photo credit @ Paris- Nice
excerpts from Pairs – Nice
The conditions were different, the competition as fierce, but Richie Porte remained the king of Col d’Eze, two years after becoming the first Australian to win Paris-Nice. Gusty winds and rainy spells were not enough to stop the Team Sky leader dominating the final 9.6-km time trial on the classic pass overlooking Nice in 20 minutes and 23 seconds, 1:07 slower than in 2013. Tony Gallopin’s advantage of 36 seconds at the start was finally too slim for the yellow jersey holder to retain his garment. The Frenchman finished 1:03 short of becoming the first local rider to be crowned in the Race to the sun, rather rainy this year, since 1997. In the final overall standings, Porte led world champion Michal Kwiatkowski (EQS), Slovenia’s Simon Spilak (KAT) and 2013 world champion Rui Costa (LAM) by 30 seconds.
De Gendt honors his jersey
Stijn Vandenbergh (EQS), who did a tremendous work for his leader Michal Kwiatkowski all week, was the first rider in action but the first reference time was clocked by polka-dot jersey holder Thomas De Gendt (LTS). The Belgian clocked 21:19 and rode the climb at full speed to take indications for leader Tony Gallopin. Runner-up to Richie Porte in 2013, Andrew Talansky (TCG) clocked 21 minutes precisely, 1:21 slower than two years ago. He was dislodged from top spot by three-times time trial world champion Tony Martin, the first man under 21 minutes on 20:52.
Porte too strong
As the top ten riders went into action, Simon Spilak (KAT) set the barrier high by clocking 20:36. Only 2013 world champion Rui Costa came close at first in 20:47. But as soon as Porte and Gallopin were on course, the doubts quickly disappeared. After the first intermediate time (5.5 km), Tony Gallopin had already lost 58 seconds on the Australian champion. On the line, he had given 1:39 back to the 2013 winner, who triumphed for a second time on Col d’Eze and seized the yellow jersey on the last day after winning the queen stage at Croix de Chaubouret. A good fifth on the day, in the same time as team-mate Tony Martin, Michal Kwiatkowski was rewarded for a brilliant Paris-Nice by snatching second place overall, 30 seconds behind Porte, and the best young rider white jersey. The podium was especially right, third-placed Spilak and fourth-placed Rui Costa all finishing in the same time. Gallopin had to be content with 6th place, 1:03 behind the Australian. Michael Matthews (OGE) retained his points classification green jersey.
Stage 7 Results
AUS 1 PORTE, Richie (SKY) 20:23 SLO 2 SPILAK, Simon (KATUSHA) + 13 POR 3 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 24 GER 4 MARTIN, Tony (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 29 POL 5 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) USA 6 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 37 GBR 7 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 39 ESP 8 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOVISTAR) + 50 BEL 9 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 54 EST 10 TAARAMAE, Rein (ASTANA) + 55 ESP 11 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Gorka (MOVISTAR) BEL 12 DE GENDT, Thomas (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 56 ESP 13 VALLS FERRI, Rafael (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 59 DEN 14 FUGLSANG, Jakob (ASTANA) + 1:03 AUT 15 ZOIDL, Riccardo (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 1:09 GBR 16 YATES, Simon (ORICA GreenEDGE) FRA 17 VICHOT, Arthur (FDJ) FRA 18 EDET, Nicolas (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 1:12 ARG 19 SEPULVEDA, Eduardo (BRETAGNE-SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 1:17 USA 20 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 1:18 POL 21 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 1:19 FRA 22 CHAVANEL, Sylvain (IAM CYCLING) NZL 23 BAUER, Jack (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:25 FRA 24 GAUTIER, Cyril (EUROPCAR) + 1:29 NED 25 VAN BAARLE, Dylan (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:31 LUX 26 GASTAUER, Ben (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ITA 27 CAPECCHI, Eros (MOVISTAR) POR 28 MOREIRA PAULINHO, Sergio Miguel (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 1:33 FRA 29 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 1:39 IRL 30 ROCHE, Nicolas (SKY) + 1:45 NED 31 KRUIJSWIJK, Steven (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) FRA 32 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) FRA 33 PICHON, Laurent (FDJ) + 1:47 BEL 34 HERMANS, Ben (BMC RACING) NOR 35 KRISTOFF, Alexander (KATUSHA) + 1:48 NED 36 BOOM, Lars (ASTANA) + 1:51 SUI 37 FRANK, Mathias (IAM CYCLING) + 1:54 ITA 38 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 1:55 POR 39 SANTOS SIMOES OLIVEIRA, Nelson Filipe (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 1:56 FRA 40 SICARD, Romain (EUROPCAR)
Final General Classification
AUS 1 PORTE, Richie (SKY) 29:10:41 POL 2 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 30 SLO 3 SPILAK, Simon (KATUSHA) POR 4 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) GBR 5 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 41 FRA 6 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 1:03 DEN 7 FUGLSANG, Jakob (ASTANA) + 1:05 ESP 8 VALLS FERRI, Rafael (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 1:24 ESP 9 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Gorka (MOVISTAR) + 1:38 BEL 10 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 2:18 FRA 11 CHAVANEL, Sylvain (IAM CYCLING) + 2:48 FRA 12 VICHOT, Arthur (FDJ) + 2:50 FRA 13 EDET, Nicolas (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 2:58 FRA 14 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 4:02 NED 15 KELDERMAN, Wilco (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 5:21 USA 16 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 5:41 BEL 17 BAKELANTS, Jan (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 7:36 FRA 18 BOUET, Maxime (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 8:18 ESP 19 MATE MARDONES, Luis Angel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 9:22 CRO 20 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 11:08
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