It was a slow moving stage but a fast-moving finish in Monday’s stage one of the 73rd Paris – Nice with Tean Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff charging through the middle of the pack to take the mass sprint win and fifth win of the 2015 cycling season.
- I'm really happy. It's my first stage win in Paris-Nice and this is my fourth time coming here. It's a step-up for me. I was sitting in good position, but Degenkolb went early on the right side and I moved there behind Nacer Bouhanni. Later I started my sprint from Bouhanni’s wheel and was able to go in front and to take this victory. The race was really slow today and only the final kilometers were really fast. My teammates supported me in the final. I want to thank all the team, especially Viacheslav and Jacopo, they brought me in a perfect position for the sprint, - said team leader Alexander Kristoff.
- We knew today’s stage would suit Alex, so it was our plan to fight for a stage victory. The stage was very slow for a long time and in only last maybe 20 km the pace increased. The break managed to survive until the final few kilometers, but later it was a place for the massive sprint. Our team did everything we planned - Kuznetsov led Kristoff until the last 2 km and later Guarnieri supported Alexander on the finish line. In the sprint Kristoff did a perfect move and brought a nice victory to Team Katusha, - added sports director Dmitry Konyshev.
Earlier in the season Kristoff, 27, took wins in both the Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman, but today’s victory in Paris – Nice marks his first on the European continent this season, as well as his first in this race in four participations.
Rounding out the stage 1 podium were Nacer Bouhanni (Cofids) and Bryan Coquard of Team Europcar. Yellow jersey Michal Kwiatkowski kept his race lead just ahead of Rohan Dennis (BMC) and his teammate Tony Martin of Etixx – Quick Step.
The 196,5 km stage from Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse to Contres took 5:15.18 to complete on a day that saw a two-man breakaway almost succeed. Only one early climb over the Côte de Bel-Air was featured on the profile, with flat, open roads throughout the rest of the stage.
Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Antony Delaplace (Bretagne- Séché) went clear after 40 km of racing and the peloton willingly let the Frenchmen stay off the front with a gap of more than four minutes. Kristoff put the Team Katusha near the front to work with other teams to bring them back. The twosome were only caught with 1,5 km to go, setting up the group sprint with Kristoff coming up the middle of the course to claim the victory.
For Team Katusha today’s victory is the 6th win in the 2015 season.
Tomorrow will be held the second stage of the race – 172 km from ZooPark de Beauval to Saint-Aignan.
Photo credit: (c) Tim De Waele
