Paris-Nice: De Gendt Holds off Sprinters!

It's an unwritten law in the peloton that you're never supposed to catch the morning breakaway too early, or you leave the door open for someone else. 90% of the time nothing comes of it, but every now and then someone like Thomas De Gendt decides to walk through that door and run away with the stage.

De Gendt attacked along with Jeremy Roy and Jens Voigt after the morning break was caught around 40 km to go. The three were never really given much breathing room from the peloton, but their persistant riding and some help from the elements allowed them a chance to survive.

Not that it still wasn't hectic at the finish. The charging field was catching them just as they were opening up for their own sprint. De Gendt's powerful legs propelled him to a decisive victory while Roy just hung on for 2nd. Voigt was caught by the sprinters and Heinrich Haussler rounded out the top 3.

This picture should give you an idea of just how close it was.

But how did it even get that far?

The three attacked at exactly the right time and then committed themselves to working until the end. Most times when a rider looks over his shoulder and can see the peloton he decides to sit up, but these guys weren't bothered in the least by the charging field.

Meanwhile the sprint teams were going stir-crazy becuase they really couldn't get any serious chasing done. Crosswinds absolutely destroyed the peloton, and all it took was one small crash to completely split the field in two. This lead to half the field frantically chasing the other, and many teams deciding to move their GC men to the front to avoid any further chaos.

There was quite a large number of riders behind the pace, but aside from a few notable stage hunters like David Moncoutie and Anthony Ravard there were no serious contenders affected. Eventually the two halves of the peloton came together again, but there was still no organization among the sprint teams.

Movistar and Quick Step moved to the front to do some chase work, but the gap held firm at around 40 seconds. And it held at 20 km, and 15, and 10 and still the three up front held their advantage.

It wasn't until they were clear of the long, windy stretches that HTC, Garmin, and Liquigas began to move to the front and amp up the chase.

It's not often you see a catch made on the finish line, but that's exactly how it happened today. Of course, it's not often that you see a 35 second gap hold steady for over 30 kms either, but I guess it was just that kind of day.

Thomas De Gendt will remember this day for quite a while, and he may even defend his yellow jersey for a day or two before the race hits the mountains.

Stage Results/GC
1. Thomas De Gendt
2. Jeremy Roy -6
3. Heinrich Haussler -9
4. Damien Gaudin -10
5. Jens Voigt -11
6. Romain Feillu -12
7. Peter Sagan -13
14. Matt Goss
26. Luis Leon Sanchez
33. Roman Kreuzinger
43. Tony Martin
44. Richie Porte
50. Jurgen Van Den Broeck
55. Bradley Wiggins
56. Tejay Van Garderen
60. Samuel Sanchez
61. Ryder Hesjedal
106. Alexandre Vinokourov
110. Frank Schleck
124. Andrew Talansky

Points
Thomas De Gendt- 25

KOM
Damien Gaudin- 4

Teams
Vacansoleil-DCM

The sprinters will try it again tomorrow. This stage is also dead flat and I have a feeling that they're not going to let another one get away.