Home > News

Arnaud Démare triumphs in wind-lashed Stage 1 of Paris-Nice

French sprinter Arnaud Démare (FDJ) won Monday's first stage of Paris-Nice out of a reduced peloton, a result he predicted at the beginning of the day.

March 7, 2016
Share on SMS

French sprinter Arnaud Démare (FDJ) won Monday’s first stage of Paris-Nice out of a reduced peloton, a result he predicted at the beginning of the day. Michael Matthews (Australia/Orica-GreenEdge), fastest in Sunday’s prologue, kept the yellow jersey.

It’s a good thing that the WorldTour’s Paris-Nice is called the Race to the Sun, for conditions were chilly and wet Monday, with falling snow and whipping wind. Four intrepid fugitives, perhaps dreaming of warmer days down south, skipped away soon after the gun in Condé-sur-Vesgre and built up a buffer of 9:30 after 82-km.

LottoNL-Jumbo’s inclusion of a tornado emoji might have been a bit much.

Lotto-Soudal, attending Paris-Nice as its alter-ego Lotto-Fix All, had their escapee Thomas De Gendt (Belgium) take the maximum points at the day’s first intermediate sprint. Cycling buffs will remember him as the unlikely occupier of the final podium step at the 2012 Giro d’Italia behind Ryder Hesjedal and Joaquim Rodriguez. In seven other Grand Tours his next best finish is 61st.

There was a finishing circuit the riders had to negotiate twice in the final 22.5-km–each had a 1.3-km dirt section and then an unpaved Cat. 3 climb, the last ascent peaking with 4-km to go. Not only did Etixx-QuickStep and Orica-GreenEdge’s pace-setting efforts doom the quartet before the first section, but also the echelon-action in the peloton courtesy of Tinkoff and Sky.

By the first gravel section, a 40-man group containing the yellow jersey had 30-seconds on the peloton with the breakaway only 11-seconds in front. De Gendt was the last escapee to be gobbled up before the dirt climb started with 17.5-km remaining. Attacks flared off when the road kicked up and Pierre-Luc Perichon (France/Fortuneo-Vital Concept) took the first King of the Mountains points of the race.

The day’s second intermediate sprint came at the first crossing of the finish line. Perichon pushed on and took the bonus seconds upon hearing the bell. Matthews also nabbed bonus seconds. It was clear to see there were groups scattered all over the road. However, the two largest groups came together after Perichon had been brought to heel.

On the next climb no rider was able to get away, but the attacks splintered the peloton. Edward Theuns (Belgium/Trek) rushed up the road before the red flag in Vendôme but was overwhelmed before the line. It looked like Ben Swift (Great Britain/Sky) was going to take the day, but Démare surged through the traffic to take his second stage triumph of the season.

Tuesday’s stage also looks like one for the sprinters.

2016 Paris-Nice Stage 1
1) Arnaud Démare (France/FDJ) 4:29:53
2) Ben Swift (Great Britain/Sky) s.t.
3) Nacer Bouhanni (France/Cofidis) s.t.
68) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Direct Energie) +0:23

2016 Paris-Nice GC
1) Michael Matthews (Australia/Orica-GreenEdge) 4:37:30
2) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin) +0:03
3) Patrick Bevin (New Zealand/Cannondale) +0:04
64) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Direct Energie) +0:58