2016 Paris - Nice, France

74th edition: March 6 - March 13, 2016

Paris-Nice podium history | 2015 edition | 2017 edition | Start list
Prologue | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5 | Stage 6 | Stage 7

2016 Paris-Nice route

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Sunday, March 13: 7th and Final Stage, Nice - Nice, 134 km

Stage 7 map and profile | Stage 7 photos

Tim Wellens wins stage 7 just ahead of Alberto Contador and Richie Porte

Stage 7 rated climbs:

• Km 33.0 - Côte de Duranus, cat 3
• Km 41.0 - Côte de Levens, cat 3
• Km 55.5 - Côte de Châteauneuf, cat 2
• Km 69.5 - Col de Calaison, cat 2
• Km 86.5 - Côte de Peille, cat 1
• Km 118.5 - Col d'Èze, cat 1

The Race: Here's the organizer's explanation of the exciting final stage of this year's Paris-Nice.

Geraint Thomas maintained Team Sky's grip on Paris-Nice on Sunday, narrowly  winning the 74th edition of the Race to the Sun on the aptly-named Promenade des Anglais for the British outfit's fourth victory in five years in the event. But it was a tense battle for the Welshman, harassed all day by Alberto Contador (Tinkoff), who attacked repeatedly on the last two climbs before finishing second in both the stage and overall, missing his third Paris-Nice crown by a slim four seconds. But Thomas, who salvaged his yellow jersey in the final descent, can be proud of beating two double former winners in Contador and Richie Porte (BMC), the title-holder, who fished third, 12 seconds, at the end of a nail-biting final stage won by Belgium's Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal).

143 riders started on the Promenade des Anglais. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Davide Cimolai (Lampre), Patrick Bevin (Cannondale) and Jacques Janse von Rensburg (Dimension Data) did not start.

After several attempts involving Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), a group of 19 riders emerged between kilometres 12 and 17 : Bono and Grmay (Lampre), De Gendt and Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Gautier (AG2R), Impey (Orica), Kiserlovski (Astana), Eiking (FDJ), De la Cruz (Etixx), Herrada (Movistar), Kangert (Astana), Van Baarle (Cannondale), Felline and Rast (Trek), Chavanel and Duchesne (Direct Energie), Tankink (Lotto Jumbo), Naesen (IAM) and Sorensen (Fortuneo).

As Duchesne strengthened his polka-dot jersey on both Cote de Duranus (Km 33) and Cote de Levens (Km 41), the 19 received the support of Trofimov (Tinkoff), Vanmarcke (Lotto Jumbo), Calmejane (Direct Energie) and Brammeier (Dimension Data), who returned from the back. Brammeier was later dropped in Cote de Chateauneuf. By Col de Calaison (Km 69.5), Duchesne had secured his KOM victory despite De Gendt's best effort to retain his crown.

In Cote de Peille (Km 82), Contador blew the peloton to pieces when he launched one of his trademark blistering attacks to take Team Sky off their guard. Within three kilometres, the 2007 and 2010 winner had taken 50 seconds off the Thomas group and he quickly found support from Kiserlovski and Trofimov, who waited for him from the original break. Six of the first escapees remained in the front: Gautier, Wellens, De La Cruz, Herrada, Kangert and Grmay.

Team Sky, spearheaded by Nicholas Roche, took advantage of the descent to calmly bridge the gap. But as soon as the road went up again on Col d'Eze, Contador attacked again four times, helped by Romain Bardet (AG2R). The final fifth strike was nearly fatal to the Welshman. Led-out by Rafal Majka in the last two kilometres of the ascent, Contador broke again, taking title-holder Richie Porte (BMC) with him. The two caught the last of the escapees, Tim Wellens, on the summit. The yellow jersey holder was left hapless. Col d'Eze had been heaven for his team mates Bradley Wiggins and Richie Porte when they won for Sky in 2012, 2013 and 2015 thanks to the time trials held on the climb those years. It was almost hell for Thomas this time.

But the descent was a like a team pursuit for the former track specialist, who joined forces with team-mate Sergio Henao and Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) to make up for lost time, finally crossing the finish line in the first chasing group, five seconds behind  the leading trio of Wellens, Contador and Porte. El Pistolero sprinted bravely for a stage win which might have also granted him his third Paris-Nice. But Wellens had other views. 

Complete Results:

Stage 7 photos

134 kilometers raced at an average speed of 40.989 km/hr

1	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	3hr 16min 9sec
2	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
3	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
4	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	@ 5sec
5	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
6	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	s.t.
7	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
8	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	s.t.
9	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
10	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
11	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
12	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	s.t.
13	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 10''
14	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 00''
15	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 01' 18''
16	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
17	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
18	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
19	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
20	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	s.t.
21	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 26''
22	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
23	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
24	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
25	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
26	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	s.t.
27	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	s.t.
28	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
29	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
30	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	s.t.
31	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
32	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	s.t.
33	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	s.t.
34	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
35	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 34''
36	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	+ 02' 54''
37	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	+ 03' 34''
38	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
39	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 03' 47''
40	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 03' 58''
41	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
42	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
43	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 09' 29''
44	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	s.t.
45	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
46	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
47	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 10' 57''
48	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 11' 44''
49	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
50	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
51	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	s.t.
52	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	s.t.
53	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
54	HERMANS Ben	BMC	s.t.
55	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
56	VELITS Peter	BMC	s.t.
57	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
58	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
59	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
60	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
61	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	s.t.
62	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	s.t.
63	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
64	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
65	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
66	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
67	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
68	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
69	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	s.t.
70	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	s.t.
71	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	s.t.
72	SWIFT Ben	SKY	s.t.
73	STANNARD Ian	SKY	s.t.
74	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	s.t.
75	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	s.t.
76	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	s.t.
77	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
78	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	s.t.
79	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	s.t.
80	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	s.t.
81	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	s.t.
82	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
83	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
84	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 13' 36''
85	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
86	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
87	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
88	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
89	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
90	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
91	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 16' 41''
92	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
93	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
94	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
95	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	s.t.
96	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
97	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
98	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
99	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
100	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
101	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
102	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
103	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
104	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
105	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
106	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	s.t.
107	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
108	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
109	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
110	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
111	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
112	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
113	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
114	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
115	ROWE Luke	SKY	s.t.
116	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	s.t.
117	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
118	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
119	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
120	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 23' 16''
121	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 23' 35''
122	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	s.t.
123	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
124	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 23' 50''
125	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	+ 24' 27''
126	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
127	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
128	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
129	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
130	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
131	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.

Final GC after Stage 7:

• Final GC leader: Geraint Thomas (Sky)
• Final points classification leader: Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge)
• Final mountains classification leader: Antoine Duchesne (Direct Energie)
• Final team classification leader: Movistar

1,122.1 kilometers raced at an average speed of 40.886 km/hr

1	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	27hr 26min 40sec
2	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	@ 4sec
3	PORTE Richie	BMC	+ 00' 12''
4	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	+ 00' 20''
5	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	+ 00' 37''
6	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 44''
7	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
8	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 51''
9	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 00''
10	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01' 07''
11	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	+ 01' 09''
12	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 53''
13	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 02' 33''
14	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 03' 21''
15	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	+ 03' 53''
16	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	+ 04' 03''
17	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	+ 04' 07''
18	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	+ 04' 26''
19	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	+ 05' 00''
20	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 05' 12''
21	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	+ 07' 38''
22	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 09' 43''
23	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 09' 56''
24	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 10' 38''
25	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 11' 23''
26	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 11' 28''
27	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 13' 07''
28	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	+ 13' 18''
29	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 13' 30''
30	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	+ 13' 35''
31	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	+ 14' 26''
32	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 16' 14''
33	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	+ 16' 58''
34	SWIFT Ben	SKY	+ 18' 19''
35	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 18' 29''
36	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	+ 20' 35''
37	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	+ 21' 01''
38	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 23' 16''
39	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 23' 33''
40	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	+ 23' 43''
41	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	+ 24' 21''
42	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	+ 24' 50''
43	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	+ 25' 15''
44	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 25' 33''
45	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 25' 46''
46	WYSS Danilo	BMC	+ 26' 32''
47	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 27' 01''
48	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	+ 27' 19''
49	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	+ 27' 23''
50	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 27' 35''
51	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 28' 16''
52	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	+ 28' 51''
53	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 30' 38''
54	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	+ 30' 47''
55	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	+ 32' 19''
56	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	+ 34' 06''
57	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	+ 35' 08''
58	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	+ 35' 33''
59	HERMANS Ben	BMC	+ 36' 02''
60	STANNARD Ian	SKY	+ 36' 53''
61	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	+ 37' 02''
62	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 37' 28''
63	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 37' 45''
64	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	+ 38' 17''
65	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	+ 38' 36''
66	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 38' 44''
67	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 39' 45''
68	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 40' 09''
69	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	+ 40' 22''
70	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 40' 30''
71	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 40' 45''
72	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 42' 09''
73	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 42' 40''
74	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 43' 20''
75	VELITS Peter	BMC	+ 43' 24''
76	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 44' 08''
77	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 44' 09''
78	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 45' 21''
79	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 46' 33''
80	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 47' 00''
81	REZA Kévin	FDJ	+ 48' 43''
82	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 48' 58''
83	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	+ 49' 27''
84	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 50' 55''
85	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	+ 52' 09''
86	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 52' 23''
87	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 53' 38''
88	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 53' 43''
89	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	+ 53' 46''
90	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 54' 08''
91	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 54' 19''
92	ROWE Luke	SKY	+ 56' 09''
93	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 58' 06''
94	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	+ 58' 22''
95	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 58' 40''
96	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 59' 27''
97	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	+ 59' 35''
98	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 01h 00' 08''
99	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	+ 01h 00' 22''
100	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01h 00' 41''
101	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01h 01' 06''
102	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01h 01' 07''
103	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	+ 01h 01' 57''
104	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01h 02' 08''
105	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01h 02' 45''
106	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 01h 03' 30''
107	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01h 04' 09''
108	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01h 05' 20''
109	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	+ 01h 07' 22''
110	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01h 08' 35''
111	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	+ 01h 10' 05''
112	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01h 11' 38''
113	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01h 11' 47''
114	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01h 13' 03''
115	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01h 13' 50''
116	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 01h 13' 50''
117	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01h 14' 24''
118	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01h 16' 01''
119	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01h 16' 08''
120	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 01h 16' 14''
121	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 01h 17' 25''
122	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01h 19' 31''
123	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 01h 19' 34''
124	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01h 23' 04''
125	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01h 26' 36''
126	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01h 27' 07''
127	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	+ 01h 30' 27''
128	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01h 32' 24''
129	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01h 32' 33''
130	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01h 36' 23''
131	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	+ 01h 38' 46''

Stage 7 map and profile:

Stage 7 map

Stage 7 profile

Stage 7 photos:

The classification leaders at the start, from left: Antoine Duchesne, Geraint Thomas and Michael Matthews

Ben Gastauer and Laurent Didier are ready to race.

Team Sky leads the peloton in the mountains

Alberto Contador rolls the dice and attacks

Tim Wellens wins the final stage

The final podium, from left: Alberto Contador (2nd), Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte (3rd)

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Saturday, March 12: Stage 6, Nice - La Madone d'Utelle, 177 km

Stage 6 map and profile

Ilnur Zakarin just beats Geraint Thomas to win stage 6

Rated Ascents:

• Km 10.0 - Côte de Gattières, Cat 2
• Km 50.0 - Côte de Coursegoules, Cat 2
• Km 91.0 - Côte de la Sigale, Cat 2
• Km 106.5 - Côte d'Ascros, Cat 1
• Km 145.0 - Côte de Levens, Cat 2
• Km 157.0 - Côte Duranus, Cat 2
• Km 177.0 - La Madone d'Utelle, Cat 1

The Race: here is the organizer's telling of the stage story.

