Paris-Nice: Voeckler grabs another stage win, Martin wins overall
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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Paris-Nice: Voeckler grabs another stage win, Martin wins overall

by Shane Stokes at 11:25 AM EST   comments
Categories: Pro Cycling, Race Reports and Results, Paris-Nice
 
French and German triumph on Promenade des Anglais

Thomas VoecklerOn what was another dangerous, rain-splattered day in Paris-Nice, French champion Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) soled to an excellent second stage victory of the race, while Tony Martin (HTC Highroad) held on to win the overall.

Voeckler was part of a breakaway group which went in the early part of the stage, and then forged ahead on the Col d’Eze climb. He was joined by Diego Ulissi (Lampre - ISD) and together the two of them set about in building a big enough lead to hold off the inevitable charge behind. Voeckler then pushed ahead on the slippery run down towards Nice, eking out a stage-winning lead and reaching the line on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais 23 seconds ahead of Ulissi.

“I am very happy. Today was really hard…I took plenty of risks on the descent. I thought I was too old to take such risk, but I still have a good bit of passion,” he smiled, talking to France 3 television.

“Two stage wins is really great for me and the team . The season debut of the team was already good and this was confirmed in this Paris-Nice. I never had much luck in previous editions but this year I have had more success…it also helps to have very good legs.”

Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was the only general classification contender to put in a committed effort on the Col d’Eze and crested the summit with several second’s lead over Martin and the other riders. He joined team-mate Gorka Izagirre Insausti, who had been in the early break but who waited, and together they raced towards Eze. They overhauled the other remnants of the breakaway group close to the line.

Julien El Fares (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne) edged out Sanchez for third, but the time gained by the latter was enough to move him up one place to fifth in the final classification. His gains didn’t trouble race leader Tony Martin, though, who never came under a real threat and finished alongside closest competitors Andreas Klöden (Team RadioShack) and Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling).

That saw him beat them overall by 36 and 41 seconds respectively, with Rein Taaramae (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne) one minute and ten seconds back in fourth.

It is Martin’s biggest triumph thus far, and shows that he is a bona fide contender for the shorter stage races. It remains to be seen if he can now handle the high mountains in Grand Tours, but he is certainly improving in his consistency. Today he became the first German winner since Jorg Jaksche in 2004.

“It’s so great. It’s the biggest success ever in my career. I’m so happy but I need some time to think about it…I’m just thrilled to win now,” he said. “Yesterday, it was super cold, really dangerous in the descents and I’m very happy that I didn’t crash. I was not sure about my win today because there were strong riders in the front, but everything ended fine.

“It’s a fantastic start of the season, which gives me so much confidence for the next races. I’ll be ready for the season. For sure it’s my biggest goal to have a good Tour de France. I hope I can do it. I think I’m ready for it.”

It can be argued that Friday’s 27 kilometre time trial removed some suspense from the race, as Martin was able to eke out a very solid lead over the other riders, then ride defensively. That’s something that ASO will keep in mind for future editions, but for now it’ll be glad that Voeckler rode well in animating the final stage.

His strength is in picking select days to target top results, gambling everything on two or three maximal efforts in a stage race rather than being more cautious. He said that’s the kind of racing that he enjoys, and he plans to keep doing it. “I prefer to win two stages than finishing 10th or 11th. That’s the swashbuckling cycling I love, it’s fun,” he explained.

“Everybody deserves plaudits in such difficult conditions but I guess I deserve a little more for winning here.”

Early move leads to success:


After an early break by Andriy Grivko (Astana) was reeled back, Voeckler and Leopard Trek rider Linus Gerdemann sparked off a move of eleven riders when they went clear on the descent of the Côte de Duranus. They were joined by mountains leader Rémi Pauriol (FDJ), former race winner Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), Ulissi, David Lopez-Garcia (Movistar), Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil), Laurent Didier (Saxo Bank), Matthew Busche (RadioShack), Julien El Fares (Cofidis) and Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

Pauriol led over the top of the second category Col de Chateauneuf (km 55.5), and then sealed his win in the KOM classification when he was also first to the top of the identically-ranked Col de Calaison (km 70).

