Henderson sprints to victory

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Kiwi Greg Henderson (Team Sky) won the sprint finish in Amilly after a high-speed lead-out from teammate Geraint Thomas.

The HTC-Highroad leadout train looked in charge and were riding for Matt Goss in the final kilometre but then Thomas surged off the front with Henderson on his wheel in the tight finishing straight. Henderson started his sprint a little early but dug deep and sustained his speed to hold off the other sprinters who were spread shoulder to shoulder across the road behind him.

He won by a bike length with Goss second, Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) third, Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) fourth and Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) fifth. They were all separated by inches but had been out-powered by the Team Sky duo.

“I had a great lead-out from teammate G (Geraint Thomas),” Henderson said on live television immediately after his victory.

“We were waiting and waiting and then he went with 500 metres to go. I went early at about 250-300 metres but I hung on all the way to the line.

“I was really motivated for this race because I knew that if I got close on each day I could take the yellow jersey. I’m a couple of seconds off but it’s always amazing to win races.”

Stage one winner Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) made a surprise attack with 1.5km to go but was caught and finished in the main peloton in 41st place. He kept the race leader’s yellow jersey. Henderson is now second overall, at four seconds, with Jérémy Roy (FDJ) third at seven seconds. Goss is fourth at eight seconds, with early breakaway rider Tony Gallopin (Cofidis) fifth also at eight seconds thanks to picking up intermediate time bonuses.

Henderson promised he would try and take the yellow jersey on Tuesday’s hillier stage from Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire to Nuits-Saint-Georges.

“I’ll have a got tomorrow on the final climb and if I make it I’ll make it. If not it’ll be full support for Brad Wiggins and Mick Rogers,” he said.

The 199km stage was troubled by several big-name crashes as cross winds and twisting roads made the riders nervous. Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack), Fränk Schleck (Leopard Trek) and Haussler all took a tumble but finished the stage.

“It was our own fault. There were crashes because we were nervous and scared of the wind,” Henderson said. “In 10km there were maybe 10 crashes. It was just crazy. When the final started it was full gas so it was important to stay at the front as much as possible.”

The early action

The threat of strong side winds and memories of echelons and surprise attacks in recent editions of Paris-Nice meant several teams were on edge about the 199km stage. However the stage started under blue skies, with only slight side winds.

The only rider not to start was Martin Velits (HTC-Highroad) who crashed heavily during stage one. He injured his shoulder and collarbone in the crash.

Several other riders also pulled out during the ride south towards Amilly. Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Saxo Bank-SunGard) retired after a crash and David Moncoutié (Cofidis) climbed off after an hour of racing. He reportedly changed his racing shoes last Thursday and struggled in the final part of Sunday’s stage with a knee problem.

The stage was widely expected to finish in a sprint but the break of the day formed almost immediately when Yoann Offredo (FDJ), Maxime Bouet (AG2R) and Tony Gallopin (Cofidis) jumped away. Offredo and Gallopin were both ‘enfant du pays’, with the stage going through Gallopin’s home town of Dourdan and a little later past Savigny-sur-Orge, where Offredo was born.

The trio took the time bonuses and points at the first intermediate sprint after 66km, as the gap continued to grow. Surprisingly Offredo then sat up and drifted back to the bunch but Gallopin and Bouet carried on, pushing their lead to 6:15 at the feed zone after 93km.

Crashes and a level crossing

Team Sky hit the front to try and split the peloton at this point as the winds picked up. Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was one of those dropped but the peloton was soon back together as the wind eased. Vacansoleil-DCM kept the tempo constant after that and gave De Gendt a clever one-man lead out so that he could pick up the final one-second time bonus.

More crashes and a closed level crossing disrupted the chase and provided some mid-stage entertainment as the peloton played cat and mouse with the break.

The peloton actually caught up with Gallopin and Bouet at the level crossing but race officials allowed the two to start 45 seconds ahead of the peloton to re-establish their original gap. The peloton tried to set off a little early and swarmed around the race director’s car but Gallopin and Bouet also used the slipstream of the race motorbikes to get going again.

The break eventually ran out of steam after 166km when Gallopin sat up. A few kilometres later Bouet eased up too, leaving the peloton all back together with just over 30km to race.

Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) and Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) were caught up in crashes caused by the slight side winds and twisting roads. Both got back up and chased back on but the string of crashes raised the tension in the peloton.

Alexandre Vinokourov and his Astana teammates decided to advantage of the nervousness with a combined attack on a slight rise with 15km to go.

Tomas Vaitkus did a massive turn on the front and then Vino and Rémy Di Gregorio took over. The peloton split into three parts, causing more panic, but then the Movistar team took over and the Astana aggression fizzled out. The only victim of the fast finale was Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank). He punctured but it was inside the final three kilometres and so he was given the same time as the leaders.

HTC-Highroad moved to the front as Vacansoleil-DCM looked after De Gendt in the finale but they seemed to lack the power to string out the peloton. De Gendt’s late attack confirmed it, giving courage to Thomas and Henderson.

Team Sky struggled to get their lead out right in 2010, with other teams often taking advantage of their work. This year they seem to have turned the tables on their rivals and have already won four sprint finishes.