Led out by an impressive Team Sky train in the climb to La Madone d'Utelle, Geraint Thomas (Sky) took the reins of Paris-Nice in the 177-km 6th stage to La Madone d'Utelle. The Welshman even came close to earn the stage laurels but was overtaken on the line by Russia's Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), the former Tour of Romandy winner, who took the day's honours ahead of Thomas and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff). As expected, most of the action took place on the last ascent, when Team Sky first stretched the bunch before Contador blew it apart with several blistering attacks. Their combined efforts were too much for Australian yellow jersey holder Michael Matthews (Orica-Greendge), who was dropped in the penultimate climb and finished 20 minutes adrift.    

The start was given at 12:11 to 157 riders. In the first climb of the day, Cote d Gattieres (2nd cat, km 10), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto) was in the front, ahead of polka-dot jersey holder Jesus Herrada (Movistar). After several attempts, launched notably by Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), a group of seven riders emerged after 25 kilometres. They were Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre), Cyril Gautier (AG2R),  Nikki Terpstra (Etixx), Gregory Rast (Trek-Segafredo), Antoine Duchesne (Direct Energie), Florian Vachon (Fortuneo) and Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille Provence). American Andrew Talanksy (Cannondale) and De Gendt chased behind the break and caught them at kilometre 36 and 45 respectively. The lead of the nine never went over 2:25 (Km 25).     

De Gendt caught the lead just on time to finish first at the top of Cote de Coursegoules (km 50) and launch a battle with Duchesne for the polka-dot jersey. The sprint in Coursegoules went to Terpstra. In Cote de la Sigale (Km 91), Siskevicius and Rast lost touch with the rest of the break. The Cote d'Ascros (1st cat.) was even more merciless to the bunch, which blew apart as the Tinkoff team-mates of Alberto Contador kept setting the pace. Talansky crashed and was forced out in the long descent towards Gilette (Km 130) as the leading group split. Duchesne, Terpstra and Vachon broke clear while Grmay, De Gendt and Gautier lost ground. Duchesne then went on his own (km 141) to snatch more KOM points on Cote de Levens (2nd cat) and secure the polka-dot jersey. As his Tinkoff team-mates had led the chase from the gun, Alberto Contador made his intentions clear by sprinting to snatch a bonus of two seconds in the intermediate sprint of Levens (km 146.5).  

In Cote de Duranus, as Duchesne picked seven more KOM points, Team Sky seized the reins of the peloton and raised the tempo, dropping race leader Michael Matthews, who could not hold the frantic pace and reached the top 45 seconds adrift. Stage 5 winner Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) also lost ground early in the climb. Sky, led by Nicholas Roche, kept stretching the leading bunch before Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) took over, his leader Contador in his wake. EL Pistolero attacked twice with 6 km to go to blow the group apart. Sergio Henao (Sky) and Geraint Thomas (Sky) managed to stay with him. They were later joined by Richie Porte (BMC) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) and the five were left to battle it our for stage victory. Behind them, other team leaders like Romain Bardet (AG2R) or Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) never managed to bridge the gap. Contador jumped first in the final 300 metres and Thomas countered, but both finally had to bow to Zakarin, who had the final say.

Complete Results:

177 kilometers raced at an average speed of 37.239 km/hr

1	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	4hr 45min 11sec
2	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
3	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	@ 1sec
4	PORTE Richie	BMC	+ 00' 07''
5	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 10''
6	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 20''
7	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 00' 31''
8	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
9	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
10	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
11	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	s.t.
12	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
13	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	+ 00' 49''
14	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 55''
15	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	+ 01' 48''
16	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	+ 02' 15''
17	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
18	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
19	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	+ 02' 21''
20	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	s.t.
21	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	+ 02' 27''
22	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 02' 38''
23	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 03' 00''
24	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	+ 03' 21''
25	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
26	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 03' 43''
27	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 04' 27''
28	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	+ 04' 46''
29	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	+ 05' 05''
30	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	+ 06' 03''
31	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 06' 13''
32	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 06' 15''
33	SWIFT Ben	SKY	s.t.
34	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	+ 06' 55''
35	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 07' 52''
36	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 09' 41''
37	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 09' 47''
38	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 10' 42''
39	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 11' 02''
40	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	+ 12' 04''
41	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	s.t.
42	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
43	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	s.t.
44	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	s.t.
45	HERMANS Ben	BMC	+ 14' 25''
46	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
47	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
48	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
49	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	s.t.
50	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	s.t.
51	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
52	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
53	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
54	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
55	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
56	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 15' 50''
57	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	s.t.
58	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 17' 11''
59	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	s.t.
60	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
61	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	+ 18' 02''
62	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 20' 03''
63	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
64	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
65	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	s.t.
66	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
67	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
68	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
69	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
70	STANNARD Ian	SKY	s.t.
71	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
72	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
73	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
74	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	s.t.
75	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	s.t.
76	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	+ 20' 49''
77	VELITS Peter	BMC	s.t.
78	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	s.t.
79	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	s.t.
80	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
81	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
82	ROWE Luke	SKY	s.t.
83	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 22' 17''
84	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 22' 34''
85	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
86	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 23' 57''
87	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
88	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	+ 24' 35''
89	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
90	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
91	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
92	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
93	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
94	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
95	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
96	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
97	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
98	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
99	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	s.t.
100	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
101	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	s.t.
102	GUARNIERI Jacopo	KATUSHA	s.t.
103	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
104	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
105	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
106	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
107	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	s.t.
108	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA	s.t.
109	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	s.t.
110	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 34' 41''
111	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 35' 58''
112	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
113	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
114	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
115	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
116	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
117	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	s.t.
118	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
119	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
120	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
121	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
122	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	s.t.
123	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
124	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
125	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
126	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
127	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
128	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
129	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
130	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
131	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	s.t.
132	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
133	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	s.t.
134	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
135	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	s.t.
136	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
137	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
138	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
139	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	s.t.
140	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
141	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
142	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA	s.t.
143	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
144	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
145	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
146	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
147	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.

GC after Stage 6:

• GC leader: Geraint Thomas (Sky)
• Points classification leader: Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge)
• Mountains classification leader: Antoine Duchesne (Direct Energie)
• Team classification leader: Sky

988.1 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 40.875 km/hr

1	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	24hr 10min 26sec
2	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	@ 15sec
3	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	+ 00' 20''
4	PORTE Richie	BMC	+ 00' 21''
5	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 32''
6	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	+ 00' 37''
7	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 39''
8	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 44''
9	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 51''
10	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 00''
11	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01' 07''
12	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	+ 01' 09''
13	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 12''
14	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	+ 01' 39''
15	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	+ 02' 32''
16	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	+ 02' 42''
17	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	+ 02' 54''
18	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	+ 03' 05''
19	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 03' 36''
20	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	+ 03' 39''
21	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 03' 43''
22	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 04' 17''
23	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	+ 05' 19''
24	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	+ 06' 17''
25	SWIFT Ben	SKY	+ 06' 40''
26	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	+ 07' 07''
27	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 07' 09''
28	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 08' 22''
29	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 08' 27''
30	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	+ 09' 22''
31	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 10' 02''
32	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 10' 15''
33	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 12' 09''
34	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	+ 12' 22''
35	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	+ 13' 05''
36	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	+ 13' 36''
37	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 13' 52''
38	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 14' 36''
39	WYSS Danilo	BMC	+ 14' 53''
40	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 15' 01''
41	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 15' 22''
42	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	+ 15' 40''
43	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	+ 15' 44''
44	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 15' 56''
45	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 17' 00''
46	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	+ 17' 12''
47	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	+ 19' 08''
48	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	+ 19' 14''
49	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 19' 46''
50	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	+ 20' 55''
51	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	+ 20' 57''
52	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 21' 09''
53	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	+ 21' 41''
54	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 21' 53''
55	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	+ 22' 00''
56	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 22' 21''
57	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	+ 22' 27''
58	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	+ 22' 55''
59	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 23' 09''
60	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	+ 23' 54''
61	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 24' 20''
62	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	+ 24' 23''
63	HERMANS Ben	BMC	+ 24' 23''
64	STANNARD Ian	SKY	+ 25' 14''
65	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	+ 25' 23''
66	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 25' 49''
67	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 26' 04''
68	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 26' 44''
69	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 26' 58''
70	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 28' 30''
71	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	+ 28' 43''
72	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 28' 51''
73	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 30' 24''
74	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 30' 33''
75	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 30' 38''
76	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	+ 31' 41''
77	VELITS Peter	BMC	+ 31' 45''
78	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 32' 22''
79	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 32' 29''
80	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 33' 42''
81	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 34' 45''
82	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 35' 02''
83	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 36' 16''
84	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA	+ 36' 40''
85	REZA Kévin	FDJ	+ 37' 04''
86	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 37' 07''
87	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	+ 37' 10''
88	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA	+ 38' 00''
89	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 39' 16''
90	ROWE Luke	SKY	+ 39' 33''
91	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 40' 07''
92	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	+ 40' 30''
93	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 40' 44''
94	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 42' 41''
95	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	+ 42' 59''
96	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	+ 43' 29''
97	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	+ 43' 52''
98	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 44' 05''
99	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 44' 31''
100	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 44' 35''
101	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	+ 45' 05''
102	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 45' 11''
103	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 45' 12''
104	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 45' 32''
105	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 46' 37''
106	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	+ 46' 38''
107	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	+ 46' 43''
108	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 46' 54''
109	GUARNIERI Jacopo	KATUSHA	+ 46' 57''
110	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 47' 01''
111	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 47' 33''
112	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	+ 48' 43''
113	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 49' 14''
114	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 49' 27''
115	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 49' 28''
116	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	+ 50' 18''
117	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 50' 29''
118	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 51' 49''
119	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 51' 59''
120	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 53' 12''
121	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	+ 53' 29''
122	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 53' 53''
123	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 54' 50''
124	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 55' 11''
125	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	+ 55' 44''
126	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	+ 56' 59''
127	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 57' 14''
128	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 57' 20''
129	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	+ 57' 25''
130	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 57' 48''
131	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 58' 07''
132	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 59' 22''
133	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 59' 25''
134	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 59' 32''
135	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 59' 34''
136	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 59' 38''
137	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01h 01' 24''
138	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01h 02' 45''
139	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01h 02' 55''
140	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 01h 02' 58''
141	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 01h 03' 54''
142	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	+ 01h 06' 05''
143	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01h 08' 02''
144	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01h 08' 11''
145	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01h 10' 00''
146	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01h 12' 01''
147	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	+ 01h 14' 24''

Stage 6 map and profile:

Stage 6 map

Stage 6 profile

---

Friday, March 11: Stage 5, Saint Paul Trois Châteaux - Salon de Provence, 198 km

Stage 5 map and profile

Alexey Lutsenko wins stage 5

Rated climbs:

• Km 49.5 - Col de la Madeleine, Cat 3
• Km 71.5 - Chalet Reynard - Mont Ventoux, Cat 1
• Km 131.0 - Col du Pointu, Cat 2
• Km 162.0 - Côte de la Roque d'Anthéron, Cat 2
• Km 169.5 - Col de Séze, Cat 2 

The Race: Here's the organizer's explanation of the day's racing.

Former under-23 world champion Alexey Lutsenko surged 15 km from Salon de Provence to move six seconds short of the Paris-Nice yellow jersey, still held  by Michael Matthews at the end of stage 5 on Friday. The Kazah earned the stage laurels with a 21seconds  lead over what remained of the pack after a succession of climbs including the Ventoux early in a 198-km ride from St Paul-Trois Chateaux. Australia's Matthews salvaged his overall lead thanks to his third place in the stage in the wheel of Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), who won the bunch sprint for second place.

