Boonen Takes Third Stage Win at Paris-Nice
By Gerald Churchill
Mar 9, 2006, 12:10
Tom
Boonen (Quick Step) has won his third stage of the 2006 Paris-Nice. The world
champion bested Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros) and Stephan Schumacher
(Gerolsteiner) to take the rolling, 193-km run from Saint-Etienne to Rasteig
in 4:40:29. Floyd Landis (Phonak) remains the overall
leader.
Tom Boonen (Quick Step) takes the win. Photo copyright Fotoreporter Sirotti.
Stage 4
began with an ascent of the Category 1 Col de la Republique. At one point,
sports students who were demonstrating against job cuts blocked the road and
demanded that the riders sign a petition supporting the students’ protest. The
students got no satisfaction, although the protest put paid to a break by Eric
Leblacher (Francaise des Jeux), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas), Joost Posthuma
(Rabobank), and Christophe Laurent (Agritubel).
On the
descent, Jose Luis Arrieta (Ag2r) attacked and took Mathew Hayman (Rabobank),
Francisco Failli (Liquigas), Stephane Auge (Cofidis), and Thomas Voeckler
(Bouygues Telecom) with him. The peloton kept the quintet on a short leash and
reeled it in at 38
km.
At
69 km, in
Tournon-sur-Rhone, the student demonstrators had another go. At the time, Renaud
Dion (Ag2r) led by 1:10, but the race organizers gave him that much of a head
start when the riding resumed. Dion’s head start did him no good because the
peloton rode him down.
At
82 km,
Leblacher escaped again and took Bas Gilling (T-Mobile) with him. The two led by
5:25 at 113
km, but Phonak and Lampre began chasing to protect Landis
and Patxi Vila, respectively. Later, Quick Step joined the pursuit, and the
break was doomed. With 10
km remaining, the bunch caught the
break.
Sylvain
Chavanel (Cofidis), Voeckler, and Nibali counterattacked. Lampre and Quick Step
led the pursuit, which reeled in the break with two km left. Schumacher and
Davis started the sprint early, but Boonen passed them despite a chain
malfunction.
In the
overall, Landis leads Vila by 0:09 and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) as
1:13. Stage 5 will be challenging. The 201.5-km ride from Avignon to Digne-les-Bains
will feature two Category 1 climbs, the second of which, the Col du Corobin,
will be 16
km from the finish. A small group will go over the summit
in the lead and fight out the finish. Who will be in it? Check in at
http://www.roadcycling.com/ and find
out!
| bicycling app for Nokia phones
| 
|
