The winning break makes its way through the decisive breezy weather
Nicolas Roche (Ag2r) was among most of the field left stranded in Paris-Nice today as a lead echelon of some of the race’s strong men pulled away from the rest of the field to gain more than two minutes on a stage expected to end in a bunch sprint.
The Irishman now finds himself more than three minutes down on new GC leader Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky); a deficit that will at least see him get some leeway should he managed to slip into a breakaway in the days ahead.
Breezy and wet weather in France turned the mainly flat 186km stage to Orleans into a bit of an epic, with a front group of 21 riders forging ahead when the breeze whipped up and changed direction going through a feed zone.
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Roche was actually in the front group for a period but was apparently unable to hold his place and went back to the peloton.
Just before the split, the entire peloton was in tact but soon splintered into a number of echelons, with the front group that included Wiggins simply riding away from the rest. The escape featured some other big names such as eventual stage winner Tom Boonen and GC contender Levi Leipheimer (both Omega Pharma-Quickstep), as well as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and the BMC Racing duo of Taylor Phinney and Tejay Van Garderen.
Among those wrong-footed and left stranded in what was left of the 80-rider peloton 2:29 down by the finish, were last year’s GC winner Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep). So too were great French hopes Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Jerome Coppel (Saur-Sojasun), not to mention Sunday’s prologue winner and yellow jersey Gustav Larsson (Vacansoleil-DCM) as well as Frank and Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan).
At the finish, Boonen took the honours in a tight sprint, with Wiggins – who was second overall this morning – assuming the race leadership. He is now just six seconds ahead of second-placed Leipheimer.
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Tomorrow’s stage (Tuesday) is a 194km trip to Lac de Vassivière with two third category climbs, one at the finish that should spice things up and may see Valverde (11th on GC, 30 seconds down) go on the attack in an effort to dislodge Wiggins.
Stage 2: Mantes-la-Jolie – Orleans: 185 kilometres
1. Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 4:22:15
2. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
3. John Degenkolb (Ger) Project 1T4i
4. Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Garmin - Barracuda
5. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team
6. Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Katusha Team all same time
28. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2R La Mondiale at 2:29
General classification
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 4:33:32
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-Quick Step at 6secs
3. Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step at 7secs
4. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team at 11secs
5. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step at 14secs
6. Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan at 18secs
63. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2R La Mondiale at 3:12
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