The race started at 11:12 without Sergio Paulinho (Tinkoff). On the gun, seven riders, Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-Quick Step), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ), Lars Boom (Astana), Wouter Wippert (Cannondale), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Matthias Brandle (IAM) and Antoine Duchesne (Direct Energie) boike clear and were joined by Jesus Herrada (Movistar) at kilometre four. Their lead topped at 11:05 (km 27). The first sprint of the day saw Lars Boom take the three points while Herrada made his KOM intentions clear by reaching the Col de la Madeleine in the front. 

The eight tackled the Ventoux with an eight-minute lead over the peloton. In the first corners of the climb, Brandle lost ground. In the peloton, most of the leading sprinters climbed at their own pace - Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Marcel Kittel (Etixx) and Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) were among those dropped and they never made it back. Greipel later called it quits, as did Frenchman Alexis Gougeard (AG2R) with flu. At the front, Courteille and Herrada parted company with their companions, the Spaniard going for the polka-dot jersey. Herrada reached the top in the lead, ahead of Courteille with Duchesne on their heels. The three were chased down by Boom and Vandenbergh in the descent, while the pack reached the summit six minutes behind.

In the long descent,  the gap between the five front riders and the bunch remained stable but was down to 3:25 at the Col du Pointu (km 131) which Courteille reached ahead of Herrada. In Lourmarin, Vandenbergh took the sprint honours but the group split at the foot of Cote de la Roque d'Antheron (2nd cat), when Duchesne went solo. He reached the top of the Cote de la Roque d'Antheron on his own, followed by Herrada and Courteille. In the climb, Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale) shook the peloton while Alberto Contador was seen near the front of he pack for the first time in this Paris-Nice.

In the final ascent of the day, Col de Seze (2nd cat, km 169.5), Duchesne retained 33 seconds over the pack, from which Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) surged in the descent. While the succession of climbs allowed Herrada to strengthen his KOM jersey, it was fatal to Trek-Segafredo team leader Frank Schleck, involved in an earlier crash, who was forced to call it a day. Lutsenko caught Duchesne and went on his own with 15 kms left in the stage. The 2012 under-23 world champion retained 40 seconds with 10 km to go. Katusha tried briefly to bridge the gap for Kristoff but gave up for lack of support and let Lutsenko go for a splendid solitary win. 

Complete Results:

198 kilometers raced at an average speed of 39.543 km/hr

1	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	5hr 0min 26sec
2	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA	@ 21sec
3	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
4	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
5	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
6	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
7	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
8	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
9	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
10	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	s.t.
11	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
12	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
13	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
14	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
15	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	s.t.
16	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
17	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	s.t.
18	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
19	SWIFT Ben	SKY	s.t.
20	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
21	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
22	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
23	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
24	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
25	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
26	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	s.t.
27	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
28	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
29	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
30	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
31	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
32	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	s.t.
33	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
34	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	s.t.
35	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
36	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	s.t.
37	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	s.t.
38	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
39	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
40	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
41	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
42	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
43	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	s.t.
44	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
45	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	s.t.
46	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
47	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	s.t.
48	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
49	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
50	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
51	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
52	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
53	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	s.t.
54	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
55	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
56	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
57	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	s.t.
58	HERMANS Ben	BMC	s.t.
59	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
60	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
61	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
62	STANNARD Ian	SKY	s.t.
63	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	s.t.
64	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
65	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
66	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
67	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
68	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	s.t.
69	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
70	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	s.t.
71	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	s.t.
72	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	s.t.
73	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	s.t.
74	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	s.t.
75	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	s.t.
76	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
77	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	s.t.
78	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
79	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 00' 37''
80	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
81	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 40''
82	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	+ 00' 48''
83	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	+ 00' 50''
84	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
85	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	s.t.
86	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	+ 01' 14''
87	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01' 40''
88	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 21''
89	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	KATUSHA	+ 02' 03''
90	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 03' 34''
91	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 06' 44''
92	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	s.t.
93	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	s.t.
94	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	s.t.
95	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
96	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	s.t.
97	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA	s.t.
98	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
99	VELITS Peter	BMC	s.t.
100	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	s.t.
101	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
102	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	s.t.
103	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 10' 42''
104	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
105	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
106	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
107	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
108	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
109	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
110	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
111	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
112	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
113	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
114	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
115	ROWE Luke	SKY	s.t.
116	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
117	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
118	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 15' 32''
119	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
120	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
121	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 17' 06''
122	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	s.t.
123	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	s.t.
124	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
125	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
126	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
127	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
128	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	s.t.
129	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
130	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
131	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	s.t.
132	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
133	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
134	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	s.t.
135	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
136	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
137	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
138	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
139	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
140	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	s.t.
141	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
142	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
143	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
144	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
145	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
146	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
147	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
148	GUARNIERI Jacopo	KATUSHA	s.t.
149	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
150	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
151	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	s.t.
152	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
153	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	s.t.
154	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 29' 40''
155	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
156	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
157	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.

GC after Stage 5:

• GC leader: Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge)
• Points classification leader: Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge)
• Mountains classification leader: Jesus Herrada (Movistar)
• Team classification leader: Astana

811.1 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 41.746 km/hr

1	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	19hr 24min 58sec
2	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	@ 6sec
3	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 18''
4	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 23''
5	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
6	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
7	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	+ 00' 28''
8	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 29''
9	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	+ 00' 31''
10	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
11	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 32''
12	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 34''
13	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 35''
14	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
15	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	s.t.
16	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 37''
17	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
18	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 41''
19	SWIFT Ben	SKY	+ 00' 42''
20	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 44''
21	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
22	WYSS Danilo	BMC	+ 00' 45''
23	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 00' 46''
24	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 47''
25	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	s.t.
26	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 50''
27	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 00' 51''
28	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 52''
29	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 53''
30	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
31	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	+ 00' 55''
32	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA	+ 00' 59''
33	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	+ 01' 07''
34	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
35	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	+ 01' 09''
36	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 11''
37	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 13''
38	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01' 14''
39	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 22''
40	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 23''
41	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
42	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
43	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01' 24''
44	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 26''
45	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 28''
46	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	+ 01' 29''
47	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 32''
48	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 34''
49	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	+ 01' 36''
50	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	+ 01' 49''
51	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 52''
52	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	+ 03' 22''
53	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	+ 04' 34''
54	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	+ 04' 37''
55	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 04' 52''
56	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 04' 56''
57	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	+ 05' 25''
58	STANNARD Ian	SKY	+ 05' 28''
59	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 05' 52''
60	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 06' 03''
61	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	+ 06' 54''
62	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 07' 04''
63	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 07' 10''
64	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 07' 11''
65	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 07' 12''
66	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 07' 26''
67	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 07' 58''
68	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	+ 08' 11''
69	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	+ 08' 19''
70	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	+ 08' 29''
71	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 08' 38''
72	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	+ 08' 57''
73	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 09' 01''
74	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	+ 09' 24''
75	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 09' 30''
76	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	+ 09' 58''
77	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	KATUSHA	+ 10' 14''
78	HERMANS Ben	BMC	+ 10' 15''
79	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 10' 31''
80	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 10' 34''
81	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 10' 49''
82	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 52''
83	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 10' 56''
84	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	+ 11' 02''
85	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	+ 11' 08''
86	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 11' 13''
87	VELITS Peter	BMC	s.t.
88	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	+ 11' 34''
89	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 11' 52''
90	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 11' 54''
91	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	+ 11' 55''
92	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 12' 23''
93	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA	+ 12' 42''
94	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 13' 33''
95	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 13' 56''
96	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	+ 14' 37''
97	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 14' 48''
98	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 14' 49''
99	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 14' 59''
100	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	+ 15' 12''
101	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 15' 16''
102	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	+ 15' 24''
103	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 15' 26''
104	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	+ 17' 10''
105	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 17' 31''
106	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	+ 17' 41''
107	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	+ 17' 48''
108	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 18' 12''
109	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 18' 26''
110	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 18' 47''
111	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 19' 01''
112	ROWE Luke	SKY	s.t.
113	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 19' 09''
114	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	+ 19' 11''
115	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 19' 13''
116	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 19' 30''
117	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	+ 20' 03''
118	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	+ 21' 20''
119	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 21' 39''
120	GUARNIERI Jacopo	KATUSHA	s.t.
121	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	+ 21' 44''
122	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 22' 07''
123	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 22' 26''
124	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	+ 22' 31''
125	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 22' 35''
126	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 22' 59''
127	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 23' 15''
128	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 23' 21''
129	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	+ 23' 25''
130	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 23' 41''
131	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 23' 51''
132	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 24' 09''
133	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 24' 10''
134	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 25' 43''
135	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 26' 08''
136	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 26' 31''
137	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 26' 41''
138	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	+ 26' 42''
139	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 27' 04''
140	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 27' 14''
141	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 27' 17''
142	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	+ 27' 26''
143	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 28' 13''
144	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	+ 30' 24''
145	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 31' 04''
146	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	+ 31' 41''
147	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 31' 56''
148	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 32' 21''
149	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	+ 32' 30''
150	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 34' 07''
151	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 34' 16''
152	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 34' 19''
153	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 34' 20''
154	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 36' 20''
155	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 37' 19''
156	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	+ 38' 43''
157	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 56' 47''

Stage 5 map and profile

Stage 5 map

Stage 5 profile

---

Thursday, March 10: Stage 4, Juliénas - Romans sur Isère, 195.5 km

Stage 4 map and profile

Nacer Bouhanni gets this one

Rated ascents:

• Km 19.5 - Col de Brouilly, Cat 3
• Km 108.0 - Côte de Givors, Cat 3
• Km 163.0 - Côte de Saint-Uze Cat 2

The Race: Here's the stage story as told by the race organizer:

Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) avenged the bitter disappointments of the first half of Paris-Nice when he outpaced the best sprinters of the peloton to take stage 4 in Romand-sur-Isere in style on Thursday. The Frenchman, third in stage 1 and disqualified from stage 2 after a heated battle with Michael Matthews (Orica-Greendge), was in a class of his own this time, outsprinting the bunch ahead of Belgium's Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) and Germany's Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal). Fifth in the wheel of Norway's Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Matthews retained his race leader's yellow jersey ahead of a 198-km fifth stage to Salon de Provence including the Mont Ventoux ascent.

The stage started from Julienas at 12:00 with 28 of the 161riders expected at the podium unfortunately forgetting to sign the start list. At kilometre 5, as the peloton could still see Mont Brouilly, to which Paris-Nice will return next year after yesterday's cancellation, four men broke clear. Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie), Matthew Brammeier (Dimension Data), Florian Vachon (Fortuneo) and Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille Provence) parted company with the bunch, led by Michael Matthews's Orica-Greenedge team-mates as well as the sprinters teams of Katusha, Cofidis and Etixx-Quick Step. Their lead topped at 4:50 at kilometer 17, shortly before Col de Brouilly, which Siskevicus reached in the front, on his way to conquering the polka-dot jersey.

The peloton kept the four escapees within a three-minute gap and Siskevicius collected four more points at the top of cote de Givors (km 108). The sprint in Serrieres (Km 143), won by Voeckler, spurred the bunch into reaction and the gap quickly diminished, going under a minute with 40 km to go. In the Cote de Saint-Uze (km 163), the leading group split and Voeckler seized his chance to go on his own. Siskevicius retained enough strength to reach the top in second place to pick five more points and secure the polka-dot jersey on 15 points. After the climb, several attacks took place and Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Sep Vanmarcke (Lotto Jumbo) and Delio Fernandez (Delko Marseille Provence) chased Voeckler down. Voeckler was finally dropped with 20 km to go.

Chavanel, Vanmarcke and Fernandez were briefly chased by Lieuwe Westra (Astana) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) in the final 15 km as stage 1 winner Arnaud Demare, plagued by a knee injury, was forced out of the race. The trio managed to keep a 15 seconds edge  with two kilometers left as Katusha were doing most of the chasing work. But when Cofidis finally took over in the final two kilometres, the break was doomed and the three were overtaken in the final kilometer. Perfectly led out by his team-mates, Bouhanni launched the sprint alongside Kristoff, then took the wheel of Theuns and easily swept past for his third stage victory on Paris-Nice after the ones collected in 2013 in Nemours and 2014 in Mantes-la-Jolie.  

