A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| 2016 UCI World Tour, race 2 of 28 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Route of the 2016 Paris–Nice | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | 6–13 March 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stages | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | 1,293.6 km (803.8 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning time | 27h 26' 40" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2016 Paris–Nice was a road cycling stage race that took place in France between 6 and 13 March 2016. It was the 74th edition of the Paris–Nice and was the second event of the 2016 UCI World Tour.[1]
The race took place over eight stages, travelling south from Conflans-Sainte-Honorine to finish on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, although one stage was cancelled due to weather conditions. After a prologue individual time trial, the first few stages were suited to sprinters. The decisive stages came on the final two days, with routes taking the riders through the Alps. The favourites for victory were therefore the climbers, including the defending champion Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team), Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and Geraint Thomas (Team Sky).
Michael Matthews (Orica–GreenEDGE) won the prologue and took the leader's yellow jersey. He kept the jersey through the next five days, winning one more of the stages in a sprint. He lost the jersey on the summit finish on Stage 6 to Thomas, who in turn came close to losing it on the final day. After he was dropped by Contador on the final climb of the race, the Col d'Èze, he had to chase back on. At the end of the race, Thomas beat Contador by four seconds, with Richie Porte third a further eight seconds back. Matthews won the points classification and Antoine Duchesne (Direct Énergie) the mountains classification; Movistar won the team classification.
Route
The route of the 2016 Paris–Nice was announced on 17 December 2015. The race began with a 6.1-kilometre (3.8 mi) prologue individual time trial in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, near Paris, on Sunday 6 March and continued for the following seven days. The remaining stages were all road stages, with no other time trials. Stage 1 included two dirt tracks in the final part of the stage, with exposed roads made a possibility. Stage 3 was scheduled to finish on Mont Brouilly, a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) climb at a 7.7% gradient.[2] Stage 5 included part of the climb of Mont Ventoux, but this came towards the beginning of the stage and was followed by more than 120 kilometres (75 mi) of roads to the finish. The crucial stages were expected to be the final two: Stage 6 finished on the Madone d'Utelle, a 15.3 kilometres (9.5 mi) climb at 5.7%. The final stage included six categorised climbs, with the Col d'Èze the final climb before the descent into Nice for the finish on the Promenade des Anglais.[3]
While Stage 3 was underway, the weather conditions became very poor, with snow on the final climb. After attempting to restart the race, the race organisers cancelled the stage, with Amaury Sport Organisation's Christian Prudhomme saying "The road was very slippery and safe conditions could not be assured."[4]
| Stage | Date | Route | Distance | Type | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prologue | 6 March | Conflans-Sainte-Honorine | 6.1 km (4 mi) |  |
Individual time trial |  Michael Matthews (AUS)
|
| 1 | 7 March | Condé-sur-Vesgre to Vendôme | 198 km (123 mi) |  |
Flat stage |  Arnaud Démare (FRA)
|
| 2 | 8 March | Contres to Commentry | 214 km (133 mi) | |
Flat stage | Michael Matthews (AUS)
|
| 3 | 9 March | Cusset to Mont Brouilly | 166.5 km (103 mi) |  |
Medium-mountain stage | cancelled due to snow |
| 4 | 10 March | Julienas to Romans-sur-Isère | 193.5 km (120 mi) | |
Flat stage | Nacer Bouhanni (FRA)
|
| 5 | 11 March | Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Salon-de-Provence | 198 km (123 mi) | |
Medium-mountain stage |  Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ)
|
| 6 | 12 March | Nice to Madone d'Utelle | 177 km (110 mi) |  |
Mountain stage |  Ilnur Zakarin (RUS)
|
| 7 | 13 March | Nice to Nice | 141 km (88 mi) | |
Medium-mountain stage |  Tim Wellens (BEL)
|
Participating teams
The race organisers invited 22 teams to participate. The 18 UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and obliged to send a squad.[6] The race organisers also invited four UCI Professional Continental teams as wildcards. These were all French teams: Cofidis, Direct Énergie, Delko–Marseille Provence KTM and Fortuneo–Vital Concept.[7]
Each team could include up to eight riders.[8] All the teams except Lotto–Soudal filled all eight slots; Lotto–Soudal's team of seven meant that the peloton at the start of the race included 167 riders.[9] Lotto–Soudal also chose to compete under a different name from the rest of the season: they became Lotto Fix ALL, taking the name of one of a product made by Soudal, their normal sponsor. They also wore grey and white jerseys in place of their normal red and white.[10]
UCI WorldTeams[7]
UCI Professional Continental teams[7]
