Andrew Talansky of Garmin Sharp won both Stage Three and the overall lead in the Paris-Nice cycling race Wednesday, catching an attack in the final 12 km of the 171-km stage, and then beating the rest of the group in the final sprint.
“This is really important for me because Garmin-Sharp sent a whole team here to help me for the overall. So to win a stage here and take the jersey is a big step in my career,” Talansky told Cyclingnews.com. “When I realised we were going to go all the way I tried to figure out a way to win this. I have a good sprint out of a small group.”
“It’s nice to be in the jersey. It’s always easier to defend something than to fight to get it. There’s still a lot of good riders in contention, but we will do what we can to keep the jersey. The Montagne de Lure is a really good climb for me. The final time trial on the Col d'Eze is another good one for me, especially that one. I think overall victory is possible.”
Wednesday’s route was the first to offer climbs to the riders; the stage featured three categorized climbs, including a short (3 km) steep final climb with a very tricky descent 15 km from the finish. This climb defined the race; every team planned for it, but American team Garmin Sharp planned and executed best.
Talansky, 24, became the fourth rider in four days to wear the yellow. The previous race leader, Cannondale’s Elia Viviani, dropped back on the day’s second climb, so the yellow jersey was up for grabs.
All the serious GC contenders pushed to the front on the narrow roads approaching the climb, but none attacked on the climb itself. That was left to a pair of Astana riders, Maxim Iglinskiy and Andriy Grivko. Iglinsky attacked twice on the climb; he couldn’t maintain a gap but he did sap his pursuers a bit. Then Grivko made a pair of attempts, and on the second try got a bit ahead of the GC favorites.
The descent was made doubly dangerous by the wet windy conditions, but Grivko took risks to try to stretch his margin. Sky’s Vasil Kiryienka took even greater risks, catching and passing the Astana rider, before crashing heavily right in front of him. Grivko managed to avoid the tumbling Sky rider, who was not seriously hurt, but the risk realized induced Grivko to slacken his pace somewhat.
Five riders bridged across to the leading Astana rider: Richie Porte and David Lopez (Sky,) Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel,) Romain Bardet (Ag2R,) ndrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp,) and Davide Malacarne (Europcar.) These five outdistanced a chase led by BMC’s Tejay Van Garderen, Vacansoleil’s Liuwe Westra, and Lampre’s Michele Scarponi.
The lead group maintained a gap of about 15 seconds into the last few kilometers, when they began trying to force each other to work harder while saving energy themselves. This let the chase group get to within ten seconds, when Sky’s Ritchie Porte decided to take the reins and charge.
At the line it was Talansky who had the edge. The young American rider beat Davide Malcarne and Gorka Izzaguire, with David Lopez and Ritchie Porte right behind. The chase group including Van Garderen, Westra, Scarponi, Omega Pharma’s Sylvain Chavanel, and BMC’s Phillipe Gilbert, crossed the line seven second later.
The General Classification is still tight, with 12 seconds separating the top ten riders and 19 seconds covering the top 25
The rest of the race is uphill. Stage Four features seven categorized climbs, Stage Five, six with a Cat 1 mountaintop finish, Stage Six with five climbs and the final stage which is an uphill time trial.
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| 2013 Paris-Nice Stage Three | |||||
| rider | team | time | |||
| 1 | Andrew Talansky | Garmin Sharp | 4:06:15 | ||
| 2 | Davide Malacarne | Europcar |
| ||
| 3 | Gorka Izaguirre | Euskaltel-Euskadi |
| ||
| 4 | David Lopez | Sky |
| ||
| 5 | Richie Porte | Sky |
| ||
| 6 | Romain Bardet | AG2R |
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| 7 | Andriy Grivko | Astana |
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| 8 | Jonathan Hivert | Sojasun | 0:00:07 | ||
| 9 | Enrico Gasparotto | Astana |
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| 10 | Maxime Bouet | AG2R |
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| General Classification after Stage 3 | |||||
| rider | team | time | |||
| 1 | Andrew Talansky | Garmin Sharp | 14:39:36 | ||
| 2 | Andriy Grivko | Astana | 0:00:03 | ||
| 3 | Davide Malacarne | Europcar |
| ||
| 4 | Sylvain Chavanel | Omega Pharma-Quick-Step | 0:00:04 | ||
| 5 | Gorka Izaguirre | Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:00:05 | ||
| 6 | Lieuwe Westra | Vacansoleil-DCM | 0:00:06 | ||
| 7 | Richie Porte | Sky | 0:00:07 | ||
| 8 | Peter Velits | Omega Pharma-Quick-Step | 0:00:08 | ||
| 9 | David Lopez | Sky | 0:00:09 | ||
| 10 | Jonathan | Sojasun | 0:00:12 | ||
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