Complete Results:

195.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.2 km/hr

1	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	4hr 42min 29sec
2	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
3	GREIPEL André	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
4	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA	s.t.
5	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
6	SWIFT Ben	SKY	s.t.
7	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
8	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
9	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
10	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
11	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
12	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	s.t.
13	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
14	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	s.t.
15	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
16	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	s.t.
17	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
18	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	s.t.
19	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	s.t.
20	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
21	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
22	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
23	GUARNIERI Jacopo	KATUSHA	s.t.
24	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
25	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
26	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
27	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	s.t.
28	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
29	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
30	ROJAS José Joaquin	MOVISTAR	s.t.
31	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	s.t.
32	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
33	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
34	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
35	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
36	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	s.t.
37	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
38	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
39	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
40	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	s.t.
41	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
42	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
43	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	s.t.
44	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
45	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
46	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	s.t.
47	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
48	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	s.t.
49	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
50	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	s.t.
51	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
52	HERMANS Ben	BMC	s.t.
53	VELITS Peter	BMC	s.t.
54	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	s.t.
55	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
56	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
57	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
58	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
59	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
60	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
61	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	s.t.
62	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
63	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
64	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
65	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
66	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	s.t.
67	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	s.t.
68	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
69	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
70	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
71	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
72	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	s.t.
73	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
74	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
75	SCHLECK Frank	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
76	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
77	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
78	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
79	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
80	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
81	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
82	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	s.t.
83	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
84	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
85	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	s.t.
86	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
87	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
88	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	s.t.
89	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
90	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	s.t.
91	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	s.t.
92	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
93	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
94	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	s.t.
95	VAN POPPEL Boy	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
96	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
97	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	@ 26sec
98	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	+ 01' 01''
99	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	s.t.
100	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01' 02''
101	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
102	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	+ 01' 15''
103	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA	+ 01' 17''
104	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 01' 22''
105	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	KATUSHA	+ 01' 26''
106	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
107	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
108	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	s.t.
109	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 28''
110	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 49''
111	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 03' 05''
112	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	s.t.
113	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	+ 04' 38''
114	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
115	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
116	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
117	PAULINHO Sergio Miguel	TINKOFF	s.t.
118	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
119	DENIFL Stefan	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
120	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
121	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
122	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
123	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
124	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
125	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
126	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
127	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
128	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	s.t.
129	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
130	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
131	ROWE Luke	SKY	s.t.
132	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	s.t.
133	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	s.t.
134	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	s.t.
135	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
136	STANNARD Ian	SKY	s.t.
137	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	s.t.
138	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	s.t.
139	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
140	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	s.t.
141	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
142	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
143	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
144	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
145	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
146	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
147	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
148	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
149	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 06' 51''
150	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
151	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
152	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
153	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
154	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
155	KUMP Marko	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
156	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	s.t.
157	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
158	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
159	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
160	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	s.t.
161	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
162	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
163	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
164	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	s.t.
165	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.

GC after stage 4:

• GC leader: Michael Matthews
• Points classification leader: Michael Matthews
• Climber classification leader: Edvaldas Siskevicius
• Team classification leader: Movistar

613.1 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 42.564 km/hr

1	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	14hr 24min 15sec
2	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	@ 14sec
3	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 19''
4	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
5	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
6	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	+ 00' 24''
7	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 25''
8	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	+ 00' 27''
9	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
10	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 28''
11	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 30''
12	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 31''
13	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
14	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	s.t.
15	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 00' 33''
16	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
17	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
18	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 37''
19	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
20	SWIFT Ben	SKY	+ 00' 38''
21	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 40''
22	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
23	WYSS Danilo	BMC	+ 00' 41''
24	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 00' 42''
25	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
26	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 43''
27	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	s.t.
28	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
29	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 46''
30	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 00' 47''
31	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 00' 48''
32	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
33	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 49''
34	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
35	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	+ 00' 51''
36	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	+ 00' 52''
37	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	+ 00' 59''
38	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 01''
39	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA	s.t.
40	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	+ 01' 03''
41	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
42	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	+ 01' 05''
43	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 07''
44	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 09''
45	GREIPEL André	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 01' 10''
46	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
47	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 18''
48	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 19''
49	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
50	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
51	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 20''
52	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
53	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 22''
54	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 23''
55	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 24''
56	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	+ 01' 25''
57	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 27''
58	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 28''
59	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 29''
60	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 30''
61	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	+ 01' 32''
62	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	+ 01' 45''
63	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 58''
64	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 02' 12''
65	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 02' 20''
66	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	+ 02' 22''
67	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 02' 24''
68	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	+ 02' 57''
69	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	+ 03' 18''
70	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 03' 31''
71	SCHLECK Frank	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 03' 37''
72	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	+ 04' 07''
73	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 04' 15''
74	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	+ 04' 30''
75	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 04' 34''
76	VELITS Peter	BMC	+ 04' 46''
77	VAN POPPEL Boy	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 04' 47''
78	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	+ 04' 48''
79	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 04' 48''
80	GUARNIERI Jacopo	KATUSHA	+ 04' 50''
81	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 04' 51''
82	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 04' 52''
83	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	s.t.
84	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	+ 04' 55''
85	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 04' 57''
86	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 05' 18''
87	STANNARD Ian	SKY	+ 05' 24''
88	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	+ 05' 28''
89	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 05' 37''
90	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	+ 05' 42''
91	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 05' 48''
92	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 05' 56''
93	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 05' 59''
94	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA	+ 06' 15''
95	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 06' 26''
96	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 06' 32''
97	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	+ 06' 50''
98	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 06' 51''
99	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 06' 52''
100	ROJAS José Joaquin	MOVISTAR	+ 06' 53''
101	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 07' 00''
102	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 07' 02''
103	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 07' 08''
104	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 07' 22''
105	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 07' 54''
106	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 07' 56''
107	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	+ 07' 58''
108	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	+ 08' 07''
109	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	+ 08' 15''
110	KUMP Marko	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 08' 26''
111	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	KATUSHA	+ 08' 28''
112	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 08' 34''
113	ROWE Luke	SKY	+ 08' 36''
114	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 08' 41''
115	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	+ 08' 45''
116	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	+ 08' 53''
117	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	+ 08' 57''
118	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 09' 19''
119	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 09' 26''
120	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 09' 52''
121	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	+ 09' 53''
122	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	+ 09' 59''
123	HERMANS Ben	BMC	+ 10' 11''
124	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 10' 15''
125	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 10' 26''
126	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 10' 27''
127	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 10' 28''
128	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 10' 30''
129	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	+ 10' 37''
130	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 48''
131	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 10' 52''
132	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	+ 11' 04''
133	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 11' 14''
134	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 11' 24''
135	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	+ 11' 30''
136	DENIFL Stefan	IAM CYCLING	+ 11' 38''
137	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 12' 10''
138	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 12' 34''
139	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 13' 29''
140	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	+ 13' 40''
141	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 13' 45''
142	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 14' 03''
143	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 14' 45''
144	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 14' 47''
145	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	+ 14' 52''
146	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	+ 14' 53''
147	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 15' 07''
148	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 15' 09''
149	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 15' 18''
150	PAULINHO Sergio Miguel	TINKOFF	+ 15' 28''
151	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 15' 32''
152	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	+ 15' 41''
153	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 15' 49''
154	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 16' 06''
155	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 16' 49''
156	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	+ 16' 58''
157	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	+ 17' 06''
158	FARIA DA COSTA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 17' 18''
159	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 17' 27''
160	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 17' 30''
161	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 17' 42''
162	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 21' 05''
163	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	+ 21' 54''
164	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 24' 37''
165	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 27' 24''

Stage 4 map and profile:

Stage 4 map

Stage 4 profile

---

Wednesday, March 9: Stage 3, Cusset - Mont Brouilly, 168 km

Stage 3 map and profile

Bad weather forced the cancellation of stage 3

Stage 3's rated climbs:

• Km 59.5 - Côte de Vernay, 2.3 km @ 4.6% - cat 3
• Km 79.5 - Côte de Châteauneuf, 2.4 km @ 5% - cat 3
• Km 96.5 - Col des Echarmeaux, 9.5 km @ 3.1% - cat 3
• Km 112.0 - Côte des Rochettes, 3.1 km @ 4.5% - cat 3
• Km 117.0 - Col du Fût d'Avenas, 2.8 km @ 3.7% - cat 3
• Km 136.0 - Mont-Brouilly, 3 km @ 7.7% - cat 2
• Km 168.0 - Mont-Brouilly, 3 km @ 7.7% - cat 2

The Race: Here's the organizer's explanation of the stage cancellation.

The 168-km third stage of Paris-Nice between Cusset and Mont Brouilly was cancelled on Wednesday after snow forced organisers to halt the race at kilometer 93. Five riders - Alexis Gougeard (AG2R), Alexy Lutsenko (Astana), Laurent Didier (Trek Segafredo), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Jesus Herrada (Movistar) - were leading the main pack by 3:30 when the race direction and the race jury decided to call it a day. The race was in the third climb of the day, Col des Echarmeaux, when it was judged too dangerous to go ahead.

The points collected in the intermediate sprint of Chauffailles (Km 84) and in the first two climbs of the day, Cote de Verney (Km 59.5) and Cote de Chateauneuf (Km 79.5) will be taken into account into tomorrow's fourth stage to Romans-sur-Isere.

The stage started in the rain and cold without Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Pierrick Fedrigo (Fortuneo), who both gave up sick. Later in the stage, France's Arthur Vichot (FDJ), who was dropped early on, called it quits with gastric problems. Seven riders broke clear after 10 kilometers and were joined by seven other riders two km later. The fourteen were Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Luka Pibernik (Lampre), Ben Swift (Sky), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R), Simon Yates (Orica-Greenedge), Yury Trofimov (Tinkoff), David De la Cruz (Etixx-Quick Step), Kevin Reza (FDJ), Jesus Herrada (Movistar), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale), Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo), Alexandre Pichot (Direct Energie), Delio Fernandez (Delko Marseille Provence). They were chased down at kilometer 31 by Roy Curvers (Giant Alpecin) and Paul Martens (Lotto Jumbo).

A couple of Ag2r riders calling it quits

The lead of the 16 quickly went over four minutes, but the peloton raised the tempo to maintain them within two minutes. The break started scattering with the first climbs of the day and Gougeard, Lutsenko and Didier parted company with the group at kilometer 72. They were joined by Herrada in the descent of the Cote de Chateauneuf as the peloton split after Movistar raised the tempo. Their lead remained steady at around a minute until they received the support of Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) at kilometer 89. The snow kept falling steadily on the course and France's Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R) was forced out of the race after crashing at kilometer 80.

Another shot of the snowy day

The conditions deteriorated and forced the race direction to stop the stage. It was first decided to try and restart it further down the road in Villié-Morgon but it also proved impossible. "The road was extremely slippery and the safety was no longer guaranteed. We are sorry. That's Paris-Nice. We promise we'll come back to Mont-Brouilly. It's a pity but the riders will start again tomorrow from Julienas." Michael Matthews (Orica Greenedge) will start the 195.5-kms fourth stage with an unchanged lead of 14 seconds over Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin).

Results:

The stage is cancelled.

