Swiss champ plays the waiting game in whittled down lead group, Terpstra wins sprint for third
The overwhelming favourite coming into Paris-Roubaix, Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Leopard) confirmed that he is indeed the top classics champion of 2013 by taking a hard fought victory, even as the man everyone was marking.
Cancellara won the race in a bit of an unexpected style – in a sprint in the Roubaix velodrome ahead of Sep Vanmarcke (Blanco). Cancellara used one acceleration with 50km to go to force a selection, but would not end up using one of his trademarked displays of power on a final cobbled section to take a solo win. Part of this was due to the brilliance of Vanmarcke and Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), who were glued to the wheel of the Swiss rider whenever he made a move.
But Cancellara got a bit of help, and Omega Pharma-Quick Step got a turn of horrible luck, when both Stybar and Stijn Vandenbergh were taken out by fans extending themselves too far out from the side of the road, with both incidents occurring on the decisive Carrefour de l'Arbre section.
The leading group of four – Cancellara, Vanmarcke, Stybar, and Vandenbergh – hit this section of pave together, looking to hold off the ambitions of a five-man chasing group behind. Vandenbergh connected with a fan early in the section and was sent sprawling, ending his challenge. Toward the end, Stybar clipped another patron but managed to hold himself upright, but he was slowed by a chain issue caused by his sweep to the other side of the path. He chased to try and get back on, but was eventually absorbed by the group behind.
This left Cancellara and Vanmarcke to settle the win out front. Vanmarcke withstood one Cancellara attack, and both riders were clearly tired, and chose to play the tactical game entering the Roubaix velodrome.
Vanmarcke was forced to lead it out and faced an extended sprint, and Cancellara had enough to come around and raise his arms in celebration, before collapsing into a heap in the infield.
Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) won the sprint from the chasers for third.
“In the end, I have to say I don’t know how I did it,” Cancellara admitted, exhibiting relief similar to what he showed after winning the Tour of Flanders a week ago.
“It’s just amazing, having a third Paris-Roubaix victory. When I see how the race went, it was everyone against our team and against me. I don’t know, I knew I had to make a selection, because the team was in a tough situation, with some bad luck. But that’s Roubaix, and I kept fighting.”
A fast and hectic start gets the high-speed edition underway:
One of the fastest editions of Paris-Roubaix in the race’s history got underway under clear and cold conditions. Early attacks weren’t able to stick with many riders coveting ambitions, before 30km into the race, when a large group briefly formed. Evaldas Siskevicius (Sojasun), Guillaume Boivin (Cannondale), Bjorn Thurau (Europcar), Bob Jungels (RadioShack-Leopard), Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil-DCM), Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Jacob Rathe (Garmin-Sharp), Jens Debuschere (Lotto-Belisol), Michael Mørkøv (Saxo-Tinkoff), Eloy Teruel (Movistar), Clement Koretzky (Bretagne Seche) and Benjamin Lemontagner (Bretagne Seche) got away and spent the better part of 30 kilometres dangling less than a minute in front of the peloton.
Soon, riders were dropping off of this group as the pressure to stay ahead wore them down, and eventually only Veuchelen and Koretzky were ahead. After 100 kilometres of racing, the reset button was hit with a gruppo compacto, and Ian Stannard (Sky Procycling) flatted just before the day’s first section of cobblestones.
Vandenbergh, Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Belisol), and Bert de Backer (Argos-Shimano) briefly tried a move, and through the first couple sections of pave, a crash took down common Roubaix protagonists Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol) and Stijn Devolder (Radioshack-Leopard). Riders got safely through the feed zone all together, and through the Quiévy, Saint-Python, and Vertain cobble sections, but then a star-studded group including Edvald Boasson Hagen and Geraint Thomas (Sky Procycling), Borut Bozic (Astana), and Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing) made a play off the front. Radioshack-Leopard hit the front with an obvious need to close down the move, which it did a few kilometres later.
With no one up the road, Koretzky, Steegmans, Mathew Hayman (Sky Procycling), and Stuart O’Grady (Orica-GreenEdge) were the next move, and were granted some leeway as the peloton finally eased off the pace. Shortly thereafter, Yoann Offredo (FDJ) suffered an unfortunate and nasty accident with a road sign as he was looking back for his team car, taking a harsh tumble and ending his day. With 115km to race, the leading quartet had more than a minute in hand.
