March 8/15 12:36 pm - Paris Nice: Prologue results
Posted by Editoress on 03/8/15
Road world champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick Step) showed he also has a huge talent against the clock when he upset most of the favourites to win the 6.7-km prologue of Paris-Nice and take the lead of the Race to the Sun in his first participation. The 24-year-old Polish rider outshone such riding machines as Australia's Rohan Dennis (BMC), the hour world record holder, who finished inside the same second, or his team-mate Tony Martin, a three-time time trial world champion, who was seven seconds slower. Given the strength of his Etixx-Quick Step team, the man his director Wilfried Peeters describes as "the ideal rider for a one-week race" will be a difficult leader to dislodge. In any case his rivals are warned.
Van Baarle sets the tone
The first reference time was clocked by Dutchman Dylan Van Baarle (Team Cannondale-Garmin), whose 8:04 stood for a while until a perfectly timed effort by Giacomo Nizzolo, who clocked 8:02, at exactly 50 kph. The Italian's leading mark did not last very long as Portugal's Tiago Machado, starting immediately behind him, upstaged him at just over eight minutes.
Dennis leads for an hour
The first real specialist in action was world hour record hold Rohan Dennis, who smashed Machado's time by 20 seconds, at exactly the same average speed as his world mark of 52.4 kph. The only rider to come any close in the first half of the field was Spain's Luis-Leon Sanchez, who finished ten seconds off the pace but showed he was back in promising form on a race he clinched in 2009.
Beware of Degenkolb and Matthews
Tom-Jalte Slagter (Team Cannondale-Garmin), winner of two stages a year ago, also showed he had good legs by completing the course under the eight minute barrier, a feat also achieved by two leading sprinters, John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Alpecin) and Michael Matthews (Orica GreenEDGE). Sixth and 8th respectively, they will be among the men to watch in the next couple of stages.
Porte slightly below-par
Arch-favourite Richie Porte, the 2013 winner, also rode under eight minutes but his 7:55 were not enough to secure a place in the top ten. The Australian time-trial champion finished 13th, almost in the same time as team-mate Bradley Wiggins, the world champion, who was never really in contention. Geraint Thomas was the best-placed rider of Team Sky in 10th, just ahead of American Tejay Van Garderen (BMC)
Talansky disappoints
Among the leading big names to have performed under par were American Andrew Talansky, Porte's runner-up two years ago, who lost 25 seconds to Kwiatkowski. France's Romain Bardet fared even worse, squandering 35 seconds on a course that did not suit him. Italian climber Fabio Aru (Astana) will also have 33 seconds to recover on this week's climbs.
ASO press release
Results fom the first stage of Paris Nice in France
| Prologue: Maurepas ITT, 6.7 km | |
| 1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick Step) | 0:07:40.050 |
| 2 Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) | at s.t. |
| 3 Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) | 0:07 |
| 4 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Astana Pro Team) | 0:10 |
| 5 Lars Boom (Astana Pro Team) | |
| 6 John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Alpecin) | |
| 7 Sylvain Chavanel (Iam Cycling) | all s.t. |
| 8 Michael Matthews (Orica GreenEDGE) | 0:12 |
| 9 Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant-Alpecin) | 0:13 |
| 10 Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | 0:14 |
| 11 Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) | s.t. |
| 12 Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) | 0:15 |
| 13 Richie Porte (Team Sky) | s.t. |
| 14 Wilco Kelderman (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) | 0:16 |
| 15 Jack Bauer (Team Cannondale-Garmin) | |
| 16 Ruben Plaza Molina (Lampre - Merida) | both s.t. |
