Paris-Nice: Kwiatkowski wins prologue

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World road champion Michał Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) showed his time trial prowess, winning the prologue of Paris-Nice in Maurepas on Sunday. He finished less than a second ahead of world Hour Record champion Rohan Dennis (BMC), with both of them covering the 6.7km course in 7:40. Third place went to former world time trial champion Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), who was seven seconds slower. Bradley Wiggins, the reigning world champion in the discipline, finished more than 15 seconds down, and outside of the top ten.

"I knew at 500 meters that it was going to be really close," Kwiatkowski said. "I had the split times of Tony, which was a really big advantage for me to pace myself along the parcours.

"I'm really happy about this victory with such strong competitors, but in the end it is just 6.7 kilometers of about a thousand kilometers before the finish line in Nice. It's going to be a week of hard racing. But the one-week races can suit my skills, so we will see what can happen. The main goals are still ahead."

The win was Kwiatkowski’s first of the campaign and a highly impressive one given the calibre of the opposition that he faced. The field contained of four of the top five from last year’s Worlds time trial but the Pole cut through the course in blistering fashion to knock Dennis off the leader board.

Having won the prologue in Romandie last year, beating Tony Martin in the process, as well as the individual time trial at the Volta ao Algarve, Kwiatkowski is fast becoming one of the most accomplished all-rounders in the modern peloton.

Dennis had set the benchmark with a time of 7:40, shaving 20 seconds off the previous best. At that point there were still a queue of 95 riders in the start house but the BMC rider has matured since his mid-season move from Garmin last year. Despite numerous close calls, he held his position in the hot seat for the best part of two-hours.

Richie Porte (Team Sky), the man who beat Dennis to the Australian national time trial title in January, posted a respectable 7:54 but he was no match for Dennis.

However by now Tony Martin was out on the course and eating up tarmac between the start and Dennis’ position in the hot seat. However the German, like Porte, failed to find the necessary speed to oust the Australian, finishing in a time of 7:47.

And while all eyes were on Wiggins as the world time trial champion rolled out from the start house it was the UCI’s other elite world champion who was doing the business. He may have lacked the aesthetics of Martin or Wiggins as he moved in and out of the saddle but the results were affective with Kwiatkowski pulling on the first leader’s jersey of this year’s race.

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