Paris-Nice: Matthews remains in control after snow forces stage 3 cancellation
Extreme weather protocol put into use for second time
Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) retained his small lead at Paris-Nice after snow resulted in the cancellation of stage 3 to Mont Brouilly. When the peloton hit the snowy conditions in the feedzone, the organisers chose to neutralise racing and eventually cancel it altogether. While the sprint and mountains points will count, the times will not be taken into account.
With the summit finish on Mont Brouilly, it was supposed to be a day for the general classification but they will have to wait for another couple of days before they can try to put time into their rivals.
One rider that wasn’t on the start line was Philippe Gilbert (BMC), who abandoned overnight due to a respiratory illness. The racing started under wet conditions but with seven climbs to come there was plenty of action from the off. A big group of 14 riders broke away inside the opening five kilometres. They were soon joined by Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Roy Curvers (Giant-Alpecin) to increase that number to 16. The fast pace at the start took its toll and several riders were dropped, including an ill Arthur Vichot (FDJ) who eventually climbed off.
The large escape group was able to build up an advantage of over three minutes but the peloton didn’t appear happy with the amount and strength of riders up front and drastically cut that down to under two minutes. Unperturbed by the reports of snow up the road, AG2R-La Mondiale’s Alexis Gougeard decided that he’d had enough with just under 100km still to run and he went on the attack. Along with him went Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana).
Now just three riders, they forged ahead, dropping the larger group behind with relative ease. The big chasing group would eventually get caught, but not before Jesus Herrada broke free and joined the trio out front. Gougeard’s teammate Alexis Vuillermoz was one of the unlucky ones, crashing on the descent and abandoning after a short chase.
After getting dropped earlier in the race Thomas De Gendt made advantage of the proximity of the escape group and jumped across to them. Turning onto the third climb of the day, where the feedzone was situated at the top, the five-man escape group saw their gap grow to over three minutes. It wouldn’t matter, however, with the conditions at the top too much for the race to continue.
There were initial reports that the riders would be taken by car to kilometre 125, where they would make an assessment of the conditions and resume if it was ok. However, that didn’t happen and news that the stage had been cancelled quickly came out. It was initially thought that the extreme weather protocol had been implemented but Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) stated on Twitter that it was not the case and the riders had taken it upon themselves to stop riding.
Paris-Nice will resume on Thursday with a 195km stage from Juliénas to Romans-sur-Isere.
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Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | 9:41:46 |
2 | Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:00:14 |
3 | Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 0:00:19 |
4 | Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team | |
5 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky | |
6 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team | 0:00:24 |
7 | Dries Devenyns (Bel) IAM Cycling | 0:00:25 |
8 | Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ | |
9 | Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff Team | 0:00:27 |
10 | Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team | |
11 | Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:00:28 |
12 | Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:00:30 |
13 | Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:00:31 |
14 | Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team | |
15 | Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team | |
16 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | 0:00:33 |
17 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal | |
18 | Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team | |
19 | Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:00:37 |
20 | Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) FDJ | |
21 | Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky | 0:00:38 |
22 | Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:00:40 |
23 | Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
24 | Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team | |
25 | Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:41 |
26 | Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:00:42 |
27 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
28 | Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky | 0:00:43 |
29 | Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha | |
30 | Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx - Quick-Step | |
31 | Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky | 0:00:46 |
32 | Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
33 | Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team | 0:00:47 |
34 | Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:00:48 |
35 | Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:00:49 |
36 | Rui Costa (Por) Lampre - Merida | |
37 | Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 0:00:50 |
38 | Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:00:51 |
39 | Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo | 0:00:54 |
40 | Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:00:59 |
41 | Mickael Delage (Fra) FDJ | |
42 | Jonas Vangenechten (Bel) IAM Cycling | 0:01:01 |
43 | Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha | |
44 | Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:01:02 |
45 | Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky | 0:01:03 |
46 | Pierre Rolland (Fra) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
47 | Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 0:01:04 |