Complete GC after Stage 3:

• GC leader: Michael Matthews
• Points classification leader: Michael Matthews
• Climbing classification leader: Ion Izaguirre
• Team classification leader: Movistar

1	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	9hr 41min 46sec
2	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	@ 14sec
3	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 19''
4	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
5	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
6	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	+ 00' 24''
7	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 25''
8	DEMARE Arnaud	FDJ	s.t.
9	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	+ 00' 27''
10	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
11	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 28''
12	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 30''
13	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 31''
14	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
15	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	s.t.
16	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 00' 33''
17	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
18	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
19	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 37''
20	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
21	SWIFT Ben	SKY	+ 00' 38''
22	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 40''
23	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	s.t.
24	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
25	WYSS Danilo	BMC	+ 00' 41''
26	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 00' 42''
27	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
28	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 43''
29	ZAKARIN Ilnur	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
30	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
31	STANNARD Ian	SKY	+ 00' 46''
32	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	s.t.
33	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 00' 47''
34	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 48''
35	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 49''
36	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
37	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 50''
38	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	+ 00' 51''
39	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 00' 54''
40	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 59''
41	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	s.t.
42	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 01''
43	KRISTOFF Alexander	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
44	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	+ 01' 02''
45	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	+ 01' 03''
46	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
47	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	+ 01' 04''
48	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 01' 05''
49	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
50	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 07''
51	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 09''
52	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 10''
53	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
54	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
55	GREIPEL André	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 01' 14''
56	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 18''
57	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
58	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 19''
59	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
60	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
61	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 20''
62	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
63	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01' 22''
64	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
65	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 23''
66	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 24''
67	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
68	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	+ 01' 25''
69	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 27''
70	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 28''
71	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
72	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 29''
73	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 30''
74	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	+ 01' 32''
75	KUMP Marko	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01' 35''
76	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	+ 01' 45''
77	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01' 48''
78	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	+ 01' 52''
79	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 01' 54''
80	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 58''
81	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 02' 14''
82	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 02' 20''
83	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	+ 02' 22''
84	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 02' 24''
85	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	+ 02' 57''
86	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 02' 59''
87	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 03' 01''
88	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 03' 24''
89	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 03' 31''
90	SCHLECK Frank	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 03' 37''
91	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	+ 03' 54''
92	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 03' 56''
93	ROWE Luke	SKY	+ 03' 58''
94	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	+ 04' 07''
95	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	s.t.
96	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 04' 15''
97	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	+ 04' 19''
98	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 04' 23''
99	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	+ 04' 30''
100	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 04' 34''
101	SPILAK Simon	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 04' 39''
102	VELITS Peter	BMC	+ 04' 46''
103	VAN POPPEL Boy	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 04' 47''
104	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	+ 04' 48''
105	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
106	GUARNIERI Jacopo	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 04' 50''
107	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 04' 51''
108	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 04' 52''
109	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	s.t.
110	LAGUTIN Sergey	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 04' 53''
111	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 04' 57''
112	MORKOV Michael	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 04' 58''
113	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 05' 50''
114	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 06' 00''
115	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 06' 14''
116	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 06' 46''
117	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	+ 06' 50''
118	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 06' 51''
119	ROJAS José Joaquin	MOVISTAR	+ 06' 53''
120	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 07' 00''
121	KOCHETKOV Pavel	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
122	DENIFL Stefan	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
123	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 07' 02''
124	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	+ 07' 06''
125	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 07' 08''
126	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 07' 16''
127	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 07' 32''
128	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 07' 54''
129	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	+ 08' 01''
130	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 08' 51''
131	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	+ 08' 53''
132	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 09' 00''
133	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	+ 09' 02''
134	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 09' 07''
135	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 09' 15''
136	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 09' 19''
137	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 09' 25''
138	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	+ 09' 53''
139	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 09' 58''
140	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	+ 09' 59''
141	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 10' 07''
142	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 10' 09''
143	HERMANS Ben	BMC	+ 10' 11''
144	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	+ 10' 15''
145	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	s.t.
146	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 10' 27''
147	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 10' 27''
148	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 10' 29''
149	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 10' 30''
150	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 36''
151	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	+ 10' 37''
152	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	+ 10' 38''
153	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 10' 39''
154	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 42''
155	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 48''
156	PAULINHO Sergio Miguel	TINKOFF	+ 10' 50''
157	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 10' 51''
158	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 10' 54''
159	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	+ 11' 07''
160	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 11' 08''
161	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 11' 11''
162	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 12' 04''
163	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	+ 12' 20''
164	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 14' 14''
165	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	+ 15' 03''
166	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 20' 33''
167	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 24' 37'

Stage 3 map and profile:

2016 Paris-Nice stage 3 map

2016 Paris-Nice stage 3 profile

---

Tuesday, March 8: Stage 2, Contres - Commentry, 213.5 km

Stage 2 map and profile | Video of the sprint

Nacer Bouhanni leans a bit on eventual winner Michael Matthews

• Rated climb: Km 164 - Côte d'Estivareilles - Cat 3

The Race: This is how the organizer saw today's stage.    

Michael Matthews (Orica Greenedge) tightened his grip on Paris-Nice with his second victory in three days after a contentious sprint in Commentry at the end of the longest stage of this 74th edition, a 213.5-km flat ride in the cold from Contres. The insatiable Australian surged in the last stretch in the wheel of France's Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), who crossed the line ahead of him but was later disqualified for failing to hold his line. Italy's Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek-Segafredo) was third in the same time. Matthews strengthened his overall lead with a 14 seconds lead over Ducthman Tom Dumoulin ahead of a crucial stage 3 finishing on top of Mont Brouilly. 

174 riders left Contres without France's Jerome Coppel (IAM), who pulled out with sinusitis.  From kilometer 0, four men broke clear: Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre), Mathias Brandle (IAM), Anthony Delaplace (Fortuneo) and Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille Provence).  Their lead quickly grew and reached 10:15 shortly before the first intermediate sprint in Chabris (km 25), won by Siskevicius. The peloton, led by Matthews's Orica Greenedge team-mates and Marcel Kittel's Etixx Quick Step, raised the tempo and the gap stabilised at around six minutes (km 54).

The peloton continued to play cat and mouse with the four, who still retained a 2:40 lead at the top of the only climb of the day, the third category Cote d'Estivareilles (km 164), which saw Anthony Delaplace collect four points. But as the trains organised, the gap kept diminishing and the lead was down to 50 seconds with 30 km to go, shortly before Grmay was dropped by his breakaway companions. At the first passage on the finish line in Commentry, as Siskevicius picked three more seconds, the peloton were 35 seconds adrift. Delaplace lost ground in turn with 15 kms to go.

Siskevicius and Brandle shook hands as the peloton mercilessly passed them with 12 km to go. The sprinters trains seemed to struggle in the last ten kilometers, Kittel's Etixx-Quick Step team-mates disappearing from view as Cofidis were the most active in the finale. Then Orica-Greenedge seized the reins in the last two kilometers, unveiling their leader's intentions. Sensing the danger, Bouhanni launched the sprint with 250 metres to go but paid the toll for the hardship of the day's long ride when he changed his line, blocking Matthews along the barriers. After checking the finish on video, the race jury awarded victory to the Australian.

Complete Results:

Video of the sprint

215.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.472 km/hr

1	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	5hr 4min 26sec
2	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
3	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	s.t.
4	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA	@ 1sec
5	DEMARE Arnaud	FDJ	s.t.
6	SWIFT Ben	SKY	s.t.
7	GREIPEL André	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
8	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	s.t.
9	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
10	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
11	KUMP Marko	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
12	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
13	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
14	SANCHEZ GIL Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
15	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
16	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
17	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
18	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	s.t.
19	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	s.t.
20	FERNANDEZ ANDUJAR Ruben	MOVISTAR	s.t.
21	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	s.t.
22	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 05''
23	FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
24	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
25	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
26	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
27	ROJAS José Joaquin	MOVISTAR	s.t.
28	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
29	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
30	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	s.t.
31	VUILLERMOZ Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
32	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	s.t.
33	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
34	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	s.t.
35	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
36	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
37	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
38	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
39	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
40	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
41	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	s.t.
42	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	s.t.
43	STANNARD Ian	SKY	s.t.
44	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
45	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
46	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
47	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
48	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
49	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
50	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
51	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 00' 12''
52	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
53	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	s.t.
54	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
55	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
56	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	s.t.
57	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
58	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
59	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
60	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
61	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	KATUSHA	s.t.
62	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
63	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
64	VELITS Peter	BMC	s.t.
65	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
66	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	s.t.
67	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
68	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
69	MATE MARDONES Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
70	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
71	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	s.t.
72	VICHOT Arthur	FDJ	s.t.
73	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
74	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
75	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
76	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
77	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
78	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	s.t.
79	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
80	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
81	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
82	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	s.t.
83	FARIA DA COSTA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
84	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	s.t.
85	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
86	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
87	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
88	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	s.t.
89	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	s.t.
90	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
91	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	s.t.
92	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
93	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
94	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
95	SCHLECK Frank	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
96	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
97	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	s.t.
98	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	s.t.
99	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
100	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
101	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
102	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	s.t.
103	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
104	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	s.t.
105	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
106	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	s.t.
107	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
108	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
109	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
110	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	s.t.
111	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
112	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
113	DENIFL Stefan	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
114	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
115	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
116	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
117	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
118	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
119	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	s.t.
120	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	s.t.
121	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
122	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
123	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
124	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
125	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
126	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
127	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	s.t.
128	HERMANS Ben	BMC	s.t.
129	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	s.t.
130	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
131	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
132	VAN POPPEL Boy	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
133	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
134	GUARNIERI Jacopo	KATUSHA	+ 00' 30''
135	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
136	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	s.t.
137	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	s.t.
138	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
139	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA	s.t.
140	TEKLEHAIMANOT Daniel	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
141	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
142	PAULINHO Sergio Miguel	TINKOFF	+ 00' 35''
143	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
144	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	s.t.
145	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
146	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
147	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
148	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 41''
149	GILBERT Philippe	BMC	s.t.
150	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
151	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
152	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	+ 00' 42''
153	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	s.t.
154	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
155	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
156	ROWE Luke	SKY	s.t.
157	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 19''
158	FEDRIGO Pierrick	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
159	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	+ 01' 21''
160	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	s.t.
161	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01' 56''
162	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	+ 02' 10''
163	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 02' 14''
164	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
165	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	s.t.
166	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 03' 17''
167	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 05' 13''
168	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 05' 36''
169	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 06' 35''
170	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
171	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 09' 56''
172	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 15' 44''

GC after Stage 2:

• GC leader: Michael Matthews
• Points classification leader: Michael Matthews
• Climbing classification leader: Ion Izaguirre
• Team classification leader: Movistar

