2010 Paris-Nice: Stage 1 Results

Team Sky notches another win with New Zealand’s Gregory Henderson attacking with 1 km to go to take today’s stage.

Today’s stage of Paris-Nice wound 203.5 kilometres from Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines to Contres. It is a mostly flat stage, and as expected, a mass sprint decided the day’s results.

The day started with prologue winner Lars Boom wearing most of the leader’s jerseys (overall, young rider, mountains, etc.). Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil) and Albert Timmer (Skil-Shimano) escaped early (4 km). While the gap was as much as six minutes, they sat at a comfortable 4’20″ lead by the 129km mark, but it was not meant to be. They were caught with about 55 km to go.

A crash at around the 45km mark shook up the peloton enough to allow an escape by Phillipe Gilbert (Omaga Pharma-Lotto) and Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano). Their lead peaked at around a minute, but with only 20 km or so remaining, the peloton was not very willing to let this one get away. Astana, Rabobank and Caisse d’Epargne lead the chase, but some 30 riders lost ground, including four RadioShack men, probably tired after helping Leipheimer back after a crash.

Leipheimer has dropped towards the back after the crash and the peloton stepped up the pace, seemingly determined to keep him there. Caisse d’Epargne was helping with the pace and with the ramp up in speed, Gilbert and Veelers were caught with 16km to go.

With the leaders caught, Caisse d’Epargne moved from chasing to attacking, looking to put team captain Alejandro Valverde in position for the win. Lars Boom had to surge to stay in position to defend his lead. Jens Voigt and Nicolas Roche also placed themselves with that lead group.

With 5 km to go, it was Luis-Leon Sanchez, Vicente Garcia Acosta, José Ivan Gutierrez, Alejandro Valverde (all Caisse d’Epargne), Jens Voigt (Team Saxo Bank), Tony Martin (Team HTC – Columbia), Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas – Doimo), Lars Boom (Rabobank), Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale), David Millar and Dan Martin (Garmin – Transitions), Alexandr Kolobnev (Team Katusha), Gregory Henderson (Sky Professional Cycling Team) all gunning for the win. Alberto Contador was gapped 30 seconds back in the chase group and a minor crash at about the 3km mark didn’t help his chances either.

With 1 kilometer to go, Tony Martin went on the attack, but it was ultimately New Zealand’s Gregory Henderson (Sky) for the win.

Brief Results:

Pos	Rider	Bib	Team	TIme	Gap
1.	HENDERSON Gregory	176	TEAM SKY	4h 22′ 17″
2.	BOLE Grega	142	LAMPRE – FARNESE	4h 22′ 17″	+ 00′ 00″
3.	GALLAND Jeremy	204	SAUR-SOJASUN	4h 22′ 17″	+ 00′ 00″
4.	KOLOBNEV Alexandr	154	KATUSHA TEAM	4h 22′ 17″	+ 00′ 00″
5.	VALVERDE Alejandro	8	CAISSE D’EPARGNE	4h 22′ 17″	+ 00′ 00″
6.	ROCHE Nicolas	118	AG2R-LA MONDIALE	4h 22′ 17″	+ 00′ 00″
7.	VOIGT Jens	18	TEAM SAXO BANK	4h 22′ 17″	+ 00′ 00″
8.	MARCATO Marco	196	VACANSOLEIL PRO CYCLING TEAM	4h 22′ 17″	+ 00′ 00″
9.	MARTIN Tony	41	TEAM HTC – COLUMBIA	4h 22′ 17″	+ 00′ 00″
10.	KREUZIGER Roman	51	LIQUIGAS-DOIMO	4h 22′ 17″	+ 00′ 00″

General Classification:

Pos	Rider	Bib	Team	TIme	Gap
1.	BOOM Lars	91	RABOBANK	4h 33′ 11″
2.	VOIGT Jens	18	TEAM SAXO BANK	4h 33′ 16″	+ 00′ 05″
3.	MILLAR David	121	GARMIN – TRANSITIONS	4h 33′ 24″	+ 00′ 13″
4.	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	1	CAISSE D’EPARGNE	4h 33′ 25″	+ 00′ 14″
5.	KREUZIGER Roman	51	LIQUIGAS-DOIMO	4h 33′ 26″	+ 00′ 15″
6.	HENDERSON Gregory	176	TEAM SKY	4h 33′ 31″	+ 00′ 20″
7.	LEIPHEIMER Levi	101	TEAM RADIOSHACK	4h 33′ 36″	+ 00′ 25″
8.	CONTADOR Alberto	31	ASTANA	4h 33′ 36″	+ 00′ 25″
9.	SAGAN Peter	55	LIQUIGAS-DOIMO	4h 33′ 40″	+ 00′ 29″
10.	TONDO Xavier	68	CERVELO TEST TEAM	4h 33′ 40″	+ 00′ 29″

Tags: Ag2r, alberto contador, Alejandro Valverde, Alexandr Kolobnev, astana, Caisse d'Epargne, Dan Martin, David Millar, jens voigt, katusha, lars boom, Liquigas, New Zealand, Nicolas Roche, Paris-Nice, Phillipe Gilbert, Rabobank, romain feillu, Roman Kreuziger, Skil-Shimano, Sky Professional Cycling Team, Stage 1, Team HTC - Columbia, Team Katusha, Team Saxo Bank, vacansoleil