Paris-Nice Final Thoughts

I guess the only way to really sum up Tony Martin's week at Paris-Nice is "statement." He showed off his world class ITT abilities yet again but this time proved he can back them up with an impressive skill-set on the climbs. He went from "serious threat to take a stage or two" in this year's Tour to "possible contender to win the whole thing."

It was also a huge statement from his HTC-Highroad team, showing that they can do more than just set up sprints. They successfully set up and defended the yellow jersey and they showed that they have 2 potential serious GC threats (Van Garderen being the other within the next year or 2) in their near future.

But I think everyone knew that Tony Martin has great future potential. The real "statement" is just how good he is right now. He will certainly be more than just a solid member of Cav's leadout and a ITT top 3 this year.

Should Andy and Alberto be fearing? Probably not...

But they should probably look over their shoulder.

Kloden and Wiggins also got much-needed high finishes as well. Kloden is one of a three man "post-Lance" trio at Radioshack along with Leipheimer and Brajkovic, and their stage win and Kloden's high finish should be encouraging to them that perhaps they can repeat that performance in July.

Wiggins has been trying to recover from a "less than desirable" 2010, and this is a good way to do it. He was a beast in the ITT and he held his own on the climbs. The big question for Wiggo is how he will be able to build off this strong finish and keep his form up into the summer.

Fantastic week for Voeckler. He is off to probably his best start of the year and is set to stage hunt in the Grand Tours later in the year.

Obviously Thomas De Gendt can't be disappointed with his week. Neither can Matt Goss, who looked strong in all of the bunch sprints.

Young riders like Robert Kiserlovski and Rein Taaramae got their names out there with strong performances.

Rough week for Peter Sagan, who fell victim to a crash and just couldn't really get it going all week. He came into this race with higher expectations than anyone, but hopefully he can bounce back in time to ride a few classics.

Frank Schleck, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, and Ryder Hesjedal have quite a ways to go before they are on top form.