Gerdemann was feeling good but had the misfortune to puncture out on the climb. “It was the right move, and he was feeling very, very strong,” said directeur sportif Kim Andersen afterwards.

“The commissaire did not allow any cars behind. Linus got a flat. Mavic came to him with a neutral wheel, but he was over one minute behind the group at that point. He tried to come back, but it was impossible. He lost a lot there. He had really good legs. We only had one or two flat tires in all of Paris-Nice, and this was one we really did not need. It was bad luck…really bad luck for Linus.”

Vinkourov also dropped back on the climb, although this was due to his legs rather than his bike. He said that his strength was eroded by the cold and the rain, and he left the race.

The break built a maximum lead of three minutes and ten seconds, putting Carrara into the virtual yellow jersey by 20 seconds, but the bunch then started chasing. Pauriol, Busche and Didier dropped back heading for the climb of La Turbie, while behind the peloton was thinning out and was down to just 20 riders.

The break had a lead of one minute 25 seconds at the top of the category one La Turbie ( km 94). Voeckler and Ulissi were concerned and attacked on the Col d’Eze, crossing the summit in that order and holding a 16 second lead over those behind.

Olympic champion Sanchez (Euskaltel) attacked on the climb and joined up with Izagirre, who waited for his leader. The other GC contenders sat tight and despite a lot of work by Team Sky beforehand, Wiggins did not make a bid to dislodge Martin. Ditto for Klöden and the others, who appeared content to defend their positions rather than launch all-out attacks and try to chase yellow.

Voeckler then pushed ahead on the run into Nice, gradually building a lead over Ulissi and reaching the line 23 seconds ahead. The group containing El Fares, Sanchez, Lopez Garcia and Carrara finished just over a minute back, with Izagirre just behind this.

Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team) led home Tony Martin’s group, one minute 22 seconds down. What threatened to be a very dangerous stage for him worked out just fine, and he held on to take the biggest win of his career.

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2011 Paris-Nice (World Tour), Stage 8 Results: Nice to Nice (124km)

