THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Cancellera wins stage, leader's jersey at Paris-Nice
The winds of change blew through Paris-Nice in Thursday’s weather-shortened fourth stage as the peloton traded winter for the mistral.
Lance Armstrong packed it in as cold and snow forced organizers to shorten the third stage in a row, but the peloton was back in shorts after the race moved into warmer climes of the Rhone valley.
Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo) put down a Herculean sprint to beat veteran Jaan Kirsipuu (Credit Agricole) against a strong headwind into Montélimar while Bobby Julich (CSC) surged into contention after sneaking into the winning break late in the 101km stage.
“I won today not only with my legs, but also with a lot of class,” Cancellara said after winning in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 3 seconds. “We were worried about getting rid of Kirsipuu and when he started his sprint for so long, I thought he would win, but I didn’t give up and I couldn’t believe I was able to come around him.”
Cancellara’s persistence pushed him into the leader’s jersey from Tom Boonen (Quick Step) as Paris-Nice prepares for the decisive summit finish atop Mont Faron in Friday’s stage.
Back into the sun
What a difference a few kilometers makes.
Race organizers moved the start from Le Chambon-sur-Ligne at 992 meters deep in the snowy Massif Central to lowly St. Péray at 137 meters along the sunny Rhone.
The mistral was howling down the valley, but temperatures edged into the 50s, the warmest it’s been since the race started Sunday in Paris.
“This is a lot better. I hate racing when it’s that cold,” said Floyd Landis as he lounged around the Phonak bus before the start. “Once you get racing, it’s not so cold because you’re going 100 percent. The worst is waiting around before the start.”
Team CSC was animated from the start, with Tour Med champion Jens Voigt taking the time bonus at Cléon d’Andran ahead of Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) and Erik Dekker (Rabobank).
Julich proved he has the legs to fight for overall victory by leading the charge up the Cat. 2 Cote d’Alleyrac at 76km with David Moncoutie (Cofidis), Voigt, Dekker and Chavanel.
At 85km, Nicolas Jalabert (Phonak), Iker Camano (Euskaltel) and Nicolas Portal (Ag2r) slipped away and built up a 35-second lead heading up the day’s final obstacle at the Cat. 3 Cote du Bois de Grignan with 16km to go.
The key moment of the race came when Julich chugged away with defending champion Jorg Jaksche (Liberty Seguros) coming off the twisting descent. Also bridging out to the leading trio were three Fassas – Cancellara, Juan Antonio Flecha and Paolo Bossoni – as well as Kirsipuu, Jaksche and Julich.
Davitamon-Lotto and Quick Step didn’t have the fight to bring back the break and the gap stood at 28 seconds with just 2km to go.
Jaksche and Julich were looking to profit from Fassa’s ambition to win the stage. Stuck in the middle was Kirsipuu. He followed early moves from Flecha and his only option was to take a long sprint from 450 yards.
“The idea was for Flecha to go first, but I thought Kirsipuu was going to win with his long sprint,” said Cancellara, winner of last year’s prologue. “The wind was in our faces, so it made it even harder to catch Kirsipuu’s wheel. I made it just in the last moment. It was an emotional sprint.”
Julich poised as Mont Faron beckons
With the difficult climbing finish to Mont Faron on tap in Friday’s 172.5km fifth stage, the 33-year-old Julich is poised to move into the leader’s jersey.
Julich roared into Montélimar fourth at five seconds back, but more importantly came in 27 seconds faster than the main bunch.
His aggressive riding pushed him from 11th to third overall at 20 seconds back.
“Bobby had a good day today and moved up on the favorites, so we’re in a good position,” said Team CSC manager Bjarne Riis. “It was great for the team that he was able to get into that break. Now we have more options to win. We came here to win the race, we don’t care with whom.”
Team CSC has five riders in the top 15, with prologue winner Voigt in eighth at 37 seconds back. Julich finished third in last year’s Paris-Nice and said at the beginning of the season the race is one of his top goals for the year.
Mont Faron is one of the most spectacular climbs in cycling. Perched 500 meters above the Cote d’Azur, the 5.5km climb twists up a series of dramatic switchbacks and features an average grade of 8.9 percent.
It’s not long enough for the strongest riders to lose or gain too much time. If Julich can erase the gap to Cancellara and Flecha and hold off the others behind him in the GC, Julich could find himself in the leader’s jersey.
A strong climber such as Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears) sits 28 seconds behind Julich and admitted it will be hard to make up all the time.
“Now I have to try to get some time back,” Valverde said before the stage. “Sure, I’d like to try to win the (Mont Faron) stage. When you’re at the front, you’re getting time, so that’s the idea. My form is good, but there are others who are strong; Voigt, Vinokourov, Jaksche.”
Defending champion Jaksche went on the attack in Wednesday’s weather-shortened stage and got some time back Thursday as well, moving up to 18th at 1:02 back.
“In Mont Faron, there will be differences because it is the only summit finish, but the last two stages will be the key,” Jaksche said. “It is a mistake to think that everything will have finished in the Mont Faron.”
Riis agreed with Jaksche’s impression that Faron won’t decide the race. Saturday’s 184km sixth stage hits six rated climbs, including the Cat. 2 Col du Tanneron at 20km from the flat finish into Cannes while Sunday’s 135km finale in Nice hits the Cat. 1 Col d’Eze twice on a circuit course that finishes on the Promenade des Anglais.
“You have to be aggressive all the way to Nice,” Riis said. “Everyone is talking that Faron will decide everything. I don’t think so. The other stages present an opportunity for a strong team like ours.”
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