417.6 kilometers race so far at an average speed of 43.069 km/hr

1	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	9hr 41min 46sec
2	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	@ 14sec
3	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 19''
4	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
5	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
6	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	+ 00' 24''
7	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 25''
8	DEMARE Arnaud	FDJ	s.t.
9	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	+ 00' 27''
10	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
11	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 28''
12	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 30''
13	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 31''
14	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
15	FERNANDEZ ANDUJAR Ruben	MOVISTAR	+ 00' 31''
16	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 00' 33''
17	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
18	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
19	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 37''
20	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
21	SWIFT Ben	SKY	+ 00' 38''
22	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 40''
23	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	s.t.
24	SANCHEZ GIL Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
25	WYSS Danilo	BMC	+ 00' 41''
26	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 00' 42''
27	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
28	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 43''
29	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	s.t.
30	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
31	STANNARD Ian	SKY	+ 00' 46''
32	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	s.t.
33	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 00' 47''
34	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 48''
35	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 49''
36	FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
37	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 50''
38	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	+ 00' 51''
39	VUILLERMOZ Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
40	VICHOT Arthur	FDJ	+ 00' 52''
41	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 00' 54''
42	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 59''
43	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	+ 00' 59''
44	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 01''
45	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA	s.t.
46	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	+ 01' 02''
47	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	+ 01' 03''
48	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
49	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	+ 01' 04''
50	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 01' 05''
51	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
52	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 07''
53	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 09''
54	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 10''
55	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
56	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
57	GREIPEL André	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 01' 14''
58	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 18''
59	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
60	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 19''
61	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
62	MATE MARDONES Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
63	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 20''
64	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
65	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 01' 22''
66	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
67	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 23''
68	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 24''
69	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
70	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	+ 01' 25''
71	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 27''
72	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 28''
73	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
74	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 29''
75	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 30''
76	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	+ 01' 32''
77	KUMP Marko	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01' 35''
78	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	+ 01' 45''
79	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01' 48''
80	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	+ 01' 52''
81	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 01' 54''
82	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 58''
83	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 02' 14''
84	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 02' 20''
85	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	+ 02' 22''
86	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 02' 24''
87	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	+ 02' 57''
88	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 02' 59''
89	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 03' 01''
90	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 03' 24''
91	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 03' 31''
92	SCHLECK Frank	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 03' 37''
93	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	+ 03' 54''
94	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 03' 56''
95	ROWE Luke	SKY	+ 03' 58''
96	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	+ 04' 07''
97	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	s.t.
98	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 04' 15''
99	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	+ 04' 19''
100	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 04' 23''
101	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	+ 04' 30''
102	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 04' 34''
103	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	+ 04' 39''
104	GILBERT Philippe	BMC	+ 04' 40''
105	VELITS Peter	BMC	+ 04' 46''
106	VAN POPPEL Boy	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 04' 47''
107	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	+ 04' 48''
108	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
109	GUARNIERI Jacopo	KATUSHA	+ 04' 50''
110	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 04' 51''
111	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 04' 52''
112	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	s.t.
113	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	+ 04' 53''
114	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 04' 57''
115	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA	+ 04' 58''
116	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 05' 50''
117	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 06' 00''
118	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 06' 14''
119	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 06' 46''
120	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	+ 06' 50''
121	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 06' 51''
122	ROJAS José Joaquin	MOVISTAR	+ 06' 53''
123	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 07' 00''
124	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	s.t.
125	DENIFL Stefan	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
126	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	KATUSHA	+ 07' 02''
127	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	+ 07' 06''
128	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 07' 08''
129	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 07' 16''
130	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 07' 32''
131	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 07' 54''
132	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	+ 08' 01''
133	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 08' 51''
134	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	+ 08' 53''
135	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 09' 00''
136	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	+ 09' 02''
137	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 09' 07''
138	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 09' 15''
139	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 09' 19''
140	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 09' 25''
141	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	+ 09' 53''
142	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 09' 58''
143	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	+ 09' 59''
144	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 10' 07''
145	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 10' 09''
146	HERMANS Ben	BMC	+ 10' 11''
147	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	+ 10' 15''
148	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	s.t.
149	FARIA DA COSTA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 10' 27''
150	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
151	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 10' 29''
152	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 10' 30''
153	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 36''
154	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	+ 10' 37''
155	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	+ 10' 38''
156	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 10' 39''
157	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 42''
158	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 48''
159	PAULINHO Sergio Miguel Moreira	TINKOFF	+ 10' 50''
160	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 10' 51''
161	TEKLEHAIMANOT Daniel	DIMENSION DATA	+ 10' 53''
162	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 10' 54''
163	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	+ 11' 07''
164	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 11' 08''
165	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 11' 11''
166	FEDRIGO Pierrick	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 11' 36''
167	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 12' 04''
168	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	+ 12' 20''
169	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 14' 14''
170	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	+ 15' 03''
171	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 20' 33''
172	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 24' 37''

Stage 2 map and profile:

Paris-Nice stage 2 map

Paris-Nice stage 2 profile

Video of the sprint:

---

Monday, March 7: Stage 1, Condé sur Vesgre - Vendôme, 198 km

Climbs | Stage 1 map and profile

Arnaud Demare wins Paris-Nice stage 1

Climbs:

• Km 180.0 - Côte du chemin du Tertre de la Motte, 1 km @ 3.7% - cat 3
• Km 194.0 - Côte du chemin du Tertre de la Motte, 1 km @ 3.7% - cat 3

The Race: Here's the organizer's telling of the day's events.

Arnaud Demare avenged a season of struggle when he surged in the final stretch of a snowy first stage of Paris-Nice to outsprint Ben Swift (Sky) and Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) and snatch his first major victory since his French champion title two years ago. Australia's Michael Matthews (Orica GreenEdge)  kept a close watch on his main GC rivals to retain his leader's yellow jersey, even collecting a few seconds in the last intermediate sprint of the day before the final battle started on the gravelly lane that was the main ingredient on the day's menu.

A minute of silence was observed at the start in memory of French rider Romain Guyot, recently killed in a training accident.  Light snow fell before the start, given at 11:54 to 175 riders and would keep falling intermittently all day. Almost on the gun, Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Perrig Quemeneur (Cofidis), Steven Tronet (Fortuneo) and Thierry Hupond (Delko Marseille) attacked and  embarked on the long break of the day. After 14 km, the four led the peloton by seven minutes. The lead of the four escapees reached a maximum of 9:30 after 70 km. Given the cold temperatures and a slight tailwind, the average speed remained steady at 44 kph. 

After the sprint of the day won by De Gendt in Bonneval (km 104), the peloton started reacting and after 150 km, an echelon took place at the initiative of Team Sky and Etixx Quick Step. Most of the favourites were in the first part of the peloton, to the exception of Rui Costa (Lampre), Simon Spilak (Katusha), Jerome Coppel (IAM), ace sprinter Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and sick Philippe Gilbert (BMC). With 20 km to go, as the race tackled the gravel sector of Chemin de Tourteline for the first time, the break was reeled in, Thomas De Gendt being the last man to resist.

Michael Matthews spent the day in yellow.

In the sector of Chemin du Tertre de la Motte, France's Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo) broke clear on his own and collected mountain points as well as the intermediate sprint in Vendome. Race leader Michael Matthews outsprinted Team Sky leader Geraint Thomas to collect two seconds while the Welshman grabbed one. While Perichon was reined in, Team Sky kept leading the way, Luke Rowe taking a solid share of the work.

In the final climb, Jon Izaguirre (Movistar), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) and Geraint Thomas (Sky) were leading the way but a small bunch regrouped in the final three kilometers. Edward Theuns (Trek) ride to attack at the red flame, but he was finally brought back with 400 metres as the sprint started. Ben Swift (Sky) surged from afar, followed by Nacer Bouhanni, but Arnaud Demare had the last kick and the last word to snatch his second win of the season after a stage in La Mediterraneenne.

Complete Results:

198 kilometers raced at an average speed of 44.019 km/hr

1	DEMARE Arnaud	FDJ	4hr 29min 53sec
2	SWIFT Ben	SKY	s.t.
3	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	s.t.
4	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
5	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
6	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
7	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
8	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
9	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
10	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
11	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	s.t.
12	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
13	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	s.t.
14	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
15	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	s.t.
16	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
17	SANCHEZ GIL Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
18	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
19	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
20	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	s.t.
21	VUILLERMOZ Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
22	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
23	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	s.t.
24	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
25	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	s.t.
26	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
27	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
28	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	s.t.
29	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	s.t.
30	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	s.t.
31	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
32	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	s.t.
33	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
34	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
35	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
36	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
37	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
38	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
39	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
40	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
41	PERICHON Pierre-Luc	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
42	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
43	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	s.t.
44	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
45	VICHOT Arthur	FDJ	s.t.
46	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
47	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	s.t.
48	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
49	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
50	ZAKARIN Ilnur	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
51	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
52	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
53	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
54	STANNARD Ian	SKY	s.t.
55	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	@ 11sec
56	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
57	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	s.t.
58	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 23''
59	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
60	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
61	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
62	KRISTOFF Alexander	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
63	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
64	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
65	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
66	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
67	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
68	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
69	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
70	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
71	GREIPEL André	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
72	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	s.t.
73	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
74	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
75	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
76	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
77	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
78	KUMP Marko	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
79	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	s.t.
80	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 43''
81	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	+ 00' 53''
82	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	s.t.
83	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
84	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	+ 01' 18''
85	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 01' 20''
86	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 28''
87	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
88	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
89	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	s.t.
90	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	+ 01' 55''
91	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
92	GILBERT Philippe	BMC	+ 02' 22''
93	ROWE Luke	SKY	s.t.
94	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
95	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
96	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
97	SCHLECK Frank	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 02' 42''
98	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
99	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	+ 03' 20''
100	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
101	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 03' 37''
102	VELITS Peter	BMC	s.t.
103	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
104	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
105	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	s.t.
106	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	s.t.
107	VAN POPPEL Boy	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
108	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
109	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
110	LAGUTIN Sergey	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
111	SPILAK Simon	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
112	GUARNIERI Jacopo	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
113	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
114	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
115	MORKOV Michael	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
116	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	s.t.
117	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
118	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	s.t.
119	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
120	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 04' 45''
121	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 04' 53''
122	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 05' 59''
123	DENIFL Stefan	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
124	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
125	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
126	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
127	ROJAS José Joaquin	MOVISTAR	s.t.
128	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
129	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
130	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	s.t.
131	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	s.t.
132	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
133	KOCHETKOV Pavel	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
134	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
135	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	s.t.
136	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 07' 33''
137	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 07' 33''
138	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 08' 04''
139	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
140	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
141	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
142	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	s.t.
143	LOBATO Juan José	MOVISTAR	s.t.
144	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	s.t.
145	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
146	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
147	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
148	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
149	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
150	HERMANS Ben	BMC	+ 09' 20''
151	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
152	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
153	PAULINHO Sergio Miguel	TINKOFF	s.t.
154	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
155	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	s.t.
156	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	s.t.
157	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
158	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
159	TEKLEHAIMANOT Daniel	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
160	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
161	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
162	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
163	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	s.t.
164	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	s.t.
165	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
166	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	s.t.
167	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
168	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
169	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
170	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	s.t.
171	FEDRIGO Pierrick	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
172	COPPEL Jérôme	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
173	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	s.t.
174	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
175	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.

GC after Stage 1:

• GC leader: Michael Matthews
• Points classification leader: Michael Matthews
• Climber classification leader: Ion Izaguirre
• Team classification leader: Movistar