  Click on the arrowsat the top of the column to sort the race results.
Country Result Name Team Time
fra FRA 1 Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) 03:15:58
ita ITA 2 Diego Ulissi (Lampre-ISD) 00:00:23
fra FRA 3 Julien El Fares (Cofidis) 00:01:06
esp ESP 4 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
esp ESP 5 David Lopez Garcia (Movistar) s.t.
ita ITA 6 Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
esp ESP 7 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 00:01:12
esp ESP 8 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar) 00:01:22
slo SLO 9 Simon Spilak (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
ltu LTU 10 Tomas Vaitkus (Astana) s.t.
ned NED 11 Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) s.t.
fra FRA 12 Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) s.t.
ger GER 13 Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) s.t.
fra FRA 14 Blel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
slo SLO 15 Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack) s.t.
ger GER 16 Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
gbr GBR 17 Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) s.t.
est EST 18 Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) s.t.
usa USA 19 Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) s.t.
bel BEL 20 Maxime Monfort (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
por POR 21 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (RadioShack) 00:01:25
aus AUS 22 Michael Rogers (Team Sky) s.t.
fra FRA 23 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
aus AUS 24 Simon Gerrans (Team Sky) s.t.
esp ESP 25 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 00:04:54
esp ESP 26 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Movistar) 00:05:12
slo SLO 27 Kristjan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
fra FRA 28 Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
fra FRA 29 Sylvain Calzati (Bretagne-Schuller) s.t.
kaz KAZ 30 Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana) s.t.
ger GER 31 Linus Gerdemann (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
fra FRA 32 Remy Di Gregorio (Astana) s.t.
fra FRA 33 Alexandre Pichot (Europcar) s.t.
bel BEL 34 Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
ger GER 35 Jens Voigt (Leopard-Trek) s.t.
aus AUS 36 Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
den DEN 37 Nicki Sörensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
aus AUS 38 Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
esp ESP 39 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
fra FRA 40 Hubert Dupont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
ita ITA 41 Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing) s.t.
esp ESP 42 Xavier Tondo Volpini (Movistar) s.t.
cze CZE 43 Roman Kreuziger (Astana) s.t.
esp ESP 44 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Movistar) s.t.
ita ITA 45 Mauro Finetto (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:05:23
esp ESP 46 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Team Sky) s.t.
usa USA 47 Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
fra FRA 48 Tristan Valentin (Cofidis) s.t.
bel BEL 49 Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
esp ESP 50 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis) s.t.
rus RUS 51 Yury Trofimov (Katusha) s.t.
usa USA 52 Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
col COL 53 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Team Sky) s.t.
fin FIN 54 Jussi Veikkanen (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
bel BEL 55 Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
bel BEL 56 Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
gbr GBR 57 Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) s.t.
ned NED 58 Pieter Weening (Rabobank) 00:06:44
den DEN 59 Chris Anker Sörensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:08:36
ukr UKR 60 Andriy Grivko (Astana) s.t.
fra FRA 61 Rémi Pauriol (FDJ) 00:09:32
lux LUX 62 Laurent Didier (Saxo Bank-Sungard) s.t.
esp ESP 63 Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack) s.t.
esp ESP 64 Iñaki Isasi Flores (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
usa USA 65 Matthew Busche (RadioShack) s.t.
esp ESP 66 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Rabobank) s.t.
fra FRA 67 Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:11:31
fra FRA 68 Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
den DEN 69 Lars Ytting Bak (HTC-Highroad) 00:13:10
bel BEL 70 Jürgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
fra FRA 71 Eric Berthou (Bretagne-Schuller) s.t.
fra FRA 72 Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) s.t.
fra FRA 73 Sébastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
aho AHO 74 Marc De Maar (Quick Step) s.t.
rus RUS 75 Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) s.t.
esp ESP 76 Jorge Azanza Soto (Euskaltel-Euskadi) s.t.
ita ITA 77 Matteo Bono (Lampre-ISD) s.t.
ger GER 78 Grischa Niermann (Rabobank) 00:18:02
usa USA 79 Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) s.t.
bel BEL 80 Bart De Clercq (Omega Pharma-Lotto) s.t.
blr BLR 81 Kanstantsin Siutsou (HTC-Highroad) s.t.
pol POL 82 Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Cannondale) s.t.
fra FRA 83 Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
can CAN 84 Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
aus AUS 85 Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) s.t.
esp ESP 86 Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Movistar) s.t.
uzb UZB 87 Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) s.t.
fra FRA 88 Anthony Ravard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) s.t.
ned NED 89 Karsten Kroon (BMC Racing) s.t.

Final overall classification:

