Paris-Nice: Kloden surprises to outsprint Sanchez for stage win and yellow jersey
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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Paris-Nice: Kloden surprises to outsprint Sanchez for stage win and yellow jersey

by Shane Stokes at 12:52 PM EST   comments
Categories: Pro Cycling, Race Reports and Results, Paris-Nice
 
Team RadioShack rider picks up first win in two years

andreas KlodenTeam RadioShack rider Andreas Klöden shook off his reputation as a non-sprinter when he proved quickest of an eight man breakaway group in Paris-Nice today. Led out by team-mate Janez Brajkovic, the German rider gauged his finishing effort well and just held off Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at the finish in Vernoux-en-Vivarais.

Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) and race favourite Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) were third and fourth, the latter giving up on any chance of a stage win when he drove the pace in the closing kilometres to ensure that the group would gain as much time as possible over those behind.

Several other general classification riders made it into the leading octet, namely Rein Taaramae (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne), Robert Kiserlovski (Pro Team Astana), Brajkovic and 2010 stage winner, Xavier Tondo Volpini (Movistar Team). These were the strongest of the main field on the final climb of the day, the category 1 Col de la Mûre, and worked together on the descent to the finish to make certain that they would stay clear.

Klöden was very satisfied to take his first victory since the stage five time trial in the 2009 Tirreno-Adriatico. He celebrated the moment of taking both the stage and the yellow jersey, but was quickly thinking about the next stage and trying to defend his lead.

“Tomorrow is a hard time trial and also the last four days were very hard and nervous,” he said at the finish, according to Eurosport. “I hope the legs stay like this and I can also do a good time trial.”

His chances of retaining yellow were aided by the fact that several other strong contenders all lost time on the mountainous 193 kilometre stage. This dents their chances of overall success. The 2009 champion Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Rabobank Cycling Team) missed the split on the Col de la Mûre and conceded 18 seconds.

He was just ahead of a group containing some serious names, including Chris Anker Sörensen (Saxo Bank Sungard), Ryder Hesjedal (Team Garmin-Cervélo), Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling), Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Fränk Schleck (Leopard Trek), Michael Rogers (Sky Procycling), Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack) and Roman Kreuziger (Astana). These riders are still close enough to be in contention, but competitors such as Sanchez, Martin and Tondo will be of greater immediate concern to the new race leader.

Overnight leader Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil) never looked comfortable on the stage and cracked on the final climb. He finished over fifteen minutes back.

Early breaks soften up peloton:


The stage was the first serious showdown of this year’s race, featuring as it did seven categorised climbs. The first big move of the stage went clear on the first of two category one climbs, the Col de la Croix de Chaubouret, when Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) surged ahead and crested the summit 35 seconds ahead of four chasers. These were Hubert Dupont (AG2R La Mondiale), Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervelo), Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) and David Lopez Garcia (Movistar).

They merged and then Romain Hardy (Bretagne-Schuller) bridged up and together they built a minute’s advantage by the top of the next climb, the cat 3 Côte de Saint-Jeure-d'Ay. The lead increased after that point, then the group split on the second category Col de Montreynaud. There Westra pushed ahead to take the prime, ahead of Lopez Garcia and Dupont, while the others went back to the bunch.

Westra picked up top points on the next two climbs, while Lopez Garcia was caught by the bunch. The leaders were finally reeled in inside 40 kilometres remaining.

A seven man break moved clear on the descent of that climb, the Col de Comberon, and included yesterday’s stage winner Thomas Voeckler (Vacansoleil). Also present were Yuriy Trofimov (Katusha Team), Simon Spilak (Lampre - ISD) and the FDJ quartet of Pierrick Fedrigo, Sandy Casar, Cédric Pineau and Jérémy Roy. However they were caught by the start of the day’s last climb, the Col de la Mûre.

Big showdown for climbers:

Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) had been expected to try to win the race, but he threw down the gauntlet at the start of the climb, put himself into the red and blew up. He appeared to be riding for his team-mate Roman Kreuziger, but the latter was unable to get clear. Robert Kiserlovski was more successful, bridging up to a move by Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM).

Behind, Tejay Van Garderen was riding hard in the services of his HTC Highroad team-mate Tony Martin. The latter was able to respond when Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) surged clear, as were Tondo, Klöden, Brajkovic, Sanchez, Kiserlovsky and Carrara, and together these eight pulled ahead of the rest of the race. They worked well together to stay ahead to the finish and fight it out for the stage win.

Sanchez looked like he was launching an attack with one kilometre to go but choose his moment badly and nearly crashed; he then waited for the sprint, where it was expected that he would be quickest. However nobody told Klöden, who surprised many – and probably himself, too – when he was able to hold off the Olympic champion and scoop both the stage win and the yellow jersey.