204.1 kilometers raced at an average speed of 44.130 km/hr

1	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	4hr 37min 30sec
2	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	@ 3sec
3	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 04''
4	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	+ 00' 08''
5	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
6	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	+ 00' 09''
7	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 10''
8	PORTE Richie	BMC	+ 00' 12''
9	DEMARE Arnaud	FDJ	+ 00' 14''
10	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 15''
11	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 00' 16''
12	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
13	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	s.t.
14	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 17''
15	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 00' 18''
16	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
17	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
18	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	+ 00' 20''
19	ZAKARIN Ilnur	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 00' 21''
20	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
21	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 22''
22	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	+ 00' 22''
23	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 24''
24	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 00' 25''
25	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	s.t.
26	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 26''
27	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
28	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 00' 27''
29	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
30	SWIFT Ben	SKY	s.t.
31	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 28''
32	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	s.t.
33	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 29''
34	SANCHEZ Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
35	VICHOT Arthur	FDJ	+ 00' 30''
36	STANNARD Ian	SKY	+ 00' 31''
37	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 00' 32''
38	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 34''
39	PERICHON Pierre-Luc	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
40	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
41	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	+ 00' 36''
42	VUILLERMOZ Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
43	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 37''
44	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	+ 00' 41''
45	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
46	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 42''
47	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 00' 43''
48	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
49	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 47''
50	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 00' 48''
51	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
52	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
53	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	+ 00' 48''
54	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 50''
55	KRISTOFF Alexander	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
56	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 52''
57	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 53''
58	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
59	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	+ 00' 56''
60	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
61	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 57''
62	REZA Kévin	FDJ	s.t.
63	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
64	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 58''
65	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
66	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 00''
67	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 01''
68	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	+ 01' 02''
69	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
70	GREIPEL André	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 01' 03''
71	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
72	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 01' 05''
73	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 06''
74	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
75	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 01' 07''
76	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 08''
77	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	+ 01' 10''
78	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	+ 01' 14''
79	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	s.t.
80	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 18''
81	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	+ 01' 23''
82	KUMP Marko	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01' 24''
83	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	+ 01' 30''
84	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 01' 33''
85	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 01' 50''
86	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 52''
87	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 01' 58''
88	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	+ 02' 00''
89	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 02' 02''
90	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	+ 02' 05''
91	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	+ 02' 23''
92	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 02' 37''
93	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 02' 39''
94	ROWE Luke	SKY	+ 03' 06''
95	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 03' 09''
96	SCHLECK Frank	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 03' 15''
97	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 03' 34''
98	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	+ 03' 45''
99	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	s.t.
100	GILBERT Philippe	BMC	+ 03' 49''
101	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 03' 53''
102	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	+ 03' 57''
103	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	+ 04' 00''
104	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 04' 01''
105	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 04' 03''
106	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	+ 04' 08''
107	GUARNIERI Jacopo	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 04' 10''
108	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 04' 11''
109	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL-JUMBO	+ 04' 12''
110	SPILAK Simon	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 04' 17''
111	MORKOV Michael	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 04' 18''
112	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 04' 22''
113	VELITS Peter	BMC	+ 04' 24''
114	VAN POPPEL Boy	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 04' 25''
115	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	+ 04' 26''
116	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE-MERIDA	s.t.
117	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 04' 30''
118	LAGUTIN Sergey	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 04' 31''
119	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 04' 35''
120	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 05' 08''
121	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 05' 28''
122	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 06' 16''
123	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	+ 06' 26''
124	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	+ 06' 28''
125	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 06' 29''
126	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	+ 06' 30''
127	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 06' 31''
128	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 06' 38''
129	KOCHETKOV Pavel	TEAM KATUSHA	s.t.
130	ROJAS José Joaquin	MOVISTAR	s.t.
131	DENIFL Stefan	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
132	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	TEAM KATUSHA	+ 06' 40''
133	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 06' 41''
134	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	+ 06' 42''
135	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 07' 32''
136	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 08' 09''
137	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	+ 08' 21''
138	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 08' 28''
139	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 08' 29''
140	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	+ 08' 31''
141	LOBATO Juan José	MOVISTAR	+ 08' 36''
142	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	+ 08' 37''
143	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 08' 44''
144	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 08' 45''
145	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 08' 48''
146	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 08' 53''
147	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 09' 03''
148	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 09' 08''
149	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 09' 13''
150	COPPEL Jérôme	IAM CYCLING	+ 09' 31''
151	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	+ 09' 37''
152	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	+ 09' 38''
153	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 09' 42''
154	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 09' 45''
155	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	+ 09' 47''
156	HERMANS Ben	BMC	+ 09' 49''
157	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	+ 09' 53''
158	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	s.t.
159	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	s.t.
160	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	+ 09' 56''
161	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	+ 09' 57''
162	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE-MERIDA	+ 10' 05''
163	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
164	PAULINHO Sergio Miguel	TINKOFF	s.t.
165	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 10' 06''
166	FEDRIGO Pierrick	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 10' 07''
167	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
168	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 10' 08''
169	TEKLEHAIMANOT Daniel	DIMENSION DATA	+ 10' 13''
170	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 14''
171	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 10' 17''
172	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
173	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	+ 10' 22''
174	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 10' 26''
175	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 10' 27''

Stage map and profile:

Stage 1 map

Stage 1 profile

---

Sunday, March 6: Prologue 6.1 km individual time trial, Conflans Sainte Honorine

Stage map

Michael Matthews wins the prologue

The Race: here's the organizer's explanation of the day's events.

Road world silver-medallist Michael Matthews (Orica Greendge) was known as one of the most exceptional sprinters in the bunch. "Bling" emerged as an excellent prologue specialist as well, winning the 74th Paris-Nice opener in 7:39  for his very first race of the season. The Australian all-rounder, winner of a stage a year ago, upset pre-race favourite Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) by one second while unheralded New Zealander Patrick Bevin (Cannondale) was third, a further second adrift. Matthews kept the race leader's jersey in Australian hands after title-holder Richie Porte (BMC) finished 11th in 7:49. 

The 74th edition of Paris-Nice started at 11:44 when Frenchman Remy Di Gregorio, a stage winner in 2011, was the first rider on the course. Before the start, Conflans-born Nicholas Roche (Sky) was feted by his relatives and friends.

Time trial specialist Jos Van Emden (Lotto Jumbo) quickly set a reference mark under eight minutes in 7:54. The former Dutch TT champion held his ground until his team leader Wilco Kelderman, the current national champion, improved his time by two seconds. While Nikki Terpstra made it a Dutch top three for a while, French time trial champion Jerome Coppel dislodged them in 7:48. The IAM Cycling team leader, bronze medallist at the world championships in Richmond last year, held his ground while Dutch riders - 2012 overall runner-up Lieuwe Westra or 2010 prologue winner Lars Boom – kept piling into the top 10. 

But the Frenchman's time was bettered by former Spanish road champion Jesus Herrada, who clocked 7:45. Earlier his team-mate Gorka Izaguirre had also gone under the eight minutes bar in 7:53. France's Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) had just seemed to secure a podium berth when Herrada's mark was improved by New Zealand's champion Patrick Bevin. In 7:41, the 24-year-old sensation confirmed his Cannondale team manager Jonathan Vaughters's views that he was "a rider who seems to have it all". All but not enough to keep favorite Tom Dumoulin at bay. The Dutchman bettered his time by just a second.

It seemed that Dumoulin was in a position to snatch a close victory when Matthews surged to beat him by a second and take his second yell jersey in Paris-Nice after holding it for a day last year thanks to his stage win in St Pourcain sur Sioule. The Australian finally took the green jersey to Nice.

In the contest between contenders for final victory, Porte had to be content with 11th place in 7:49 while Spain's Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) finished 27th, 16 seconds behind Matthews. Frenchman Romain Bardet (AG2R) clocked 8:04.  

There was also a race within the race between sprinters for a chance to snatch the yellow jersey in days to come. But it will be hard to take away from Matthews. Marcel Kittel (Etixx Quicks Step) is 22 seconds adrift, in the same time as France's Arnaud Demare (FDJ), with Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) close by, 25 seconds behind, while Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) clocked 8:17 and France's Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) 8:37.

Complete Stage Results and GC:

6.1 kilometers raced at an average speed of 47.843 km/hr

1	MATTHEWS Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	7min 39sec
2	DUMOULIN Tom	GIANT-ALPECIN	@ 1sec
3	BEVIN Patrick	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 02''
4	HERRADA Jesús	MOVISTAR	+ 00' 06''
5	IZAGUIRRE Ion	MOVISTAR	s.t.
6	WESTRA Lieuwe	ASTANA	+ 00' 07''
7	THOMAS Geraint	SKY	s.t.
8	DEVENYNS Dries	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 08''
9	CHAVANEL Sylvain	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 09''
10	COPPEL Jérôme	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
11	PORTE Richie	BMC	+ 00' 10''
12	FELLINE Fabio	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 00' 13''
13	LUDVIGSSON Tobias	GIANT-ALPECIN	s.t.
14	KELDERMAN Wilco	LOTTO NL - JUMBO	s.t.
15	VANMARCKE Sep	LOTTO NL - JUMBO	+ 00' 14''
16	IZAGUIRRE Gorka	MOVISTAR	s.t.
17	MAJKA Rafal	TINKOFF	s.t.
18	CAMPENAERTS Victor	LOTTO NL - JUMBO	s.t.
19	BRÄNDLE Matthias	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 15''
20	IMPEY Daryl	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
21	VAN EMDEN Jos	LOTTO NL - JUMBO	s.t.
22	BOOM Lars	ASTANA	s.t.
23	WELLENS Tim	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
24	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 00' 16''
25	GALLOPIN Tony	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
26	LAPORTE Christophe	COFIDIS	s.t.
27	CONTADOR Alberto	TINKOFF	s.t.
28	TALANSKY Andrew	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 18''
29	FERNANDEZ Ruben	MOVISTAR	s.t.
30	ZAKARIN Ilnur	KATUSHA	+ 00' 19''
31	TERPSTRA Niki	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
32	MARTENS Paul	LOTTO NL - JUMBO	+ 00' 20''
33	YATES Simon	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
34	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
35	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas	FDJ	s.t.
36	ROCHE Nicolas	SKY	+ 00' 21''
37	BEWLEY Sam	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 22''
38	KITTEL Marcel	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
39	CALMEJANE Lilian	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
40	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
41	DEMARE Arnaud	FDJ	s.t.
42	SLAGTER Tom Jelte	CANNONDALE	s.t.
43	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 00' 23''
44	SERRY Pieter	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
45	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	ASTANA	s.t.
46	LOUBET Julien	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
47	CRADDOCK Lawson	CANNONDALE	s.t.
48	GESCHKE Simon	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 24''
49	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
50	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
51	ERVITI Imanol	MOVISTAR	+ 00' 25''
52	BOONEN Tom	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
53	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
54	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA	s.t.
55	VANDENBERGH Stijn	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
56	SIMON Julien	COFIDIS	s.t.
57	HENAO Sergio Luis	SKY	+ 00' 26''
58	LEMOINE Cyril	COFIDIS	s.t.
59	VAN BAARLE Dylan	CANNONDALE	s.t.
60	PETIT Adrien	DIRECT ENERGIE	+ 00' 27''
61	NAESEN Oliver	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
62	LAENGEN Vegard Stake	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
63	HERMANS Ben	BMC	s.t.
64	SANCHEZ GIL Luis-Leon	ASTANA	s.t.
65	POLJANSKI Pawel	TINKOFF	+ 00' 28''
66	VICHOT Arthur	FDJ	s.t.
67	BONIFAZIO Niccolo	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
68	LATOUR Pierre-Roger	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
69	DELAPLACE Anthony	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
70	MAES Nikolas	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
71	ALBASINI Michael	ORICA GREENEDGE	+ 00' 29''
72	COUSIN Jérome	COFIDIS	s.t.
73	HERRADA Jose	MOVISTAR	s.t.
74	STANNARD Ian	SKY	s.t.
75	THEUNS Edward	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 00' 30''
76	LOBATO Juan José	MOVISTAR	s.t.
77	VOECKLER Thomas	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
78	ROSA Diego	ASTANA	+ 00' 31''
79	SWIFT Ben	SKY	s.t.
80	MOINARD Amaël	BMC	s.t.
81	EIKING Odd Christian	FDJ	s.t.
82	BENNETT George	LOTTO NL - JUMBO	s.t.
83	SCHLECK Frank	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
84	GUARNIERI Jacopo	KATUSHA	s.t.
85	BOSWELL Ian	SKY	s.t.
86	PREIDLER Georg	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 32''
87	SABATINI Fabio	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
88	FARIA Rui Alberto	LAMPRE - MERIDA	s.t.
89	TANKINK Bram	LOTTO NL - JUMBO	+ 00' 33''
90	DUCHESNE Antoine	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
91	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael	TINKOFF	+ 00' 34''
92	JEANNESSON Arnold	COFIDIS	s.t.
93	VUILLERMOZ Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
94	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	+ 00' 35''
95	NIELSEN Magnus Cort	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
96	PERICHON Pierre-Luc	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
97	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
98	DELAGE Mickaël	FDJ	s.t.
99	KISERLOVSKI Robert	TINKOFF	s.t.
100	TOSATTO Matteo	TINKOFF	s.t.
101	DE KORT Koen	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 36''
102	DIDIER Laurent	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 00' 37''
103	KOCHETKOV Pavel	KATUSHA	s.t.
104	ROJAS José Joaquin	MOVISTAR	s.t.
105	REYNES Vicente	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
106	DE GENDT Thomas	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
107	DENIFL Stefan	IAM CYCLING	s.t.
108	VACHON Florian	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
109	GREIPEL André	LOTTO SOUDAL	+ 00' 38''
110	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	LAMPRE - MERIDA	s.t.
111	SPILAK Simon	KATUSHA	s.t.
112	NIEVE Mikel	SKY	+ 00' 39''
113	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA	s.t.
114	HANSEN Adam	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
115	ROLLAND Pierre	CANNONDALE	s.t.
116	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik	KATUSHA	s.t.
117	SOUPE GEOFFREY	COFIDIS	+ 00' 40''
118	QUEMENEUR Perrig	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
119	MC LAY DANIEL	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 00' 41''
120	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
121	COURTEILLE ARNAUD	FDJ	s.t.
122	BURGHARDT Marcus	BMC	s.t.
123	ROWE Luke	SKY	+ 00' 42''
124	DOCKER Mitchell	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
125	TULIK ANGÉLO	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
126	FARIA Mario Jorge	LAMPRE - MERIDA	+ 00' 43''
127	BAK Lars Ytting	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
128	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
129	PAULINHO Sergio	TINKOFF	s.t.
130	TRONET Steven	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	s.t.
131	DE LA CRUZ David	ETIXX-QUICK STEP	s.t.
132	REZA Kévin	FDJ	+ 00' 44''
133	TXURRUKA Amets	ORICA GREENEDGE	s.t.
134	FEDRIGO Pierrick	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 00' 45''
135	PICHOT Alexandre	DIRECT ENERGIE	s.t.
136	GASTAUER Ben	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
137	TROFIMOV Yury	TINKOFF	s.t.
138	VELITS Peter	BMC	s.t.
139	GAUTIER Cyril	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 00' 46''
140	RAST Gregory	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
141	VAN POPPEL Boy	TREK-SEGAFREDO	s.t.
142	PACHER Quentin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
143	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 47''
144	CIMOLAI Davide	LAMPRE - MERIDA	s.t.
145	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas	IAM CYCLING	+ 00' 48''
146	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
147	BRESCHEL Matti	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 49''
148	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
149	SORENSEN Chris Anker	FORTUNEO-VITAL CONCEPT	+ 00' 50''
150	WIPPERT WOUTER	CANNONDALE	+ 00' 51''
151	TEKLEHAIMANOT Daniel	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
152	MEINTJES Louis	LAMPRE - MERIDA	s.t.
153	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 00' 52''
154	LAGUTIN Sergey	KATUSHA	s.t.
155	CURVERS Roy	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 00' 53''
156	COMBAUD Romain	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 00' 54''
157	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 55''
158	VANENDERT Jelle	LOTTO SOUDAL	s.t.
159	MATE Luis Angel	COFIDIS	s.t.
160	BEPPU Fumiyuki	TREK-SEGAFREDO	+ 00' 56''
161	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
162	BONO Matteo	LAMPRE - MERIDA	+ 00' 57''
163	BOUHANNI Nacer	COFIDIS	+ 00' 58''
164	KUMP Marko	LAMPRE - MERIDA	+ 00' 59''
165	BRAMMEIER Matthew	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 00''
166	CHEREL Mikael	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 01''
167	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 02''
168	DI GREGORIO Rémy	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01' 04''
169	PAUWELS Serge	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
170	JI Cheng	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 05''
171	TEN DAM Laurens	GIANT-ALPECIN	+ 01' 07''
172	PIBERNIK Luka	LAMPRE - MERIDA	+ 01' 08''
173	KRUIJSWIJK Steven	LOTTO NL - JUMBO	+ 01' 12''
174	GILBERT Philippe	BMC	+ 01' 25''
175	DUQUE Leonardo	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01' 31''