48 | Daniel Mclay (GBr) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:01:05 |
49 | Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team | |
50 | Oliver Naesen (Bel) IAM Cycling | 0:01:07 |
51 | Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:01:09 |
52 | Pieter Serry (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:01:10 |
53 | Grégory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo | |
54 | Quentin Pacher (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | |
55 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal | 0:01:14 |
56 | George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:01:18 |
57 | Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
58 | Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:01:19 |
59 | Kévin Reza (Fra) FDJ | |
60 | Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
61 | Antoine Duchesne (Can) Direct Energie | 0:01:20 |
62 | Delio Fernandez Cruz (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | |
63 | Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:01:22 |
64 | Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie | |
65 | Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:01:23 |
66 | Vicente Reynes (Spa) IAM Cycling | 0:01:24 |
67 | Florian Vachon (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | |
68 | Matti Breschel (Den) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 0:01:25 |
69 | Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:01:27 |
70 | Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data | 0:01:28 |
71 | Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data | |
72 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:01:29 |
73 | David De La Cruz (Spa) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:01:30 |
74 | Yury Trofimov (Rus) Tinkoff Team | 0:01:32 |
75 | Marko Kump (Slo) Lampre - Merida | 0:01:35 |
76 | Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Tinkoff Team | 0:01:45 |
77 | Luka Pibernik (Slo) Lampre - Merida | 0:01:48 |
78 | Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Tinkoff Team | 0:01:52 |
79 | Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | 0:01:54 |
80 | Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:01:58 |
81 | Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:02:14 |
82 | Nikolas Maes (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:02:20 |
83 | Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:02:22 |
84 | Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:02:24 |
85 | Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Tinkoff Team | 0:02:57 |
86 | Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:02:59 |
87 | Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:03:01 |
88 | Tyler Farrar (USA) Dimension Data | 0:03:24 |
89 | Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:03:31 |
90 | Frank Schleck (Lux) Trek-Segafredo | 0:03:37 |
91 | Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:03:54 |
92 | Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:03:56 |
93 | Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky | 0:03:58 |
94 | Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | 0:04:07 |
95 | Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team | |
96 | Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:04:15 |
97 | Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 0:04:19 |
98 | Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | 0:04:23 |
99 | José Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:04:30 |
100 | Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 0:04:34 |
101 | Simon Spilak (Slo) Team Katusha | 0:04:39 |
102 | Peter Velits (Svk) BMC Racing Team | 0:04:46 |
103 | Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo | 0:04:47 |
104 | Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data | 0:04:48 |
105 | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre - Merida | |
106 | Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Team Katusha | 0:04:50 |
107 | Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:04:51 |
108 | Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre - Merida | 0:04:52 |
109 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky | |
110 | Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Team Katusha | 0:04:53 |
111 | Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo | 0:04:57 |
112 | Michael Morkov (Den) Team Katusha | 0:04:58 |
113 | Steven Tronet (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:05:50 |
114 | Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | 0:06:00 |
115 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:06:14 |
116 | Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal | 0:06:46 |
117 | Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) IAM Cycling | 0:06:50 |
118 | Pierre-Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:06:51 |
119 | Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:06:53 |
120 | Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo | 0:07:00 |
121 | Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Team Katusha | |
122 | Stefan Denifl (Aut) IAM Cycling | |
123 | Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) Team Katusha | 0:07:02 |
124 | Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:07:06 |
125 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:07:08 |
126 | Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:07:16 |
127 | Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:07:32 |
128 | Leonardo Duque (Col) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 0:07:54 |
129 | Jerome Cousin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:08:01 |
130 | Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 0:08:51 |
131 | Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:08:53 |
132 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:09:00 |
133 | Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ | 0:09:02 |
134 | Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal | 0:09:07 |
135 | Thierry Hupond (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 0:09:15 |
136 | Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data | 0:09:19 |
137 | Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre - Merida | 0:09:25 |
