The disappointment of stage 3 behind the peloton, Paris-Nice had its first taste of the mountains today. With the bigger climbs too far from the finish to make an impact, Rafal Majka and Alberto Contador finished with the peloton after a lone breakaway took the stage win, with no time lost to the GC leaders and ready to take on the big mountains.
As the race finally entered the mountains proper, the climbers had the chance to stretch their legs on a stage that over 198km took in the Col de la Madeleine, Mont Ventoux, the Col du Pointu, the Cote de la Roque-d’Antheron and the Col de Seze a little under 30km from the finish in Salon-de-Provence. The more fearsome climbs, however, were far from the finish and ultimately had little impact on the outcome of the stage. This didn’t stop teams from breaking away from the very start of the stage – managing to stay clear of the peloton for much of the day.
“The race went as expected today.” said Sports Director, Sean Yates, of the day’s racing. “We were hoping for a hard fight at the start but a seven man break went early and the bunch seemed quite happy with this so they went up the road.”
As the peloton approached the Cote de la Roque-d’Antheron, it was clear the Tinkoff riders wanted to shake up the other teams to chase. Yates continues. “The gap kept going up and other teams weren’t chasing so we started to chase and brought the gap down. The last climb was quite hard and tricky and some of the sprinters got dropped and had to fight back.”
In spite of a long, flat approach to the finish, the solo Lutsenko of Katusha took the win. “When Lutsenko got away you expect these breaks to come back” said Yates “but he was strong today and stayed away, and the sprinters missed out.”
Twenty-one seconds behind, the peloton, with Majka, Contador, Trofimov, Poljanski and Kiserlovski, crossed the line. Majka remains in the top ten of the GC, with Alberto 6 seconds behind in 17th.
Tinkoff’s leader, Alberto Contador, was supported well by his team throughout a tough day. “It was a demanding day in which we spent a lot of energy. Mont Ventoux came a bit early but we climbed with a good rhythm, setting the pace. The stage was very hard, as we also had to pay attention to the wind, but the squad did a good job of protecting me and we finished again safely.”
The day’s result was not a disappointment for the Tinkoff Sport Director. “For us our aim was to stay safe at the finish and not lose time ahead of tomorrow, which we’re really looking forward to. It’s going to be a hard day with not much in the way of straight or flat roads, but the weather is looking OK. We’ll be ready to race tomorrow and are looking for a hard stage as Alberto’s happy and up for it tomorrow.”
Alberto echoed his Sport Director’s comments. “Tomorrow will be an important day, with an uphill finish. We will have to see what we can achieve and whether we can climb up in the GC.”
At 177km, stage 6 tomorrow is the Race to the Sun’s queen stage. Ending in Nice, the stage takes in no fewer than seven climbs – two of them first category – and is a chance for the GC riders to take some time.
Sergio Paulinho did not take the start due to an injury.
Stage Result
1. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana Pro Team 05:00:26
2. Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Team Katusha +00:00:21
3. Michael Matthews (AUS) Orica-GreenEdge +00:00:21
4. Davide Cimolai (ITA) Lampre-Merida +00:00:21
5. Sep Vanmarcke (BEL) Team Lotto NL-Jumbo +00:00:21
26. Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff +00:00:21
29. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff +00:00:21
53. Yuri Trofimov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:21
57. Pawel Poljanski (POL) Tinkoff +00:00:21
70. Robert Kiserlovski (CRO) Tinkoff +00:00:21
93. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:06:44
96. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +00:06:44
DNS Sergio Paulinho (POR) Tinkoff