Prologue map: time trial course is pan-flat

Prologue course map

---

Start list with back numbers, March 5, 2016:

	BMC RACING TEAM / USA
	Directeurs sportifs : BALDATO Fabio / LEDANOIS Yvon
1	PORTE Richie
2	BURGHARDT Marcus
3	GILBERT Philippe
4	HERMANS Ben
5	MOINARD Amaël
6	SCHÄR Michael
7	VELITS Peter
8	WYSS Danilo
	TEAM KATUSHA / RUS
	Directeurs sportifs : KONYSHEV Dmitry / FLORENCIO CABRE Xavier
11	SPILAK Simon
12	BYSTRÖM Sven Erik
13	GUARNIERI Jacopo
14	KOCHETKOV Pavel
15	KRISTOFF Alexander
16	LAGUTIN Sergey
17	MORKOV Michael
18	ZAKARIN Ilnur
	LAMPRE - MERIDA / ITA
	Directeurs sportifs : MAUDUIT Philippe / SCIREA Mario
21	FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto
22	FARIA DA COSTA Mario Jorge
23	BONO Matteo
24	CIMOLAI Davide
25	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam
26	KUMP Marko
27	MEINTJES Louis
28	PIBERNIK Luka
	TEAM SKY / GBR
	Directeurs sportifs : PORTAL Nicolas / RASCH Gabriel
31	THOMAS Geraint
32	BOSWELL Ian
33	HENAO Sergio Luis
34	NIEVE Mikel
35	ROCHE Nicolas
36	ROWE Luke
37	STANNARD Ian
38	SWIFT Ben
	LOTTO SOUDAL / BEL
	Directeurs sportifs : FRISON Herman / WAUTERS Marc
41	GALLOPIN Tony
42	BAK Lars Ytting
43	DE GENDT Thomas
44	GREIPEL André
45	HANSEN Adam
46	VANENDERT Jelle
47	WELLENS Tim
	AG2R LA MONDIALE / FRA
	Directeurs sportifs : JURDIE Julien / GOUBERT Stephane
51	BARDET Romain
52	CHEREL Mikael
53	DOMONT Axel
54	GASTAUER Ben
55	GAUTIER Cyril
56	GOUGEARD Alexis
57	LATOUR Pierre-Roger
58	VUILLERMOZ Alexis
	ORICA GREENEDGE / AUS
	Directeurs sportifs : LAPAGE Laurenzo / MC PARTLAND David
61	MATTHEWS Michael
62	ALBASINI Michael
63	BEWLEY Sam
64	DOCKER Mitchell
65	IMPEY Daryl
66	NIELSEN Magnus Cort
67	TXURRUKA Amets
68	YATES Simon
	TINKOFF / RUS
	Directeurs sportifs : BASSO Ivan / DE JONGH Steven
71	CONTADOR Alberto
72	KISERLOVSKI Robert
73	MAJKA Rafal
74	PAULINHO Sergio Miguel Moreira
75	POLJANSKI Pawel
76	TOSATTO Matteo
77	TROFIMOV Yury
78	VALGREN ANDERSEN Michael
	ETIXX-QUICK STEP / BEL
	Directeurs sportifs : SCHAFFRATH Jan / STEELS Tom
81	BOONEN Tom
82	DE LA CRUZ David
83	KITTEL Marcel
84	MAES Nikolas
85	SABATINI Fabio
86	SERRY Pieter
87	TERPSTRA Niki
88	VANDENBERGH Stijn
	FDJ / FRA
	Directeurs sportifs : BRICAUD Thierry / PINEAU Franck
91	VICHOT Arthur
92	COURTEILLE ARNAUD
93	DELAGE Mickaël
94	DEMARE Arnaud
95	EIKING Odd Christian
96	HOELGAARD Daniel
97	KONOVALOVAS Ignatas
98	REZA Kévin
	MOVISTAR TEAM / ESP
	Directeurs sportifs : ARRIETA Jose Luis / LAGUIA Jose Luis
101	IZAGUIRRE Ion
102	ERVITI Imanol
103	FERNANDEZ ANDUJAR Ruben
104	HERRADA Jesús
105	HERRADA Jose
106	IZAGUIRRE Gorka
107	LOBATO DEL VALLE Juan José
108	ROJAS José Joaquin
	ASTANA PRO TEAM / KAZ
	Directeurs sportifs : FOFONOV Dmitriy / MARTINELLI Giuseppe
111	SANCHEZ GIL Luis-Leon
112	BOOM Lars
113	FOMINYKH Daniil
114	GRUZDEV Dmitriy
115	KANGERT Tanel
116	LUTSENKO Alexey
117	ROSA Diego
118	WESTRA Lieuwe
	TEAM GIANT-ALPECIN / GER
	Directeurs sportifs : VAN DONGEN Arthur / VISBEEK Aike
121	DUMOULIN Tom
122	CURVERS Roy
123	DE KORT Koen
124	GESCHKE Simon
125	JI Cheng
126	LUDVIGSSON Tobias
127	PREIDLER Georg
128	TEN DAM Laurens
	COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS / FRA
	Directeurs sportifs : ROUS Didier / JONROND Jean-Luc
131	BOUHANNI Nacer
132	COUSIN Jérome
133	JEANNESSON Arnold
134	LAPORTE Christophe
135	LEMOINE Cyril
136	MATE MARDONES Luis Angel
137	SIMON Julien
138	SOUPE GEOFFREY
	CANNONDALE / USA
	Directeurs sportifs : WEGELIUS Charles / KLIER Andreas
141	ROLLAND Pierre
142	BEVIN Patrick
143	BRESCHEL Matti
144	CRADDOCK Lawson
145	SLAGTER Tom Jelte
146	TALANSKY Andrew
147	VAN BAARLE Dylan
148	WIPPERT WOUTER
	TREK - SEGAFREDO / USA
	Directeurs sportifs : ANDERSEN Kim / GALLOPIN Alain
151	SCHLECK Frank
152	BEPPU Fumiyuki
153	BONIFAZIO Niccolo
154	DIDIER Laurent
155	FELLINE Fabio
156	RAST Gregory
157	THEUNS Edward
158	VAN POPPEL Boy
	DIRECT ENERGIE / FRA
	Directeurs sportifs : GENAUZEAU Benoît / LEBRETON Lylian
161	CHAVANEL Sylvain
162	CALMEJANE Lilian
163	DUCHESNE Antoine
164	PETIT Adrien
165	PICHOT Alexandre
166	QUEMENEUR Perrig
167	TULIK ANGÉLO
168	VOECKLER Thomas
	DIMENSION DATA / RSA
	Directeurs sportifs : SANS VEGA Alex / HEYNDERRICKX Jean-Pierre
171	PAUWELS Serge
172	BRAMMEIER Matthew
173	FARRAR Tyler
174	HAAS Nathan
175	JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques
176	REGUIGUI Youcef
177	TEKLEHAIMANOT Daniel
178	THOMSON Jay Robert
	TEAM LOTTO NL - JUMBO / NED
	Directeurs sportifs : MAASSEN Frans / ENGELS Addy
181	KELDERMAN Wilco
182	BENNETT George
183	CAMPENAERTS Victor
184	KRUIJSWIJK Steven
185	MARTENS Paul
186	TANKINK Bram
187	VAN EMDEN Jos
188	VANMARCKE Sep
	IAM CYCLING / SUI
	Directeurs sportifs : MARIE Lionel / SEIGNEUR Eddy
191	COPPEL Jérôme
192	BRÄNDLE Matthias
193	DENIFL Stefan
194	DEVENYNS Dries
195	LAENGEN Vegard Stake
196	NAESEN Oliver
197	REYNES Vicente
198	VAN GENECHTEN Jonas
	FORTUNEO - VITAL CONCEPT / FRA
	Directeurs sportifs : HINAULT Sébastien / LEPROUX Denis
201	SORENSEN Chris Anker
202	DELAPLACE Anthony
203	FEDRIGO Pierrick
204	LOUBET Julien
205	MC LAY DANIEL
206	PERICHON Pierre-Luc
207	TRONET Steven
208	VACHON Florian
	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM / FRA
	Directeurs sportifs : ROSTAING Frédéric / PAUCHARD Gilles
211	DI GREGORIO Rémy
212	COMBAUD Romain
213	DIAZ Daniel
214	DUQUE Leonardo
215	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio
216	HUPOND Thierry
217	PACHER Quentin
218	SISKEVICIUS Evaldas