After escaping mid-race last weekend in Flanders, André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) tried a similar move, but this one would soon prove fruitless. Although his acceleration did lead to a stringing out of the peloton, and a reduction of the gap to the breakaway riders, as Cancellara checked in with his team car. Saxo-Tinkoff came to the front of the peloton to keep the breakway within two minutes, and on the Haveluy section of cobblestones, Greipel was back in the bunch.
With an advantage of 1’45”, Steegmans, O’Grady, Hayman, and Koretzky hit the Arenberg forest, although this trip through the trench would be less than decisive as both break and peloton moved through without much action. Sky’s Thomas suffered the only brief hang-up of the favourites. The speed of the peloton through the trench, under the leadership of Phinney and John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) cut the breakaway’s lead to 45 seconds. But as the peloton swung off left and surveyed for any damage, the breakaway was left to hang out, and riders from Cannondale, Blanco, Cofidis, and IAM tried getting into a new escape.
Ahead, Steegmans and Hayman pushed ahead of O’Grady and Koretzky, pulling their reduced advantage back out to 50 seconds, as Radioshack-Leopard reformed at the fore of the peloton.
On the Warlaing-Brillon section of pave, a big crash caught up some main favourites, including Thomas, Bozic, and FDJ’s Matthieu Ladagnous. Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida) was caught behind and faced a chase, while ahead, Michael Schar (BMC Racing) attacked out of the peloton and started a long chase to Steegmans and Hayman. Schar quickly caught and dropped O’Grady, who was on his way back to the peloton, and through two more sections of cobbles on his own, Schar eventually caught the leading duo. Damien Gaudin (Europcar) was the next to move off the front of the main bunch, setting off after the three men up front.
A crash on a left hand bend near the back of the peloton caught out Ladagnous again, along with riders from Movistar, Vacansoleil-DCM, and Euskaltel-Euskadi. Through the three-starred section of Orchies, the three men ahead were being chased by Gaudin and the peloton, at equal intervals apart with less than 60 kilometres to race. With the kilometres ticking down and still no one testing the heavy favourite Cancellara, Boasson Hagen was the first to move, along with a Cannondale rider.
The Norwegian was duly brought back, but inspired a new move by Martin Elmiger (IAM), William Bonnet (FDJ), Stannard, Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana), and Matti Breschel (Saxo-Tinkoff). The move originally looked promising, but it also was quickly pulled back by the strict policing of Radioshack-Leopard. With 53km remaining, Gaudin was finally closing in on Hayman, Steegmans, and Schar out front.
An early Cancellara acceleration brings out the protagonists:
On the number eleven Auchy-lez-Orchies section of cobbles, Cancellara made an acceleration, though it was not a move made at the Swiss machine’s top speed. The testing move was meant to force a selection, and it did. Just as Gaudin reached the three breakaway men at the front, Cancellara’s dig had them close at hand. Close on the Swiss rider’s wheel were Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), and Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano), with the latter accelerating soon after he realized that Cancellara was not yet in full flight.
Moves by a Blanco rider, along with Johan Van Summeren (Garmin-Sharp), took them up to Sinkeldam and reeled in the Hayman group, and Terpstra and Luca Paolini (Katusha) were present near the front as well. On the next section of pave, the Mons-en-Pévèle, Vandenbergh and Terpstra were stringing things out, with Cancellara attached to the Dutch champion, and they worked to pull a six-man group completely clear of seven other riders, who were chasing. These two elite groups eventually consolidated, and Vandenbergh accelerated into another short cobblestone section, interestingly just after Chavanel had asked for the team car to come up.
Europcar had two men in the selection until Turgot flatted out of the group and got a slow wheel change. This left a 12-man group out front until Chavanel’s problems continued – this time the Frenchman had to change his bike, and both he and Turgot would eventually join up with chasing groups that wouldn’t see the front again. Under 40km to go and with Vandenbergh still on the front, the leading group also consisted of Cancellara, Gaudin, Paolini, Stybar, Vanmarcke, Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM), Bernard Eisel (Sky Procycling), Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge), and the Blanco pair of Martin Wynants and Lars Boom.