138 | Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:09:53 |
139 | Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:09:58 |
140 | Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team | 0:09:59 |
141 | Julien Loubet (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:10:07 |
142 | Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | 0:10:09 |
143 | Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 0:10:11 |
144 | Diego Rosa (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 0:10:15 |
145 | Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ | |
146 | Mario Costa (Por) Lampre - Merida | 0:10:27 |
147 | Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
148 | Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Direct Energie | 0:10:29 |
149 | Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:10:30 |
150 | Daniel Diaz (Arg) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 0:10:36 |
151 | Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) FDJ | 0:10:37 |
152 | Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team | 0:10:38 |
153 | Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data | 0:10:39 |
154 | Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 0:10:42 |
155 | Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 0:10:48 |
156 | Sergio Paulinho (Por) Tinkoff Team | 0:10:50 |
157 | Amets Txurruka (Spa) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:10:51 |
158 | Mitchell Docker (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:10:54 |
159 | Matt Brammeier (Irl) Dimension Data | 0:11:07 |
160 | Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:11:08 |
161 | Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:11:11 |
162 | Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky | 0:12:04 |
163 | Michael Valgren (Den) Tinkoff Team | 0:12:20 |
164 | Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:14:14 |
165 | Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling | 0:15:03 |
166 | Cheng Ji (Chn) Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:20:33 |
167 | Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Lampre - Merida | 0:24:37 |
DNF | Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data | |
DNF | Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ | |
DNF | Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNS | Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | |
DNS | Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | 38 | pts |
2 | Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ | 21 | |
3 | Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 18 | |
4 | Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky | 17 | |
5 | Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin | 12 | |
6 | Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | 12 | |
7 | Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 9 | |
8 | Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie | 9 | |
9 | Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team | 8 | |
10 | Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha | 7 | |
11 | Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 6 | |
12 | Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team | 6 | |
13 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky | 6 | |
14 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team | 5 | |
15 | Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step | 5 | |
16 | Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo | 4 | |
17 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal | 4 | |
18 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | 3 | |
19 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 3 | |
20 | Dries Devenyns (Bel) IAM Cycling | 3 | |
21 | Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin | 3 | |
22 | Jonas Vangenechten (Bel) IAM Cycling | 3 | |
23 | Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 3 | |
24 | Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling | 3 | |
25 | Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie | 2 | |
26 | Steven Tronet (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 2 | |
27 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 2 | |
28 | Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 2 | |
29 | Thierry Hupond (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 1 | |
30 | Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Lampre - Merida | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team | 4 | pts |
2 | David De La Cruz (Spa) Etixx - Quick-Step | 4 | |
3 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 4 | |
4 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 4 | |
5 | Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 4 | |
6 | Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team | 4 | |
7 | Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky | 2 | |
8 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | 2 | |
9 | Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie | 2 | |
10 | Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo | 2 | |
11 | Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 2 | |
12 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal | 1 | |
13 | Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 1 | |
14 | Delio Fernandez Cruz (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 1 | |
15 | Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Lampre - Merida | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Movistar Team | 29:06:27 |
2 | Cannondale | 0:00:16 |
3 | Astana Pro Team | |
4 | Orica-Greenedge | 0:00:19 |
5 | Team Lottonl-Jumbo | 0:00:23 |
6 | Team Sky | 0:00:28 |
7 | Iam Cycling | 0:00:33 |
8 | Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 0:00:44 |
9 | FDJ | |
10 | Bmc Racing Team | 0:00:50 |
11 | Team Giant-Alpecin | 0:00:53 |
12 | Ag2R La Mondiale | 0:00:55 |
13 | Lotto Soudal | 0:01:05 |
14 | Tinkoff Team | 0:01:06 |
15 | Direct Energie | 0:01:22 |
16 | Etixx-Quick Step | 0:01:23 |
17 | Fortuneo - Vital Concept | 0:01:52 |
18 | Lampre - Merida | 0:02:17 |
19 | Trek-Segafredo | 0:02:22 |
20 | Dimension Data | 0:02:41 |
21 | Team Katusha | 0:05:07 |
22 | Delko Marseille Provence KTM | 0:05:38 |
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