Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was the surprise winner of the sprint from a reduced peloton at the end of stage 6 of Paris-Nice. He beat world champion Phillipe Gilbert (BMC) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) to take his first victory of the season and move into third on the GC.

At the end of today's mammoth 220 km stage 6 in the hills around Nice, a much reduced peloton arrived on the famous Promenade d'Anglais in Nice for a final bunch kick. With many sprinters in strong condition ahead of next weekend's Milan-Sanremo, a number of fast finishers had survived the climbs and lined up to show off their impressive speed.

In the end they were all beaten by French allrounder Sylvain Chavanel who took a very unexpected victory. His victory ahead of a number of riders who on paper were all faster than the Frenchman was testament to the difficulty of the stage with some very tired legs arriving at the finish for the final kick.

The stage had been made difficult by a strong 11-man break containing Frenchman Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) who in 20th place on GC was just 1.49 behind race leader Richie Porte. This forced the Australian's Sky team to set a furious tempo on the plenty of climbs that littered today's stage.

For the British team it was mission accomplished as they caught the break with around 30 km left, and Porte finished safely in the peloton to defend his overall lead. With his victory Chavanel secured 10 bonus seconds, and with those added to the one he got in the final intermediate sprint he moves into 3rd ahead of tomorrow's final stage, the all-decisive time trial up Col d'Eze.

A strong 11-man break

At 220 km the stage was the longest of this year's race, and with 5 categorized climbs on the route from Manosque to Nice strong climbing legs were a necessity for riders vying for success. With the last topping out 71,5 km from the finish, a GC battle was never expected, and the big pre-race discussion was whether we would see a successful breakaway or a reduced bunch sprint.

Many riders had pointed this stage out as the day for an escape victory, and so there was a flurry of attacks from the beginning. After the passage of the day's first climb, a strong 11-man group was finally created. In the group Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge), Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ), Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Romain Bardet (Ag2r), Julien El Fares (Sojasun), Borut Bozic, Egor Silin (both Astana), Jerome Pineau (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Gatis Smukulis, Eduard Vorganov (both Katusha) and KOM leader Johann Tschopp (IAM) started to build up an advantage.

Tschopp secures KOM jersey

Tschopp was on a mission to secure the final KOM victory. By being first at the top of all but one of the 5 climbs he collected a lot of points and has an unassailable lead in the competition. If he finishes tomorrow's stage he will go to the podium at the race's conclusion to make IAM's participation a successful one.

With Jeannesson in the break Team Sky could never allow the group to get far away. They assumed their position at the head of the peloton and kept the advantage below the four minute mark. As the race entered the two biggest climbs of the day, Euskaltel - who have had an unsuccessful race so far - decided to contribute to the pace-making, and the gap started to go down.

At the front Smukulis, El Fares, Bookwalter, Pineau and Bozic were all dropped, and only 6 riders were left at the front as they crested the summit of the day's last climb. In the pack the hard tempo reduced the size of the bunch considerably, and a number of sprinters had to give up any hopes of glory in Nice.

The break is caught

On the long, gradual descent towards the finish in Nice, BMC took over the pace-making to keep Tejay Van Garderen safe and to surprise GC contenders by opening up gaps in the strung out peloton. The furious pace resulted in the end of the breakaway, and it was all back together as they tackled the small uncategorized climb towards the day's final intermediate sprint with 34,5 km remaining.

A number of attacks ensued, but nothing stuck. As they approached the sprint, Peter Velits, Andriy Grivko and Sylvain Chavanel surged clear to go for the bonus seconds. Velits beat Grivko and Chavanel, and the trio decided to continue on their own. The move was, however, short-lived as an impressive Vasil Kiryienka (Sky) did an impressive time trial on the front of the peloton for the last 40 km of the stage.

As the peloton approached the outskirts of Nice and the flat run-in, the remaining sprinters and the teams started to organize. Kiryienka continued the pace-making until the flamme rouge where BMC took over the front to set up Gilbert for his first victory in the rainbow jersey. He opened up his sprint in what looked to be a head-to-head duel with Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r). In the end it was, however, Chavanel who surged ahead to take his first victory of the season.

The race finishes tomorrow with the final, decisive time trial up Col d'Eze.

Result

1 Sylvain Chavanel - Omega Pharma-Quick Step 05.14.23
2 Philippe Gilbert - BMC Racing Team
3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil - Movistar Team
4 Samuel Dumoulin - AG2R La Mondiale
5 Tony Gallopin - RadioShack Leopard
6 Julien Simon - Sojasun
7 Borut Bozic - Astana Pro Team
8 Heinrich Haussler - IAM Cycling
9 Jonathan Hivert - Sojasun
10 Alberto Losada Alguacil - Katusha

General classication
1 Richie Porte - Sky Procycling 29.40.31
2 Andrew Talansky - Garmin-Sharp 0.32
3 Sylvain Chavanel - Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0.42
4 Lieuwe Westra - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
5 Jean-Christophe Peraud - AG2R La Mondiale 0.49
6 Tejay van Garderen - BMC Racing Team 0.52
7 Peter Velits - Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0.53
8 Simon Spilak - Katusha
9 Diego Ulissi - Lampre-Merida 0.54
10 Andriy Grivko - Astana Pro Team 1.08