Country Result Name Team Time
ger GER 1 Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) 34:03:37
ger GER 2 Andreas Klöden (RadioShack) 00:00:36
gbr GBR 3 Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 00:00:41
est EST 4 Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) 00:01:10
esp ESP 5 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 00:01:13
fra FRA 6 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:01:24
slo SLO 7 Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack) 00:01:34
usa USA 8 Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) 00:01:36
ned NED 9 Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) 00:02:04
bel BEL 10 Maxime Monfort (Leopard-Trek) 00:02:26
ita ITA 11 Matteo Carrara (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:02:35
aus AUS 12 Michael Rogers (Team Sky) 00:02:42
slo SLO 13 Simon Spilak (Lampre-ISD) 00:03:24
esp ESP 14 Xavier Tondo Volpini (Movistar) 00:05:43
fra FRA 15 Blel Kadri (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:06:19
esp ESP 16 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar) 00:07:03
cze CZE 17 Roman Kreuziger (Astana) 00:07:10
ger GER 18 Linus Gerdemann (Leopard-Trek) 00:08:11
ita ITA 19 Diego Ulissi (Lampre-ISD) 00:08:14
esp ESP 20 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Movistar) 00:08:27
fra FRA 21 Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) 00:09:58
aus AUS 22 Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:10:21
fra FRA 23 Remy Di Gregorio (Astana) 00:10:45
esp ESP 24 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 00:13:41
fra FRA 25 Julien El Fares (Cofidis) 00:14:05
den DEN 26 Chris Anker Sörensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:14:58
bel BEL 27 Stijn Devolder (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:15:17
esp ESP 28 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Rabobank) 00:15:58
col COL 29 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Team Sky) 00:16:28
rus RUS 30 Yury Trofimov (Katusha) 00:17:02
usa USA 31 Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad) 00:19:00
rus RUS 32 Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) 00:19:32
can CAN 33 Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:21:53
fra FRA 34 Rémi Pauriol (FDJ) 00:22:18
aho AHO 35 Marc De Maar (Quick Step) 00:22:45
blr BLR 36 Kanstantsin Siutsou (HTC-Highroad) 00:22:52
bel BEL 37 Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:25:09
ita ITA 38 Mauro Finetto (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:25:55
bel BEL 39 Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:26:35
fra FRA 40 Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) 00:26:45
den DEN 41 Nicki Sörensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:26:53
uzb UZB 42 Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) 00:27:39
aus AUS 43 Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) 00:27:47
ger GER 44 Jens Voigt (Leopard-Trek) 00:27:55
fra FRA 45 Hubert Dupont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:28:06
aus AUS 46 Simon Gerrans (Team Sky) 00:28:39
fra FRA 47 Eric Berthou (Bretagne-Schuller) 00:28:52
bel BEL 48 Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto) 00:29:05
esp ESP 49 David Lopez Garcia (Movistar) 00:29:12
fra FRA 50 Tristan Valentin (Cofidis) 00:30:12
esp ESP 51 Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Movistar) 00:31:26
por POR 52 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (RadioShack) 00:31:54
usa USA 53 Matthew Busche (RadioShack) 00:32:18
esp ESP 54 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 00:32:47
fra FRA 55 Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:33:30
slo SLO 56 Kristjan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale) 00:33:46
kaz KAZ 57 Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana) 00:34:36
esp ESP 58 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis) 00:35:12
esp ESP 59 Iñaki Isasi Flores (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 00:36:01
fra FRA 60 Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 00:37:19
usa USA 61 Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:37:53
esp ESP 62 Markel Irizar Aranburu (RadioShack) 00:38:19
aus AUS 63 Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) 00:39:48
fra FRA 64 Alexandre Pichot (Europcar) 00:42:23
bel BEL 65 Jürgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) 00:42:28
ltu LTU 66 Tomas Vaitkus (Astana) 00:42:44
usa USA 67 Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) 00:42:51
esp ESP 68 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 00:43:50
ned NED 69 Pieter Weening (Rabobank) 00:45:18
fra FRA 70 Sylvain Calzati (Bretagne-Schuller) 00:45:39
esp ESP 71 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Team Sky) 00:45:43
bel BEL 72 Bart De Clercq (Omega Pharma-Lotto) 00:46:54
ned NED 73 Karsten Kroon (BMC Racing) 00:47:24
lux LUX 74 Laurent Didier (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 00:48:01
ukr UKR 75 Andriy Grivko (Astana) 00:49:15
esp ESP 76 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Movistar) 00:51:26
fin FIN 77 Jussi Veikkanen (Omega Pharma-Lotto) 00:52:31
den DEN 78 Lars Ytting Bak (HTC-Highroad) 00:53:23
fra FRA 79 Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) 00:55:06
ita ITA 80 Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing) 00:56:38
ita ITA 81 Matteo Bono (Lampre-ISD) 00:58:47
esp ESP 82 Jorge Azanza Soto (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 00:59:50
gbr GBR 83 Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) 01:05:01
fra FRA 84 Anthony Ravard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 01:05:58
fra FRA 85 Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 01:06:27
fra FRA 86 Pierre Cazaux (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 01:09:48
fra FRA 87 Sébastien Minard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) 01:09:49
ger GER 88 Grischa Niermann (Rabobank) 01:15:33
pol POL 89 Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Cannondale) 01:19:46

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