Paris - Nice stage 1

The race to the sun.  Talk about an old fashioned barn burner -not sure where that saying comes from, because I would think that a burning barn would be a bad thing.  I did grow up on a farm.  Talk about a great race.  This edition started in Houdan in northern France about 63k west of Paris with a circuit race of 154.5k of mostly flat farmland with a little cat 3 bump.  Fast fast fast, and windy.

Photo credit © Isabelle Duchesne

And the attack was on at 15k with Gaudin (Europcar) and Izaguirre (Euskaltel) getting some TV time for their sponsors.  They were given a long leash and stayed away until Sky and Garmin decided it was time to bring the rogues back into the fold.  Europcar is new to the UCI WorldTour, or is it?  They were previously sponsored by Bbox Bouygues Telecom, and are now competing under a Professional Continental license.  Since they are French based look for them to gain wildcards into French races.  Laurent Fignon rode for Cyrille Guimard with a previous iteration of this team.

Oh, and the catch was made.  Can you say counter attack, I knew you could.  What is this?  Did someone set the clock back to 2003?  Jens Voigt in the break, I almost thought he should be wearing a Credit Agricole kit.  Somethings just never change.  Jens (Leopard) was joined by Roy (FDJ) and De Gendt (Vacansoleil) 2k after the peloton made the initial catch.  The trio went to work, at what seemed like a doomed escape, they never gained more than 50sec.  What would it be to work in a break with the master, cycling royalty, Jens the King of the breakaway?  I've been in a few breaks before and I know when I brought a knife to a gunfight, it's a good feeling to work with stronger riders -but you know what is coming at the 1k to go.

Photo credit © Bettini

The doomed break stayed away, and when it seemed like they were going to get caught, they just stayed out of reach.  At the red kite the gap was 13sec and the peloton was closing with force.  De Gendt made a move that Voigt and Roy countered just a little too late.  Haussler (Garmin) was the first one out of the field followed by Sagan (Liquigas) to catch Voigt, but could not close it at the line to nip De Gendt or Roy.  Talk about heartbreak for Jens, but a great one to "chalk it up" for the break.  You have to love it when the break does the work and sticks it to the peloton.  I won't lie, it would have been perfect for Jens to have outkicked his companions and nabbed a win for ol' times.

1 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 4:05:06
2 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ
3 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Team Garmin-Cervelo
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale
5 Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Procycling
6 Jens Voigt (Ger) Leopard Trek
7 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Leopard Trek
8 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
9 Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
10 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team