Cycling: The Italian professional, employed by Lampre-Meride, won the fifth stage of Paris-Nice in a thrilling final today. Before that, escapee Thomas De Gendt had saved his lead almost to the finish after escaping much of the stage.
Even if he was ultimately denied the day's win, today at Paris-Nice it was clearly the day of Belgian Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal). The 28-year-old broke away from the field during the early and difficult climb of the Col de la Republique. He was joined by Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Garmin), Romain Sicard (Europcar), Egor Silin (Katusha) and Pawel Poljanski (Tinkoff-Saxo). The group of 5 quickly drove away to about 3 minutes, but the peloton led by Etixx-Quick Step didn't allow them a bigger lead.
However, De Gendt never left any doubt that he was the driving force behind the escape. He secured maximum points in each of today's four climbs. The pace was impressively high throughout the distance and the lead of the quintet at the front gradually dwindled. Talansky was the first to fall victim to the high pace, about five kilometers from the finish line. De Gendt's other companions then fell behind - only the Belgian simply didn't want to bow to the pressure.
With just a few hundred meters to go, it finally happened: De Gendt was swallowed up by the field and at that very moment Bryan Coquard (Europcar) splashed forward and Cimolai (Lampre-Merida) and Matthews (Orica GreenEdge) gave chase on. Cimolai even managed to pass Coquard just before the line and thus celebrated what is probably his biggest win to date. The overall ranking remains unchanged after today's result.
Paris-Nice, stage 5, final result
[easy table th=“0″]1., Davide Cimolai, ITA, Lampre-Merida, 4:12:09
2th, Bryan Coquard, FRA, Europcar,
3th,Michael Matthews,AUS,Orica GreenEdge,
4th,Nacer Bouhanni,FRA,Cofidis,
5.,Jose Joaquin Rojas,SPA,Movistar,
6th, Alexander Kristoff, NOR, Katusha,
7.,Matti Breschel,DEN,Tinkoff Saxo,
8.,Daniel Mclay,GBr,Brittany-Séché Environnement,
9th,Samuel Dumoulin,FRA,AG2R La Mondiale,
10th, Sylvain Chavanel, FRA, IAM,
Paris-Nice, March 13, Appreciation
[easy table th=“0″]1.,Michael Kwiatkowski,POL,Etixx-Quick Step,19:44:11
2nd, Richie Porte, AUS, Sky, 0:00:01
3.,Geraint Thomas,GBr,Sky,0:00:03
4.,Tejay Van Garderen,USA,BMC,0:00:27
5.,Jakob Fuglsang,DEN,Astana,0:00:32
6th,Tony Gallopin,FRA,Lotto-Belisol,0:00:38
7th,Rui Costa,POR,Lampre-Merida,0:00:41
8.,Jon Izagirre Insausti,SPA,Movistar,0:00:44
9.,Tiago Machado,POR,Katusha,0:00:50
10.,Rafael Valls,SPA,Lampre-Merida,0:00:51
[/easy table]
Leave a Comment