He’s now got a four second lead over Sanchez heading into tomorrow’s time trial Carrara is six seconds back, with the others from the break at eight seconds. Martin appears perfectly poised to push for the race lead, but Klöden will fight all the way.

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2011 Paris-Nice (World Tour), Stage 5 Results:Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise - Vernoux-en-Vivarais (193 km)

  Click on the arrowsat the top of the column to sort the race results.
Country Result Name Team Time
ger GER 1 Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) 04:59:00
esp ESP 2 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
ita ITA 3 Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
ger GER 4 Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
est EST 5 Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) s.t.
cro CRO 6 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) s.t.
slo SLO 7 Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack) s.t.
esp ESP 8 Xavier Tondo Volpini (Movistar Team) s.t.
esp ESP 9 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Rabobank) 00:00:18
fra FRA 10 Pierre Rolland (Europcar) 00:00:19
den DEN 11 Chris Anker Sörensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
can CAN 12 Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
bel BEL 13 Maxime Monfort (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
gbr GBR 14 Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) s.t.
bel BEL 15 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
lux LUX 16 Fränk Schleck (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
slo SLO 17 Simon Spilak (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
aus AUS 18 Michael Rogers (Team Sky) s.t.
usa USA 19 Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) s.t.
esp ESP 20 Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Movistar Team) s.t.
cze CZE 21 Roman Kreuziger (Astana) s.t.
fra FRA 22 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
ned NED 23 Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) s.t.
fra FRA 24 Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) 00:01:34
aus AUS 25 Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:01:36
usa USA 26 Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
col COL 27 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Team Sky) s.t.
fra FRA 28 Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:01:51
uzb UZB 29 Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
ger GER 30 Linus Gerdemann (Leopard-Trek) 00:01:56
esp ESP 31 Juan Manuel Garate Cepa (Rabobank) s.t.
aho AHO 32 Marc De Maar (Quick Step) s.t.
esp ESP 33 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Movistar Team) s.t.
ita ITA 34 Diego Ulissi (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
fra FRA 35 Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ) s.t.
blr BLR 36 Kanstantsin Siutsou (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
fra FRA 37 Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) s.t.
fra FRA 38 Blel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:02:51
irl IRL 39 Nicolas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
fra FRA 40 Sandy Casar (FDJ) s.t.
esp ESP 41 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team) s.t.
rus RUS 42 Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) s.t.
fra FRA 43 Amaël Moinard (BMC Racing) s.t.
sui SUI 44 Steve Morabito (BMC Racing) s.t.
rus RUS 45 Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) 00:03:21
ita ITA 46 Mauro Finetto (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:03:37
ned NED 47 Rob Ruijgh (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
usa USA 48 Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) s.t.
fra FRA 49 Cyril Gautier (Europcar) s.t.
rus RUS 50 Yury Trofimov (Katusha) s.t.
fra FRA 51 Remy Di Gregorio (Astana) s.t.
bel BEL 52 Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
fra FRA 53 Eric Berthou (Bretagne-Schuller) 00:05:12
kaz KAZ 54 Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) s.t.
fra FRA 55 Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step) s.t.
esp ESP 56 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
fra FRA 57 Julien El Fares (Cofidis) s.t.
bel BEL 58 Johan Vansummeren (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:08:13
fra FRA 59 Rémi Pauriol (FDJ) s.t.
fra FRA 60 Tony Gallopin (Cofidis) s.t.
ita ITA 61 Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
ita ITA 62 Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:12:43
bel BEL 63 Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:15:36
bel BEL 64 Bart De Clercq (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
bel BEL 65 Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
bel BEL 66 Francis De Greef (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
bel BEL 67 Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
lux LUX 68 Laurent Didier (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
sui SUI 69 Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing) s.t.
fra FRA 70 Hubert Dupont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
ger GER 71 Dominik Nerz (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
por POR 72 Bruno Manuel Silva Pires (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
den DEN 73 Nicki Sörensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
bel BEL 74 Jurgen Van De Walle (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
ned NED 75 Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
esp ESP 76 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Team Sky) s.t.
ita ITA 77 Francesco Reda (Quick Step) s.t.
ned NED 78 Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) s.t.
aus AUS 79 Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
ned NED 80 Pieter Weening (Rabobank) s.t.
