Roche hits front hard on epic Paris-Nice road stage opener, with video

Nicolas Roche was called into service for Team Sky on a testing day for himself and the only other Irishman in the race Matt Brammeier.

The bunch finish that decided the opening road stage of Paris-Nice disguised something of an epic day in the saddle during which the field split to pieces.

Nicolas Roche’s Team Sky came very close to winning the stage via runner-up Ben Swift and moved its main general classification contender Geraint Thomas higher up the standings thanks to a late intermediate sprint time bonus.

Irishman Roche would lose time, but only after he had taken to the front of the bunch with his in-form team mate Luke Rowe to put the field in the gutter in the crosswinds with around 45km remaining.

He eventually came home 105th in a group some 3:37 behind stage winner Arnaud Demare (FDJ), with Matt Brammeier (Dimension Data) 158th and 9:20 in arrears.

The field split to pieces on a demanding finishing circuit at the end of the 195km trek from Condé-sur-Vesgre to Vendôme.

On the closing circuits the riders raced over dirt tracks having also been hit by strong cold breezes and even snow on the ‘race to the sun’.

Cant believe @EurosportUKTV put the add in when we put it in the gutter @LukeRowe1990 ;)

— nicholas roche (@nicholasroche) March 7, 2016

In the end a group of some 80 riders contested the finish with the French winner proving top strong despite the ever impressive young Belgian Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) breaking away solo in the closing stages.

Swift surged after him just before the sprint opened, clearly hoping to steal a march on the other sprinters to no avail.

With the big favourites present in the lead group there was no major change at the head of the leader board.

Prologue TT winner Michael Matthews of Orica-Green-Edge still leads, by three seconds from Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) with neo pro Patrick Bevin (Cannondale) in 3rd at four seconds.

Tuesday’s stage 2 is a very long one, taking the riders 213.5km from Contres to Commentry and while it is tipped as one for the sprinters, if today’s action is anything to go by that script may well be ripped up.

Stage 1: Condé-sur-Vesgre to Vendôme (195km)

1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ 4:29:53
2 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
3 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
4 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step
7 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
8 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
9 Jonas Vangenechten (Bel) IAM Cycling
10 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
11 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale Pro Cycling
12 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
13 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale Pro Cycling
14 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
15 Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale Pro Cycling
105 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:03:37
158 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Dimension Data 0:09:20

General Classification

1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 4:37:30
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:03
3 Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:04
4 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:08
5 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
6 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:09
7 Dries Devenyns (Bel) IAM Cycling 0:00:10
8 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:12
9 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ 0:00:14
10 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:15
103 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:04:00
173 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Dimension Data 0:10:22