Paris-Nice: Gaudin surprises in prologue

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Damien Gaudin (Europcar) pulled off a shock to win the Paris-Nice prologue. The Frenchman covered the 2.9 kilometre test in 3:37, one second faster than Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), with Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) third.

Gaudin, 26, came into the race against the clock as a complete outsider for the race’s first yellow jersey. All eyes were on Chavanel, Tejay van Garderen and Westra for the race opening. However Gaudin gauged his effort perfectly, using his experience from riding as part of France’s team pursuit team, to cut through the technical sector of the race before finishing strongly in the streets of Houilles.

With defending champion Bradley Wiggins training and a number of grand tour leaders in Italy for Tirreno-Adriactico, the Race to the Sun appears wide open this year. That was certainly the assumption with regards to Sunday’s prologue. At just 2.9 kilometres the stage was unlikely to shake up the race for the overall but its lack of length and flat parcours left many guessing as to the type of riders best suited to the course.

A number of riders with explosive qualities and sprinters failed to make an impression on the time of Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team) who edged Borut Bozic (Astana Pro Team) out of the hot seat with a time of 3:40.

Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team), Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) all failed to make an impression, while RadioShack had mixed fortunes with Tony Gallopin running Velits close before Maxime Monfort crashed on one of the first corners.

Tejay van Garderen could only manage 59th, 10 seconds adrift of the lead but when Chavanel rolled down the start ramp there was an air of expectancy. The French time trial champion has often been a key animator in his home race but despite a couple of stage wins and a podium, has never sealed the overall title.

He looked in determined mood as he scythed through corner after corner and when he pipped Velits by a second, yellow seemed a distinct possibility.

But before a scan down the remaining names on the start list had even been completed Gaudin was coming into focus and had crossed the line in 3:37.

Only Westra could really challenge but he too came up short, leaving Gaudin to pick up the biggest win of his career.

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