Arnaud Demare wins tough Paris-Nice opener that sees GC contenders lose time
FDJ's Arnaud Demare claimed the opening stage of Paris-Nice 2017 on a day that saw the peloton ripped apart by brutal crosswinds and general classification contenders lose over one minute.
Demare's fellow Frenchman, Quick-Step Floors' Julian Alaphilippe, launched his assault on the line in the final two kilometres, leaving the rest of the leading group trailing. Only Demare had enough left to catch the climber and was always favourite to win the sprint to the line.
"It was a race of real movement", exclaimed a beaming Demare, "Of course, we took the bull by the horns and I really enjoyed it. It was crazy but I enjoyed it."
It was announced after the race that one of the favourites, AG2R La Mondiale's Romain Bardet, had been disqualified for drafting behind team cars after crashing.
Stage one, a 148km loop starting and finishing in Bois d-Arcy, had been earmarked as a straight forward sprinters stage although it turned out to be anything but, thanks in large part to atrocious weather conditions.
Four riders got into the day's first breakaway - Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Romain Hardy (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), Gatis Smukulis (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and Kristijan Koren (Cannondale-Drapac) - and forged a sizable lead of six minutes in the opening 40km.
FDJ capitalised on the howling conditions, pushing the pace and splintering the main field into several groups, to form a selection of 22 chasers that contained the sprinters, alongside a few GC hopefuls; Team Sky's Sergio Henao and Quick-Step's Dan Martin.
Many GC contenders were left behind by this move and the cutting crosswinds, including Trek Segafredo's Alberto Contador, Orica Scott's Simon Yates, AG2R's Bardet and BMC Racing's Richie Porte.
The breakaway was caught by the 22 chasers to make a leading group of 26, and even with the efforts of the likes of Katusha-Alpecin's Tony Martin and Jarlington Pantano of Trek Segafredo in the second group on the road, the gap became insurmountable given the conditions.
Into the closing five km, and those who had been facing the weather on the front for over 140km were struggling to hang on and a few were dropped.
Even the sprinters were now struggling to keep the pace with so few, if any, team mates to count on for a lead out. Quick-Step's Marcel Kittel and Lotto Soudal's Andre Greipel were dropped on the steep climb in the last couple of kilometres as they just couldn't maintain the effort of the more punchy riders in the group.
Alaphilippe made his move as the climb was beginning to level out, taking only Demare with him. Katusha-Alpecin's sprinter Alexander Kristoff and Quick-Step's Philippe Gilbert contested for third and fourth respectively while Martin and Henao came in just behind in the same group.
Porte, Bardet (before retrospective DQ) and Zakarin stopped the clock at 38 seconds in arrears to Demare, while Contador and Yates were a further 17 seconds down.
Stage two is another flat course, although after what we saw today anything could unfold.
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| Credit: leparisien.fr |
"It was a race of real movement", exclaimed a beaming Demare, "Of course, we took the bull by the horns and I really enjoyed it. It was crazy but I enjoyed it."
It was announced after the race that one of the favourites, AG2R La Mondiale's Romain Bardet, had been disqualified for drafting behind team cars after crashing.
Stage one, a 148km loop starting and finishing in Bois d-Arcy, had been earmarked as a straight forward sprinters stage although it turned out to be anything but, thanks in large part to atrocious weather conditions.
Four riders got into the day's first breakaway - Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Romain Hardy (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), Gatis Smukulis (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and Kristijan Koren (Cannondale-Drapac) - and forged a sizable lead of six minutes in the opening 40km.
FDJ capitalised on the howling conditions, pushing the pace and splintering the main field into several groups, to form a selection of 22 chasers that contained the sprinters, alongside a few GC hopefuls; Team Sky's Sergio Henao and Quick-Step's Dan Martin.
Many GC contenders were left behind by this move and the cutting crosswinds, including Trek Segafredo's Alberto Contador, Orica Scott's Simon Yates, AG2R's Bardet and BMC Racing's Richie Porte.
The breakaway was caught by the 22 chasers to make a leading group of 26, and even with the efforts of the likes of Katusha-Alpecin's Tony Martin and Jarlington Pantano of Trek Segafredo in the second group on the road, the gap became insurmountable given the conditions.
Into the closing five km, and those who had been facing the weather on the front for over 140km were struggling to hang on and a few were dropped.
Even the sprinters were now struggling to keep the pace with so few, if any, team mates to count on for a lead out. Quick-Step's Marcel Kittel and Lotto Soudal's Andre Greipel were dropped on the steep climb in the last couple of kilometres as they just couldn't maintain the effort of the more punchy riders in the group.
Alaphilippe made his move as the climb was beginning to level out, taking only Demare with him. Katusha-Alpecin's sprinter Alexander Kristoff and Quick-Step's Philippe Gilbert contested for third and fourth respectively while Martin and Henao came in just behind in the same group.
Porte, Bardet (before retrospective DQ) and Zakarin stopped the clock at 38 seconds in arrears to Demare, while Contador and Yates were a further 17 seconds down.
Stage two is another flat course, although after what we saw today anything could unfold.
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