After a 7th place last year, Maxime Monfort (Radioshack-Leopard) entered the race with high hopes. However, a crash after just 1 km of racing in the opening prologue has dealt his prospects a big blow.

Maxime Monfort had performed strongly in Tour Mediteraneen in February where a second place in the time trial was followed by a stint in the leader's jersey after the stage to Mount Faron. As a consequence, he was looking to impress in Paris-Nice. With a spectacular crash resulting in a loss of 42 seconds to winner Damien Gaudin (Team Europcar), his race got the worst possible start.

Monfort was extremely frustrated by the situation.

“Now I’ve lost 40 seconds," a clearly disappointed Belgian started after the race. "After one minute of racing my dream was over. Paris-Nice was my first goal of the season.  It will be hard to get on the GC podium now.  Maybe I will have more freedom in the peloton now, but I don’t think so."

The crash when his front wheel slipped in a corner. He was, however, not willing to blame a too risky approach to the technical route.

 “My front wheel slipped away.  There was no real reason.  I was fast, but not too fast coming into that right hand corner, and I wasn’t doing something crazy.  I was doing a good TT until that crash.  It was my first crash ever in a TT."

With Monfort's crash, the team's GC prospects was dealt a blow. Furthermore, another of the team's options Andreas Klöden had a below-par performance with a modest 86th place. On the other hand, Robert Kiserlovski - who normally suffers in the race against the clock - limited his damages and may turn out to be the team's best chance for a high overall finish.

Luckily Monfort only suffers from scrapes to his hip, knee and leg, and he will thus be able to continue in the race.

Gallopin happy with performance

The team's best rider was young all-round talent Tony Gallopin who secured a fine 7th place. The Frenchman was encouraged by his performance on the technical course.

“My legs were good," Gallopin said. "It’s a pity that I just missed by a few seconds, but this prologue is something special.  It’s not just a TT that requires strength, but also good technique and bike handling.” 

With good sensations on the bike, Gallopin sees possibilities to go for a stage victory in the race. Today's stage passes through familiar surroundings, but the nature of the course makes in unfavorable to his characteristics. Instead he looks for the stages in the middle of the week and Saturday's stage around Nice to go for personal glory.

“There are more opportunities later in the week, so we’ll see," Gallopin said. "For me a stage would be good with hills I can survive.  I am fast and good enough on the uphills, so it would be nice to finish a stage with a small group.  Tomorrow we pass my town in the race, but I don’t think the peloton will let me go."

Paris-Nice continues today with a 195 km almost completely flat stage suited to the sprinters.