| 17 Sebastian Langeveld (Team Cannondale-Garmin) | 0:17 |
| 18 Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) | s.t. |
| 19 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Movistar Team) | 0:18 |
| 20 Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) | |
| 21 Tom Jelte Slagter (Team Cannondale-Garmin) | both s.t. |
| 22 Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) | 0:19 |
| 23 Ruben Fernandez (Movistar Team) | 0:20 |
| 24 Tiago Machado (Team Katusha) | |
| 25 Rein Taaramae (Astana Pro Team) | both s.t. |
| 26 Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) | 0:21 |
| 27 Gregory Henderson (Lotto-Soudal) | |
| 28 Kristof Vandewalle (Trek Factory Racing) | |
| 29 Rui Costa (Lampre - Merida) | all s.t. |
| 30 Riccardo Zoidl (Trek Factory Racing) | 0:22 |
| 31 Dries Devenyns (Iam Cycling) | |
| 32 Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) | both s.t. |
| 33 Benjamin King (Team Cannondale-Garmin) | 0:23 |
| 34 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Movistar Team) | 0:24 |
| 35 Dylan Van Baarle (Team Cannondale-Garmin) | |
| 36 Florian Senechal (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) | both s.t. |
| 37 Christian Knees (Team Sky) | 0:25 |
| 38 Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) | 0:25 |
| 39 Andrew Talansky (Team Cannondale-Garmin) | s.t. |
| 40 Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) | 0:26 |
| 41 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team) | |
| 42 Gert Steegmans (Trek Factory Racing) | |
| 43 Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick Step) | |
| 44 Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team) | all s.t. |
| 45 Florian Vachon (Bretagne - Seche Environnement) | 0:27 |
| 46 Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) | |
| 47 Arnaud Demare (FDJ) | both s.t. |
| 48 Silvan Dillier (BMC Racing Team) | 0:28 |
| 49 Heinrich Haussler (Iam Cycling) | |
| 50 Ben Hermans (BMC Racing Team) | |
| 51 Arnaud Gerard (Bretagne - Seche Environnement) | |
| 52 Nelson Oliveira (Lampre - Merida) | |
| 53 Sergey Chernetski (Team Katusha) | |
| 54 Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick Step) | |
| 55 Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) | all s.t. |
| 56 Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) | 0:29 |
| 57 Laurent Pichon (FDJ) | |
| 58 Maxime Bouet (Etixx-Quick Step) | |
| 59 Jérôme Pineau (Iam Cycling) | |
| 60 Mathias Frank (Iam Cycling) | |
| 61 Michael Valgren (Tinkoff-Saxo) | |
| 62 Bryan Coquard (Team Europcar) | |
| 63 Romain Sicard (Team Europcar) | all s.t. |
| 64 Pierrick Fedrigo (Bretagne - Seche Environnement) | 0:30 |
| 65 Bram Tankink (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) | 0:31 |
| 66 Georg Preidler (Team Giant-Alpecin) | |
| 67 Benat Intxausti (Movistar Team) | |
| 68 Arthur Vichot (FDJ) | |
| 69 Rafael Valls (Lampre - Merida) | all s.t. |
| 70 Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Soudal) | 0:32 |
| 71 Davide Cimolai (Lampre - Merida) | |
| 72 Simon Clarke (Orica GreenEDGE) | |
| 73 William Bonnet (FDJ) | |
| 74 Simon Spilak (Team Katusha) | |
| 75 Sergio Paulinho (Tinkoff-Saxo) | |
| 76 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Team Katusha) | all s.t. |
| 77 Bryan Nauleau (Team Europcar) | 0:33 |
| 78 Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) | |
| 79 Jos Van Emden (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) | |
| 80 Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne - Seche Environnement) | |
| 81 Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team) | all s.t. |
| 82 Jan Bakelants (AG2R La Mondiale) | 0:34 |
| 83 Robert Kiserlovski (Tinkoff-Saxo) | |
| 84 David Tanner (Iam Cycling) | both s.t. |
| 85 Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | 0:35 |
| 86 Michal Golas (Etixx-Quick Step) | |
| 87 Amaël Moinard (BMC Racing Team) | |
| 88 Lars Ytting Bak (Lotto-Soudal) | |
| 89 Koen De Kort (Team Giant-Alpecin) | |
| 90 Anthony Roux (FDJ) | all s.t. |