Vandenbergh’s constant pressure pulled a four-man group clear, containing Vanmarcke, Langeveld, and Gaudin. Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) and Flecha tried to chase it down, just as Cancellara dropped back to the team car at a decisive point in the race – getting advice from manager Dirk Demol, bluffing fatigue, or perhaps placing an order for dinner. Ahead, Paolini and Stybar joined the chase with Flecha and Van Avermaet, and soon, four groups were spread about the road:
Vandenbergh, Vanmarcke, Langeveld, and Gaudin were up front. Chase one contained Flecha, Van Avermaet, Paolini, and Stybar. Chase two was comprised of Cancellara, Eisel, Terpstra, and Boom. And a group further back was consolidating with a number of riders, including Chavanel, Turgot, Heinrich Haussler (IAM), Pozzato, and Breschel. It was 12 seconds back to the Flecha group, 20 seconds back to the Cancellara group, and Chavanel’s chase was 50 seconds in arrears, and with still 30km to go, all was still in play.
The Flecha chase soon bridged to the leaders, just as Cancellara attacked his group, and no one from it could answer. Fortunately for Cancellara, the lead group with Flecha et al. never went to work after it consolidated, and Cancellara faced a relatively easy chase back up to them. Just as the Swiss rider latched on, Vandenbergh and Vanmarcke moved ahead, and the chess match went on. Terpstra also made it back to the chase group from behind, and the protagonists in this new group sat up, looked around, and waited for Cancellara to react as Vandenbergh and Vanmarcke went up the road.
Gaudin was the first to get impatient, accelerating several times. With 25km to go, the new leading duo had a 30-second gap, and Cancellara continued to sit on, and it was Flecha who soft-pedaled a modest chase. Paolini was the next to be snake-bitten, as the Italian punctured out of the Cancellara group, which dropped to 41 seconds behind Vandenbergh and Vanmarcke, inspiring Gaudin to attack again. On the three-star pave section of Bourghelles-Wannehain, Cancellara put in his biggest attack of the day, shedding all except Stybar – the former cyclocross world champion firmly entrenched in the wake of Cancellara. Van Avermaet tried but failed to hang on, as did Terpstra. With 23km to go, Cancellara’s face showed that he was fully committed, while amazingly, Stybar barely looked phased.
Just a kilometer later, Cancellara and Stybar were within 20 seconds of Vandenbergh and Vanmarcke, while behind, Langeveld, Flecha, Gaudin, Terpstra, and Van Avermaet consolidated into a chase group. Under 20km to go, Cancellara had pulled Stybar to the front, forming the winning break of four. Vandenbergh led onto the next cobbled sector, keeping the chasers firmly behind as the three riders on his wheel fueled up for the finish.
Onto the Carrefour de l’Arbre, Vanmarcke took the responsibility, and Vandenbergh immediately began to struggle. It wasn’t long before his unfortunate run-in with a fan, sending the tall Belgian hard onto his back. He was eventually back up and into a chase group behind, a heartbreaking end to his day and a foreshadowing of what was coming for Stybar.
Halfway through the famous five-star sector, Cancellara accelerated hard out of the left hand bend that saw the crash of Thor Hushovd several years ago as the Norwegian was chasing Tom Boonen. All three men made it through safely, and even more impressively, both Vanmarcke and Stybar withstood Cancellara’s dig. Just as it appeared that three men would play chess to the finish, Stybar got caught up in the right hand gutter, reportedly on a fan’s outreaching camera, and shot over to the left side of the road. The Czech rider stayed on his wheels but appeared to struggle briefly with his chain. He got going again soon, but it was too late, as Cancellara wasn’t slowing down, and with Vanmarcke still in his wheel, it was now two-on-one.
Stybar kept his composure, and he kept his chase up until he overcooked a bend and lost even more ground. He tried to keep the Flecha group, with five riders, in his rear view mirror, but it was to no avail. The new six-man group would be left to sprint for third, and it was Cancellara versus Vanmarcke more than a minute up the road.
The penultimate sector of cobbles was Hem, where Cancellara and Vanmarcke began disagreeing on whose turn it was to pull through. But with the chasers firmly behind, the duo had plenty of time to mess about. With 4km to go, Cancellara tried his only attack, which seemed to briefly rattle Vanmarcke, but they were soon a pair again. Cancellara asked for Vanmarcke to come through for a turn, which surprisingly, the Belgian did. They began looking at each other again with 2km to race, and entering the Roubaix velodrome, they nearly stood each other up on the track’s banking until Vanmarcke took up a modest pace.
It was almost a slow-motion sprint between two tired riders, but Vanmarcke opened up his kick too soon, and Cancellara swept by on the outside with 50 meters to go.
