Betancur wins stage 5 at Paris-Nice

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Carlos Betancur (AG2R-La Mondiale) won the fifth stage of Paris-Nice after helping to drive a late three-man breakaway that narrowly avoided capture at the line.

Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) finished just behind, with Bryan Cocquard (Europcar) topping Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) in the sprint for fourth two seconds later.

"I knew it would be quite a hard stage, the last climb suited me quite well and I knew the final descent," Betancur said to AFP. "In a three-man sprint I had a good chance. I'm pretty good when it's a small group."

The Colombian launched his attack on a on a rise that interrupted the descent to the finish, and was joined by Jungels and Fuglsang. "I spotted in the first lap that there was a difficult part 8 km from the finish, just after a flat portion. This is where I decided to attack," he said. "We worked well together and I did my best to keep a few seconds ahead the bunch. This is a great victory for me and for the whole team AG2R La Mondiale on a World Tour race. There are still three stages and obviously, I keep a watchful eye on the overall standings."

Race leader Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) showed fine form, surviving the attacks on the final category 2 climb with 12km to go and the hair-raising descent that followed to earn another day in the maillot jaune.

"It was a really hard day today - a very up and down route on heavy roads so every kilometre you feel in your legs," Team Sky directeur sportif Nicolas Portal said.

"The guys did a brilliant job. It was a strong breakaway and it was not easy to catch. No teams were willing to help us initially so we knew we had to take control. The team did a really good job there.

"The main objective was not to lose any time. We managed that for the most part but G lost a few seconds to Betancur. It's closer now on the GC and he's certainly a dangerous opponent. It's a tight race but it's exciting for the fans. Let's see what happens tomorrow."

John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) also made the leading group to hold onto second overall, three seconds behind Thomas. Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) remains in third overall at four seconds while Betancur moved up into fourth place on general classification at five seconds. 

How it unfolded

A high powered breakaway escaped early in the short but lumpy 153km jaunt from Crèche-sur-Saône to Rive-de-Gier, and it included Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling), who lost time due to a mechanical on the previous stage, as well as Tour de France stage winner Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Gorka Izaguirre (Movistar), Brice Feillu (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), and Matthew Busche (Trek Factory Racing).

Even with motivation and cooperation, the five riders could not gain a large lead due to the presence of Bakelants, who was only 19 seconds off of the lead of Geraint Thomas. Sky kept the gap pegged to between two and three minutes until the category 3 Cote de Saint Martin en Haut. By the top of the climb, Europcar and FDJ had taken up the chase as well, and the leaders had a mere minute on the maillot jaune.

The gap was down to 30 seconds on the tricky descent into Rive-de-Gier, but the leaders had an easier time picking lines and held their lead steady.

Upon the entrance to the final circuit with 25.8km to go, Cofidis took up the chase, while the five leaders maintained their half minute gap, but there was still the 12.5km-long, category 2 Cote de Saint Catherine to come.

The cooperation in the breakaway began to disintegrate with 24km to go when Chavanel jumped from the group. He was not allowed to stay away, but the move only served to scuttle the quintet's chances, and the gap fell rapidly to 20 seconds. Undaunted, Chavanel went out on the attack again.

From the peloton Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) stretched his legs. Sitting 7:41 behind Thomas on GC, he was of no concern to Team Sky. Nonetheless, their pace nailed both Vanendert and four of the five escapees back with 21.4km to go. For the moment Chavanel persisted alone in the lead with a tenuous advantage.

Chavanel was caught on the climb from an attack by Laurent Didier (Trek Factory Racing), and then faded back into the nearby peloton while the Trek rider took over as lone escapee.

A day after spending the majority of the stage in the breakaway, Didier looked pained as he dangled only 10 seconds from the clutches of the Sky-led peloton. He was caught before the top of the climb, with 14.2km to go.

His catch was countered by Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling), who built up a lead of a dozen seconds but was caught in a series of mad attacks for the summit of the climb at 12.6km to go.

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Carlos Betancur (AG2R) pushed the pace near the top, but Thomas was on form and at full attention, and was on their wheels before the descent could begin.

Nibali hurled himself down the mountain, riding like a MotoGP star as he tried to force the nerves of Thomas. The Welshman was unruffled, despite taking a few less than optimal lines.

As the road levelled out, Betancur launched a move with 9.1km to go, and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) were quick to react, forming a trio with a small advantage for the grand finale.

Suddenly, with 4km to go, none other than green jersey holder John Degenkolb showed himself at the head of the chasing peloton, showing sterling form to survive the attacks on the final climb. Omega Pharma-QuickStep also had a rider of interest in the group in Boonen, putting Niki Terpstra on the front to nail back the few seconds to the leading trio.

Helped by a series of traffic islands, roundabouts, left turns and rights, the trio persisted into the final kilometer, the peloton hot on their heels.

Jungels opened up the sprint, but Betancur had the strongest jump and won the stage just meters ahead of the bunch sprint behind.

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