ita ITA 81 Daniele Righi (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
fra FRA 82 Cédric Pineau (FDJ) 00:17:06
fra FRA 83 Jérémy Roy (FDJ) s.t.
usa USA 84 Matthew Busche (RadioShack) s.t.
ger GER 85 Jens Voigt (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
aus AUS 86 Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
fra FRA 87 Geoffroy Lequatre (RadioShack) s.t.
slo SLO 88 Grega Bole (Lampre-ISD) 00:19:21
ita ITA 89 Matteo Bono (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
esp ESP 90 Oscar Pujol Muñoz (Omega Pharma-Lotto) 00:20:53
esp ESP 91 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis) s.t.
aus AUS 92 Simon Gerrans (Team Sky) s.t.
rsa RSA 93 Robert Hunter (RadioShack) s.t.
esp ESP 94 Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack) s.t.
esp ESP 95 Iñaki Isasi Flores (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
fra FRA 96 Tristan Valentin (Cofidis) s.t.
por POR 97 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (RadioShack) s.t.
fra FRA 98 Sylvain Calzati (Bretagne-Schuller) s.t.
fra FRA 99 Mickaël Buffaz (Cofidis) s.t.
den DEN 100 Lars Ytting Bak (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
den DEN 101 Mads Christensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
swe SWE 102 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) s.t.
ltu LTU 103 Tomas Vaitkus (Astana) s.t.
fra FRA 104 Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
esp ESP 105 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
fra FRA 106 Brice Feillu (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
ger GER 107 Grischa Niermann (Rabobank) s.t.
fra FRA 108 Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
fra FRA 109 Sébastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
fra FRA 110 Romain Hardy (Bretagne-Schuller) s.t.
kaz KAZ 111 Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana) s.t.
ned NED 112 Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) s.t.
ukr UKR 113 Andriy Grivko (Astana) s.t.
ned NED 114 Karsten Kroon (BMC Racing) s.t.
bel BEL 115 Yannick Eijssen (BMC Racing) s.t.
usa USA 116 Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
fra FRA 117 Vincent Jerome (Europcar) s.t.
fra FRA 118 Perrig Quemeneur (Europcar) s.t.
fra FRA 119 Florian Guillou (Bretagne-Schuller) s.t.
ita ITA 120 Alessandro Spezialetti (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
fra FRA 121 Alexandre Pichot (Europcar) s.t.
fra FRA 122 Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) s.t.
ita ITA 123 Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing) s.t.
usa USA 124 Danny Pate (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
nzl NZL 125 Gregory Henderson (Team Sky) s.t.
rus RUS 126 Serguei Ivanov (Katusha) s.t.
den DEN 127 Alex Rasmussen (HTC-Highroad) 00:25:47
rus RUS 128 Nikolai Trussov (Katusha) s.t.
esp ESP 129 David Lopez Garcia (Movistar Team) s.t.
slo SLO 130 Kristjan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
esp ESP 131 Jose Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Movistar Team) s.t.
fra FRA 132 Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
fra FRA 133 Anthony Ravard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
fra FRA 134 Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
fra FRA 135 Sébastien Turgot (Europcar) s.t.
den DEN 136 Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
fra FRA 137 Damien Gaudin (Europcar) s.t.
esp ESP 138 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Movistar Team) s.t.
esp ESP 139 Jose Vicente Garcia Acosta (Movistar Team) s.t.
esp ESP 140 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
usa USA 141 Jeff Louder (BMC Racing) s.t.
fra FRA 142 Renaud Dion (Bretagne-Schuller) s.t.
pol POL 143 Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
svk SVK 144 Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
gbr GBR 145 Daniel Lloyd (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
nor NOR 146 Gabriel Rasch (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
ned NED 147 Jos Van Emden (Rabobank) s.t.
bel BEL 148 Jürgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
fin FIN 149 Jussi Veikkanen (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
fra FRA 150 Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne-Schuller) s.t.
esp ESP 151 Jorge Azanza Soto (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
fra FRA 152 Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) s.t.
rus RUS 153 Pavel Brutt (Katusha) s.t.
ita ITA 154 Eros Capecchi (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
fra FRA 155 Florian Vachon (Bretagne-Schuller) s.t.
fra FRA 156 Gaël Malacarne (Bretagne-Schuller) s.t.
ned NED 157 Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
bel BEL 158 Wouter Weylandt (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
esp ESP 159 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
gbr GBR 160 Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) s.t.
gbr GBR 161 Jeremy Hunt (Team Sky) s.t.
ger GER 162 Andreas Stauff (Quick Step) s.t.
ukr UKR 163 Oleksandr Kvachuk (Lampre-ISD) s.t.

General classification after stage 4

Country Result Name Team Time
ger GER 1 Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) 24:26:13
esp ESP 2 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 00:00:04
ita ITA 3 Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:00:06
ger GER 4 Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) 00:00:10
cro CRO 5 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) s.t.
slo SLO 6 Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack) s.t.
esp ESP 7 Xavier Tondo Volpini (Movistar Team) s.t.
est EST 8 Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) s.t.
esp ESP 9 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Rabobank) 00:00:18
cze CZE 10 Roman Kreuziger (Astana) 00:00:29

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