The Radioshack-Leopard rider celebrated Paris-Roubaix title number three, as well as the new lead in the WorldTour standings. Vanmarcke settled for second, and Terpstra outkicked Van Avermaet for the final podium spot.
Paris-Roubaix, France (WorldTour)
1, Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack Leopard) 254.5 kilometres in 5 hours 45 mins 33 secs
2, Sep Vanmarcke (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
3, Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma Quick Step) at 31 secs
4, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team)
5, Damien Gaudin (Team Europcar)
6, Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma Quick Step) at 39 secs
7, Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge)
8, Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
9, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) at 50 secs
10, Sébastien Turgot (Team Europcar)
11, Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling)
12, Bernhard Eisel (Sky Procycling)
13, Maarten Wynants (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
14, Lars Boom (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
15, Matti Breschel (Team Saxo-Tinkoff)
16, Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
17, Steve Chainel (Ag2R La Mondiale)
18, Maarten Tjallingii (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
19, Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma Quick Step)
20, Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma Quick Step)
21, Luca Paolini (Katusha) at 1 min
22, Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida) at 2 mins 52 secs
23, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team) at 3 mins 13 secs
24, Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Belisol)
25, Ramon Sinkeldam (Team Argos-Shimano)
26, Johan Le Bon (FDJ) at 3 mins 17 secs
27, Lloyd Mondory (Ag2R La Mondiale)
28, John Degenkolb (Team Argos-Shimano) at 3 mins 29 secs
29, Adrien Petit (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
30, Robert Wagner (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
31, Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana Pro Team)
32, Fabio Sabatini (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
33, Roger Kluge (Team NetApp-Endura)
34, Michael Schär (BMC Racing Team)
35, Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing Team)
36, Tom Veelers (Team Argos-Shimano)
37, Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Movistar Team)
38, Iljo Keisse (Omega Pharma Quick Step)
39, Marco Bandiera (IAM Cycling)
40, Gael Malacarne (Bretagne-Seche Environnement)
41, Martin Elmiger (IAM Cycling)
42, Sébastien Hinault (IAM Cycling)
43, Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol)
44, Bert De Backer (Team Argos-Shimano)
45, Sébastien Minard (Ag2R La Mondiale)
46, Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEdge)
47, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling)
48, Bjorn Thurau (Team Europcar)
49, Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) at 3 mins 32 secs
50, Johan Van Summeren (Garmin-Sharp)
51, Ian Stannard (Sky Procycling)
52, Mathew Hayman (Sky Procycling)
53, Hayden Roulston (RadioShack Leopard) at 6 mins 7 secs
54, Stijn Devolder (RadioShack Leopard) at 6 mins 11 secs
55, Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma Quick Step)
56, Maciej Bodnar (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
57, Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
58, Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) at 8 mins 37 secs
59, Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team) at 10 mins 27 secs
60, Ioannis Tamouridis (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
61, Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2R La Mondiale)
62, Florent Barle (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
63, José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Movistar Team)
64, Rudiger Selig (Katusha)
65, Pierre-Luc Perrichon (Bretagne-Seche Environnement)
66, Jos Van Emden (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
67, Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Katusha)
68, André Greipel (Lotto Belisol)
69, Arnaud Labbe (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
70, Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp)
71, Manuel Quinziato (BMC Racing Team)
72, William Bonnet (FDJ) at 10 mins 30 secs
73, Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Sharp) at 13 mins 16 secs
74, Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma Quick Step) at 13 mins 42 secs
75, Clément Koretzky (Bretagne-Seche Environnement)
76, Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana Pro Team) at 14 mins 34 secs
77, Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun)
78, Roy Curvers (Team Argos-Shimano)
79, Geraint Thomas (Sky Procycling)
80, Jesse Sergent (RadioShack Leopard)
81, Boy Van Poppel (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
82, Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team)
83, Kristijan Koren (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
84, Bob Jungels (RadioShack Leopard)
85, Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne-Seche Environnement)
86, Grégory Rast (RadioShack Leopard) at 14 mins 38 secs
87, Matteo Tosatto (Team Saxo-Tinkoff)
88, Yohann Gene (Team Europcar)
89, Andrea Palini (Lampre-Merida)
90, Arnaud Demare (FDJ) at 14 mins 40 secs
91, Wesley Kreder (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
92, Jonathan Cantwell (Team Saxo-Tinkoff)
93, Vegard Stake Laengen (Bretagne-Seche Environnement)
94, Jonas Aaen Jörgensen (Team Saxo-Tinkoff)
95, Jan Barta (Team NetApp-Endura) at 19 mins 12 secs
96, Stuart O'grady (Orica-GreenEdge) at 20 mins 37 secs
97, Gabriel Rasch (Sky Procycling)
98, Anders Lund (Team Saxo-Tinkoff)
99, Ricardo Garcia Ambroa (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
100, Yannick Talabardon (Sojasun)
101, Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack Leopard)
102, Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2R La Mondiale)
103, Michael Morkov (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) at 25 mins 31 secs
104, Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
105, Marko Kump (Team Saxo-Tinkoff)
106, Dominic Klemme (IAM Cycling)
107, Andreas Schillinger (Team NetApp-Endura)
108, Zakkari Dempster (Team NetApp-Endura)
109, Luke Rowe (Sky Procycling) at 26 mins 16 secs
110, Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge)
111, Edward King (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
112, William Clarke (Team Argos-Shimano)
113, Arman Kamyshev (Astana Pro Team)
114, Jetse Bol (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
115, Russell Downing (Team NetApp-Endura)
116, Andrea Guardini (Astana Pro Team)
117, Morgan Lamoisson (Team Europcar)
118, Christopher Juul Jensen (Team Saxo-Tinkoff)
Outside time limit: Tom Stamsnijder (Team Argos-Shimano) at 43 mins 59 secs
Disqualified: Giovanni Visconti (Movistar Team)
Did not finish:
Adrian Saez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
Alan Marangoni (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM Cycling)
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Merida)
Alex Dowsett (Movistar Team)
Alexander Wetterhall (Team NetApp-Endura)
André Schulze (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
Andreas Klier (Garmin-Sharp)
Baden Cooke (Orica-GreenEdge)
Benjamin Le Montagner (Bretagne-Seche Environnement)
Bertjan Lindeman (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
Blaz Jarc (Team NetApp-Endura)
Borut Bozic (Astana Pro Team)
Christophe Laborie (Sojasun)
Daniel Oss (BMC Racing Team)
Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team)
David Boucher (FDJ)
David Veilleux (Team Europcar)
Davide Appollonio (Ag2R La Mondiale)
Davide Vigano (Lampre-Merida)
Egoitz Garcia Echeguibel (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida)
Eloy Teruel Rovira (Movistar Team)
Evaldas Siskevicius (Sojasun)
Evan Huffman (Astana Pro Team)
Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Seche Environnement)
Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
Fumiyuki Beppu (Orica-GreenEdge)
Gatis Smukulis (Katusha)
Gert Joeaar (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
Greg Henderson (Lotto Belisol)
Guillaume Boivin (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma Quick Step)
Gustav Larsson (IAM Cycling)
Hugo Houle (Ag2R La Mondiale)
Jacob Rathe (Garmin-Sharp)
Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
Jean-Lou Paiani (Sojasun)
Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne-Seche Environnement)
Jens Debusschere (Lotto Belisol)
Jens Mouris (Orica-GreenEdge)
Jerome Cousin (Team Europcar)
Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar Team)
Jimmy Engoulvent (Sojasun)
Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
Kenny De Haes (Lotto Belisol)
Koen De Kort (Team Argos-Shimano)
Kristof Goddaert (IAM Cycling)
Lars Ytting Bak (Lotto Belisol)
Luca Wackermann (Lampre-Merida)
Marco Haller (Katusha)
Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing Team)
Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack Leopard)
Markus Eichler (Team NetApp-Endura)
Massimo Graziato (Lampre-Merida)
Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ)
Mauro Da Dalto (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
Maxime Daniel (Sojasun)
Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Lampre-Merida)
Mickael Delage (FDJ)
Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
Mitchell Docker (Orica-GreenEdge)
Murilo Antonio Fischer (FDJ)
Nico Sijmens (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
Peio Bilbao (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
Raymond Kreder (Garmin-Sharp)
Rick Flens (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
Romain Zingle (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
Rony Martias (Sojasun)
Ruslan Tleubayev (Astana Pro Team)
Salvatore Puccio (Sky Procycling)
Sébastien Chavanel (Team Europcar)
Sébastien Rosseler (Garmin-Sharp)
Steffen Radochla (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
Valentin Iglinskiy (Ag2R La Mondiale)
Vicente Reynes Mimo (Lotto Belisol)
Vladimir Isaichev (Katusha)
Yoann Offredo (FDJ)