| 91 Egor Silin (Team Katusha) | 0:36 |
| 92 Nicolas Edet (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) | |
| 93 Michael Albasini (Orica GreenEDGE) | |
| 94 Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) | all s.t. |
| 95 Alex Howes (Team Cannondale-Garmin) | 0:37 |
| 96 Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) | |
| 97 Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) | |
| 98 Pawel Poljanski (Tinkoff-Saxo) | |
| 99 Eros Capecchi (Movistar Team) | |
| 100 Ben Swift (Team Sky) | all s.t. |
| 101 Borut Bozic (Astana Pro Team) | 0:38 |
| 102 Nikolas Maes (Etixx-Quick Step) | |
| 103 Warren Barguil (Team Giant-Alpecin) | |
| 104 Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) | |
| 105 Christian Meier (Orica GreenEDGE) | all s.t. |
| 106 Antoine Duchesne (Team Europcar) | 0:39 |
| 107 Ramon Sinkeldam (Team Giant-Alpecin) | |
| 108 Daryl Impey (Orica GreenEDGE) | |
| 109 Angelo Tulik (Team Europcar) | all s.t. |
| 110 Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) | 0:40 |
| 111 Michael Schär (BMC Racing Team) | |
| 112 Michael Morkov (Tinkoff-Saxo) | |
| 113 Peter Velits (BMC Racing Team) | |
| 114 Jens Keukeleire (Orica GreenEDGE) | |
| 115 Yury Trofimov (Team Katusha) | all s.t. |
| 116 Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne - Seche Environnement) | 0:41 |
| 117 Mitchell Docker (Orica GreenEDGE) | |
| 118 Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar) | |
| 119 Simon Yates (Orica GreenEDGE) | all s.t. |
| 120 Maarten Wynants (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) | 0:42 |
| 121 Yohann Gene (Team Europcar) | 0:43 |
| 122 Marco Coledan (Trek Factory Racing) | |
| 123 Mickaël Delage (FDJ) | |
| 124 Dominique Rollin (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) | |
| 125 Jonathan Hivert (Bretagne - Seche Environnement) | all s.t. |
| 126 André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) | 0:44 |
| 127 Matteo Bono (Lampre - Merida) | |
| 128 Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-Quick Step) | both s.t. |
| 129 Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale) | 0:45 |
| 130 Moreno Hofland (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) | |
| 131 Mario Costa (Lampre - Merida) | both s.t. |
| 132 Sébastien Minard (AG2R La Mondiale) | 0:46 |
| 133 Johan Van Summeren (AG2R La Mondiale) | |
| 134 Jonas Van Genechten (Iam Cycling) | |
| 135 Chris Anker Sorensen (Tinkoff-Saxo) | |
| 136 Vicente Reynes (Iam Cycling) | all s.t. |
| 137 Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) | 0:47 |
| 138 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) | |
| 139 Gregory Rast (Trek Factory Racing) | |
| 140 Laurens De Vreese (Astana Pro Team) | all s.t. |
| 141 George Bennett (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) | 0:48 |
| 142 Zico Waeytens (Team Giant-Alpecin) | s.t. |
| 143 Paolo Tiralongo (Astana Pro Team) | 0:49 |
| 144 Jacopo Guarnieri (Team Katusha) | 0:50 |
| 145 Roy Curvers (Team Giant-Alpecin) | 0:53 |
| 146 Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale) | 0:55 |
| 147 Niccolo Bonifazio (Lampre - Merida) | |
| 148 Dayer Uberney Quintana (Movistar Team) | |
| 149 Edward King (Team Cannondale-Garmin) | all s.t. |
| 150 Maarten Tjallingii (Team LottoNL - Jumbo) | 0:56 |
| 151 Jonas Ahlstrand (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) | s.t. |
| 152 Eugenio Alafaci (Trek Factory Racing) | 0:57 |
| 153 Matti Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo) | 0:59 |
| 154 Mikael Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale) | s.t. |
| 155 Daniel Mclay (Bretagne - Seche Environnement) | 1:00 |
| 156 Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) | 1:01 |
| 157 Sébastien Chavanel (FDJ) | 1:06 |
| 158 Luke Rowe (Team Sky) | 1:16 |
| 159 Yauheni Hutarovich (Bretagne - Seche Environnement) | 1:20 |
| 160 Geoffrey Soupe (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) | 4:10 |
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