The peloton splits on the open roads and in early season crosswinds on Paris-Nice today
Nicolas Roche rode with some great aggression in the closing stages of today’s sixth stage in Paris-Nice, jumping clear of the peloton in pursuit of the last of the breakaway riders but ultimately being overhauled by the charging peloton.
Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Nissan) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) proved to be the two strongmen from the main escape of the day, dropping the rest of the seven-man breakaway that spent a large portion of the stage clear on the hilly 178.5km run into Sisteron.
With five climbs to negotiate – one second cat and four third cats – the escape worked well to open a lead of four minutes at one point. However, they never really pulled out enough of a gap to be sure of making it all the way.
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Pressure from Sanchez split the break on the final climb with only Voigt able to follow. The pair had just one minute on the peloton with 10kms to go.
Despite some furious chasing behind they managed to hang on, with Sanchez taking the two-up sprint for the stage win, with a resurgent Heinrich Haussler (Garmin Barracuda) taking the bunch sprint for third 14 seconds later.
Roche had attacked with 2kms to go when the leading duo were just dangling out front. While the attack was a spirited one and reflected the naturally aggressive rider Roche is when not hemmed in by team leadership obligations, he could not catch those ahead of him and was swallowed up by the group.
He remains 22nd overall, 4:27 down on GC leader Bradley Wiggins with two stages remaining.
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Tomorrow, Saturday, the riders have a 219.5km run into Nice. There are three climbs in the first half of the stage – two second cats and a third cat – before the first category ascent of the Col de Vence, crested some 55km from the finish. On Sunday the race concludes with a 9.6km TT from Nice up the first cat Col d’Eze.
Stage 6 178.5km
1. Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team 4:07:58
2. Jens Voigt (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan
3. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin - Barracuda 0:00:14
4. Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
5. Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre - ISD
6. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha Team
7. Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne
8. Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil-DCM
9. Koen De Kort (Ned) Project 1T4i
10. Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana Pro Team
52. Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
General classification
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 22:31:52
2. Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM 0:00:06
3. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:10
4. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:18
5. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha Team 0:00:37
6. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:39
7. Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:46
8. Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ-Bigmat 0:01:06
9. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:01:16
10. Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Astana Pro Team 0:01:21
22. Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale at 4 minutes, 27 seconds
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