THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Boonen outkicks Davis, snatches lead at Paris-Nice
The rainbow jersey curse has yet to strike Tom Boonen so far this year.
The reigning world champion put down a textbook-perfect sprint to win Monday’s first stage of Paris-Nice and snatch the yellow jersey away from Bobby Julich (CSC) thanks to time bonuses.
It was Boonen’s eighth win in the young 2006 season, and the Belgian was already looking ahead to the spring classics moments after slamming the door shut on Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros).
"It’s good to have won the stage because now I can take it easy until the end of Paris-Nice," Boonen told reporters. "For me, this race is ideal preparation for the classics."
Boonen can take confidence ahead of the spring classics, which ramp up March 18 with Milan-San Remo, where he hopes to win for the first time. Then there’s Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the first week of April, when he dreams of repeating his double from a year ago.
Winning at least one of those is the top of Boonen’s ambitions right now. With the way he’s been racing so far, winning all three might not be too much of a stretch.
His Quick Step-Innergetic team made easy work of a two-man breakaway led by French riders Stephane Auge and Christophe Laurent to set up their man with 6km to go. Tour de France prologue winner David Zabriskie (CSC) held an early lead after slipping away earlier in the race.
Davis tried to surprise the big Belgian with a surge on the left side, but Boonen turned on the turbos to drive home his 43rd career victory.
Cold and rain pelted the peloton as it drove south from Paris, just the kind of weather Boonen and the rest of the classics strongmen are likely to see in a few weeks time.
"Two weeks ago, when I saw the road book, I had it marked down as one of my goals," Boonen said. "It was a flat stage, which suited me fine, even though the conditions made it very hard. It was cold, it rained and I’m all the happier to have been able to win in such conditions."
Thanks to an excellent opening prologue — he finished just three seconds shy of Julich’s winning time — Boonen slipped into the overall lead. Defending champion Julich moved into second at seven seconds back, with Andrey Kashechkin (Liberty Seguros) third at eight seconds back.
For Team CSC, looking for its third consecutive Paris-Nice, losing the jersey to sprinter Boonen isn’t a major concern this early in the race. In fact, having some help from the sprinters’ teams will help CSC hold its reserves for the trickier stages still to come.
"It went according to plan for us today," said Team CSC manager Bjarne Riis. "As expected, Quick Step had ambitions for Boonen to win the stage and the jersey. This means we can leave it up to the sprinters’ teams to keep the peloton together and instead try to control the race as far as rivals for the overall victory are concerned."
Discovery Channel’s Jason McCartney did not finish.
Tuesday's 200km second stage from Cerilly to Belleville provides ideal attacking ground for ambitious riders. There are six rated climbs sprinkled along the course as it pushes east along the northern fringes of the Massif Central.
The day's hardest climb is the Cat. 2 Col des Echarmeaux (9.6km at 3 percent) at 40km to go. Two more punchy Cat. 3 climbs come at within the final 25km before a long descent and flat finish into Belleville.
