Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) continued his excellent start to the season when he took his fifth win of the season on stage 1 of Paris-Nice. After the early break had been caught with just 1.5km to go, the Norwegian powered clear from the back of the Giant-Alpecin train to put daylight into Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Bryan Coquard (Europcar) while Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) defended his overall lead.

 

In the last few years, Alexander Kristoff always said that he lacked a bit of speed to beat the best sprinters in the real bunch sprints that came at the end of easy, flat days. Having specifically worked on his sprint over the winter, however, he has clearly taken a step up in 2015.

 

In the races in the Middle East, he was virtually unstoppable as he won no less than 3 stages in the Tour of Qatar and another one in the Tour of Oman. Back in Europe, he was only beaten by Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and this made him hopeful that he could take his first ever stage win in Paris-Nice this week.

 

After several attempts over the past few years, the stars finally aligned for the big Norwegian in today’s first stage of the French race. Showing an impressive power on the long finishing straight in Contres, he was clearly in a class of his own and took what almost seemed to be an easy win.

 

However, it was not a given thing that the sprinters would have their day. After a very unusual stage that had seen a two-rider break with Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) go clear after 40km of racing, the pace was very slow all day as the escapees were playing with the peloton.

 

The gap went up and down all day as Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-QuickStep) alternately brought it down before disappearing from the peloton. Meanwhile, the escapees saved energy for the finale and with 25km to go, they made their move.

 

With a big acceleration, they extended their advantage from 55 seconds to 2.05 before the peloton reacted. However, it was only Vandenbergh and Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal) working on the front and they had a hard time bringing it back.

 

Vandenbergh quickly disappeared and so it was Bak and Thomas De Gendt who had the task of bringing it back. When they cracked, Sky hit the front with Bradley Wiggins and Nicolas Roche and with 5km to go, the gap was still 45 seconds.

 

The sprint teams stayed calm before Tim Wellens again took over for Lotto Soudal with 3.5km to go. While the trains got organized a bit further back, the hard work started to pay off and with 2km to go, the gap was only 10 seconds.

 

The break was finally caught with 1.5km to go and now the fresh sprint trains all tried to position themselves. Marco Coledan (Trek) and Davide Cimolai (Lampre-Merida) both had stints on the front but with 1km to go, it was Orica-GreenEDGE who kicked into action with Mitchell Docker making the lead-out.

 

He was passed by Kristoff’s lead-out man Jacopo Guarnieri who had the big Norwegian in third position but they lost the battle to Giant-Alpecin who moved up with 3 riders on the right. Kristoff was quick to react and he moved onto Nacer Bouhanni’s wheel, with the Frenchman sitting just behind John Degenkolb.

 

When Koen De Kort finished his lead-out, the German sprinter tried to do a long sprint but Kristoff reacted immediately. While the Giant-Alpecin rider quickly faded, the powerful Norwegian easily distanced everybody else and took a hugely convincing win. Bouhanni took second while Bryan Coquard finished fast to take third.

 

Michal Kwiatkowski stayed safe in the hectic finale and as none of the dangerous sprinters finished in the top 3, he defended his overall lead. He is still in the same time as Dennis as he goes into another almost completely flat stage to Saint-Armand-Montrond where only the wind seems to potentially could upset the sprinters.

 

A flat stage

After the opening prologue, the sprinters were expected to come to the fore in stage 1 which brought the riders over 196.5km from Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse to Contres. After an early category 3 climb already after 3km of racing, the rest of the stage was completely flat and only the wind seemed to be a possible danger for the riders.

 

159 riders took the start on an unusually calm day in Northern France, meaning that the feared crosswinds drama was unlikely to materialize. Geoffrey Soupe (Cofidis) who is ill and finished last in the prologue, was the only rider not to sign in.

 

Hivert takes the mountains jersey

Due to the early category 3 climb and the prospect of an early lead in the mountains classification, the race got off to a fast start and it was Jonathan Hivert (Bretagne) who confirmed his good condition by beating Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) in the KOM sprint. While the latter two both waited for the peloton, the Frenchman pressed on and at the 4km mark, he had extended his advantage to 35 seconds.

 

For the sprint teams, a lone escapee was the perfect scenario so they quickly slowed down. At the 6km mark, the gap had been extended to 1.20 and when he won the intermediate sprint after 19km mark, he was 3.15 ahead.

 

Hivert waits for the peloton

Behind Hivert, the battle for bonus seconds was fierce and it was Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) who picked up the 2 and 1 seconds respectively. After the sprint, Etixx-QuickStep again took control and allowed the gap to reach 3.45.

 

Hivert’s goal was the KOM and intermediate sprints and so he decided to wait for the peloton. Due to the slow pace that saw the riders cover only 33.7km in the first hour, it took until the 33.km mark before he was brought back.

 

Delaplace and Voeckler take off

With everything suggesting a  bunch sprint, no one was really keen on going on the attack but after 40km of racing, Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne) finally took off. Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) took off in pursuit and the two Frenchmen joined forces while the peloton continued their slow riding.

 

At the 44km mark, the gap was already 3.20 and 10km later, it was 5.20. This was the signal for the sprint teams to up the pace though and after 67km of racing, they had already reduced their deficit to 3.45.

 

Vandenbergh starts to chase

The gap stayed around 3.30 for a little while as Vandenbergh set the pace but when he briefly disappeared, it went back up to 6.30 with 93km to go. The Belgian went back to work though and he quickly reduced the gap to 3.00 with 8.00km to go.

 

The gap even reached 2.30 before Vandenbergh again decided to take a small break. This allowed the gap to go back up to 3.00 before the Belgian again hit the front.

 

Puncture for Demare

The gap stayed at around 2.30 for a little while until it was time for Vandenbergh to take a natural break with 57km to go. It went back up to 3.00 before he again took over and reduced it to 1.30 with 43km to go.

 

After a very relaxed day, things got a bit more nervous as more teams started to position themselves near the front and as a consequence, the gap was only 1.05 with 35km to go. It stayed there for a while and while Arnaud Demare (FDJ) fought his way back after a puncture, Vandenbergh again took a break.

 

Voeckler makes his acceleration

Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) was the next to have a small incident as he hit the deck in a harmless crash before Vandenbergh again hit the front. He brought the gap down to 55 seconds with 25km to go and this was the signal for Voeckler to kick into action.

 

The Frenchman made a big acceleration and while the peloton didn’t react, the two escapees extended the advantage to 2.05 with 19km to go. Here Lotto Soudal decided to chase and Bak started to work with Vandenbergh.

 

Boonen crashes out of the race

At this point, Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) prepared himself to move to the front of the peloton but as he hit the wheel of his teammate Nikolas Maes, he went down hard and was forced to abandon the race.

 

Meanwhile, the peloton continued their fast riding but with 15km to go, they were still 1.50 behind. Vandenbergh disappeared and now it was left to Bak to do all the work.

 

Thomas picks up bonus second

Delaplace led Voeckler across the line in the final intermediate sprint while Julian Alaphilippe tried to lead Kwiatkowski out in the sprint for the final second. However, the Pole was beaten by Geraint Thomas who was third across the line.

 

Bak went back to work but he still didn’t get any help. Sky briefly took over with Wiggins before Thomas De Gendt and Bak hit the front.

 

With 7km to go, the two Lotto riders still had to close a 1 minute gap and with 5km to go, they had reduced it to 45 seconds. However, they now blew up, leaving it to Sky to set the pace but in the end it all came down to the expected bunch sprint.