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Steegmans grabs first P-N stage
One of the worst winter storms of the year ripped across central France on Monday and left the Paris-Nice peloton looking like shredded wheat in a brutal, weather-shortened first stage.
Only a Belgian could be happy racing in howling crosswinds, piercing rain and plummeting temperatures, so it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise as Tom Boonen’s favorite lead-out man, Gert Steegmans, out-toughed a reduced bunch in a 40-up sprint on a steep climbing finish into Nevers to claim victory.
All that was missing were some cobblestones and drunken fans waving Flanderen flags.
“It was like Belgium out there today,” grinned the hulking Quick Step rider. “We knew it was going to be dangerous today with the crosswinds. We wanted to use that to our advantage to break up the peloton and try to win the sprint. We managed both, so we’re very happy.”
Prologue winner Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) sprinted to third to retain the race leader’s yellow jersey, but pre-race favorites such as Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Bobby Julich (CSC) crossed the line in the first chase group at 2:37 back.
Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Christophe Moreau (Agritubel) limped in with a third chase group at 6:32 back to throw in the towel on their chances.
"I’ve had better days, mate," Evans told VeloNews, who crashed with about 40km just as the course turned into the wind. "I went down pretty hard."
Silence-Lotto officials were relieved, at least at first glance, that the 2007 Tour de France runner-up didn’t seem seriously injured, but Evans was gingerly holding his left arm when he walked from the bus to a team car after the stage.
"When Evans crashed, we had the entire team wait for him except (Yaroslav) Popovych," said Silence-Lotto sport director Herman Frison. "It happened at a bad moment because he really had to work to get back just when the echelons were forming. We had Popovych with the leaders, so now we’ll work for him. The most important thing is that Cadel doesn’t look seriously hurt."
Despite whacking the stage down to 93.5km, brutal crosswinds wreaked havoc on the best-laid plans for several GC riders hoping to vie for final victory when the “Race to the Sun” ends in warmer climes along France’s Cote d’Azur on March 16.
Only about a dozen pre-race favorites finished in the lead group of 39 riders pulling clear as the peloton fractured into echelons with about 40km to go.
"It was just a nightmare out there today," Team CSC’s Frank Schleck told VeloNews, who only managed to bridge across to the front group in the final 5km. "Everyone knew that when we changed the direction into the wind, the shit hits the fan. I’m in good shape, but I’m missing some racing kilometers."
Joining Schleck and Popovych among other overall candidates finishing in the lead group were Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Juan Manuel Garate (QuickStep), Luís León Sánchez (Caisse d’Epargne), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Alexander Efimkin (QuickStep) and Trent Lowe and David Millar (Slipstream-Chipotle).
Millar crashed with about 4km to go, but was able to latch back on as the lead group started to counter-attack each other ahead of the final sprint.
The sprint came on a steep rising finish with an average grade of 7.1 percent over the final 500 meters. Steegmans was most worried about Philippe Gilbert (FDJeux), the recent Het Volk champ who’s renowned for uncorking attacks to surprise the sprinters.
"I was most worried about Gilbert, so I started a little earlier than I would have normally," Steegmans recounted. "I gunned it, but died with about 50 meters to go. I heard the announcer screaming, ‘Hushovd, Hushovd!’ and I thought he was coming around me. When I looked back I saw no one there. It was a nice feeling."
Riders were shelled coming across the line. It looked like they might have raced 300km instead of 93.5km.
Instead of starting from Amilly the race was forced to get under way from the tiny village of La Chapelotte because of the adverse weather conditions, cutting the distance from 184.5km to 93km.
The day’s first action came when Dionisio Galparsoro (Euskaltel-Euskadi) pounced on the first mountain points on the day’s lone rate obstacle at the Cat. 3 Cote de Venoize to snag the King of the Mountains jersey.
He faded back into the pack when Bernhard Eisel (HighRoad) drew out a Milram pair of Slovak Peter Velits, the reigning U23 champion, and his Dutch teammate Niki Terpstra.
The trio built up a lead to just north of four minutes with about 50km to go. Credit Agricole was getting some help from QuickStep and FDJeux to keep the trio on a short leash.
The speed ramped up to 60kph with about 40km when a Gerolsteiner rider flew into the ditch on a narrow stretch of road. Evans was among those going down in the subsequent pileup and his entire Silence-Lotto team waited to bring back their captain, one of the favorites for this year’s Paris-Nice.
With Evans safely back in the fold, the speeds increased dramatically and the bunch started to fracture into echelons as the peloton was unprotected across open wheat fields. With winds blowing consistently from the west, the front group was soon whittled down to about 50 riders with 35km to go.
The pace was absolutely brutal as howling winter winds competed with early-season legs in a vicious fight for position. The front group was slowly melting under the pressure as rider after rider lost the wheel.
Slipstream-Chipotle kept Lowe and Millar in contention, but it wasn’t easy.
"We expected it to go to pieces today, so we came out of it pretty well even with David crashing,” sport director Johnny Weltz told VeloNews. "We knew we couldn’t win anything today, but we knew we could lose everything. It’s scary with battling the crosswinds, riders in their rain capes, bumping shoulder, hard rain made it hard to see the roads. Two and a half hours of total intensity."
Just like clockwork, the move was reeled in with about 15km to go to set up the sprint.
Then the sun poked out for the first time all day and a rainbow filled the skies above Nevers.
Paris-Nice might be getting closer to the sun, but it’s not quite there yet.
There’s more cold and gloom on tap for Tuesday’s 201km rolling march over four rated climbs, including a tough Cat. 2 with just 20km to go.
