well and it will be an advantage for me and I will give it everything to try to cross the line in first place.”
It was a hard day for others. American Bobby Julich crashed and suffered some cuts and counted on teammates Mario Aerts and Danilo Hondo to bring him in within the time limit.
As Robbie McEwen predicted before the start of this mountainous Paris-Nice, scores of riders quit during Saturday’s stage. Sprinter Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) did not start while McEwen, Stuart O’Grady (Credit Agricole), Max Van Heeswijk and Matthew White (both USPS) and Axel Merckx (Lotto) were among the 27 abandons. Cofidis’ David Moncoutie also abandoned after crashing.
Rodriguez wins
Little Spanish rider Joaquim Rodriguez outfoxed former world champion Laurent Brochard (AG2R) to snatch the stage-win on Cannes’ Croisette, the famed boulevard lined with chic shops, posh hotels and home of the annual Cannes film festival.
Rodriguez followed the wheel of Kelme’s David Latasa on the lower flanks of the Cat 2 Tanneron. Also springing off the lead group, now reduced to about 50 riders, were Milaneza’s Rui Miguel Sousa Barbosa and Fabian Jekker. There was a lot of wrangling for position before a lead group of five riders summated together. Joining Latasa and Rodriguez were Brochard, Euskaltel’s Samuel Sanchez and Brioches Sylvain Chavanel.The five nursed a 30-second lead on the long flat back into Cannes while Milaneza had five riders in the lead chase group hammering to try to bring them back. Despite a brisk wind, the five held a 21-second advantage into the finish.Rodriguez wasn’t doing much work, saying he was waiting to see if the front group could pull through to give Jaksche or Zarrabeitia a chance in the finish. Coming into the sprint, Brochard went first while Rodriguez came around him to upset the Frenchie.“I went for the win, if I didn’t go, Brochard would have won. It was a question of him going for me or me going for him, and I went for him and I won,” Rodriguez said. ‘I wasn’t working because I was waiting to see if the guys in the back would come through. That’s one of the advantages of riding for a big group like ONCE is that when you have someone strong in the GC, you can get into escapes and not have to work so hard and then try to get the stage-win.”Brochard had to settle for second while French phenom Chavanel took fourth and bounced to fifth overall at 1:24 back.The 61st Paris-Nice concludes Sunday in the five-climb, 160km circuit race in Nice. The stage features two climbs over the Category 2 Col de Chateauneuf and three climbs over Category 1 Col d’Eze, including a final pass just 16km from what’s sure to be a fast finish on the Promenade des Anglais.
