Cervélo poised for Paris-Nice road stages

Cervélo TestTeam is ready for the first road stages of the 67th Paris-Nice after Sunday's opening time trial in Amilly. Sprinter Heinrich Haussler placed highest in the 9.3-kilometre stage – 30th – but the team will not rely solely on bunch gallops.

"The time gaps at the top of the classification are very small so the riders in the right breakaway can take the victory and the leader's jersey," said Directeur Sportif Jean Paul van Poppel.

Haussler finished thirty seconds behind stage winner Alberto Contador (Astana) on the rainy day. The team vied for the stage win with Hayden Roulston, who finished 35 seconds off the Spaniard.

"On the intermediate check at the 5.3 km point, Hayden Roulston was 6 seconds behind Bradley Wiggins who had the fastest intermediate time to that point. But in the turn there was front wind and Roulston choose the wrong gear and ended in 30th place."

Cervélo TestTeam has five wins to its credit this season. Brit Roger Hammond won a stage in the Tour of Qatar, Thor Hushovd won a stage in the Tour of California and the one-day Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and German Heinrich Haussler won two stages of the Volta ao Algarve.

Today the race will cover 195.5 kilometres from Saint-Brisson-sur-Loire to La Chapelle-Saint-Ursin. Contador leads the race by seven over Bradley Wiggins (Slipstream). He is the 2007 winner and the winner of all three Grand Tours.