Pre-race favourites
Stages 1, 2 and 4 were expected to favour the sprinters, with the other stages likely to be decisive for the general classification. There were a large number of climbers present for Paris–Nice, but the overwhelming favourite was Alberto Contador (Tinkoff), racing in what was possibly his final season in the peloton. Contador had won the race on two previous occasions, but this was his first participation since 2010.[11] Contador had shown some form with a stage win in the Volta ao Algarve.[12] Contador was the only one of the top four Grand Tour contenders to start Paris–Nice: Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was riding Tirreno–Adriatico, while Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) opted to wait until the Volta a Catalunya to begin their European seasons.[11]
The defending champion was Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) who had won the 2015 Paris–Nice after winning the individual time trial on the final day; he had also won the 2013 edition. Since his 2015 victory, Porte had moved from Team Sky to BMC. In the absence of the traditional Col d'Èze time trial, the route was expected to favour him less than previous editions, but his strength in the mountains meant that he was still one of the major favourites. After a strong beginning to the season at the Tour Down Under, Porte had struggled in the Tour of Oman.[12] Porte was replaced as Team Sky's leader for the race by Geraint Thomas, who had finished fifth the previous year. Thomas had won the Volta ao Algarve and was expected to perform strongly in the prologue time trial.[13]
The other major general classification riders included Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant–Alpecin), Jon Izagirre (Movistar Team), Andrew Talansky and Pierre Rolland (both Cannondale) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).[11][13]
Among the sprinters, the biggest name was Marcel Kittel (Etixx–Quick-Step), who had won four stages so far in the season as well as the overall title in the Dubai Tour. Other prominent sprinters included André Greipel (Lotto–Soudal), Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha), Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis).[13]
Stages
Prologue
6 March 2016 — Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 6.1 km (3.8 mi) individual time trial (ITT)
The prologue was a 6.1-kilometre (3.8 mi) individual time trial in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. It began on the bank of the Seine with a 2-kilometre (1.2 mi) straight road. There was then a sharp left-hand turn as the road turned away from the river; there were then several more corners and two roundabouts before the end of the stage.[14] The riders set off at one-minute intervals with Porte, the defending champion, the last to set off.[15]
The riders who started earlier in the day were affected by rain. As the final riders set off, Cannondale's Patrick Bevin was in the lead, with a time of 7' 41". Tom Dumoulin beat this by one second, but was in turn beaten by one second by Michael Matthews, the seventh-last rider to take to the course. The final riders, including Porte and Geraint Thomas, were unable to beat Matthews's time. Thomas finished seventh, losing seven seconds to Matthews, with Porte eleventh, a further three seconds back.[16] Contador finished 27th, sixteen seconds behind Matthews, with Talansky and Bardet finishing even further behind. Matthews described it as "very special" to beat Dumoulin, one of the best time-triallists in the world, and said that he hoped to stay in the yellow jersey of the race leader "as long as possible".[17]
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Matthews (AUS)  
|
Orica–GreenEDGE | 7' 39" |
| 2 |  Tom Dumoulin (NED)
|
Team Giant–Alpecin | + 1" |
| 3 |  Patrick Bevin (NZL)
|
Cannondale | + 2" |
| 4 |  Jesús Herrada (ESP)
|
Movistar Team | + 6" |
| 5 | Jon Izagirre (ESP)
|
Movistar Team | + 6" |
| 6 | Lieuwe Westra (NED)
|
Astana | + 7" |
| 7 |  Geraint Thomas (GBR)
|
Team Sky | + 7" |
| 8 | Dries Devenyns (BEL)
|
IAM Cycling | + 8" |
| 9 | Sylvain Chavanel (FRA)
|
Direct Énergie | + 9" |
| 10 | Jérôme Coppel (FRA)
|
IAM Cycling | + 9" |
Stage 1
7 March 2016 — Condé-sur-Vesgre to Vendôme, 198 km (123.0 mi)
.JPG)
Stage 1 was a broadly flat stage that covered a 198-kilometre (123 mi) route from Condé-sur-Vesgre to Vendôme. There were no classified climbs in the first 173 kilometres (107 mi). The final 25 kilometres (16 mi), however, followed a circuit around Vendôme that included both climbs and gravel roads. The riders entered the circuit half-way round. They crossed the first gravel sector, the Chemin de Tourteline, then the Chemin du Tertre de la Motte. The second sector included a third-category climb. There were just over 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the finish line at the end of the second sector. The riders then rode a complete lap of the circuit, crossing both gravel roads and the climb a second time, before reaching the stage finish.[18] The stage took place in difficult conditions, with snow, rain, wind and cold temperatures.[19]
The stage began with a four-man breakaway, formed by Thomas De Gendt (Lotto–Soudal), Steven Tronet (Fortuneo–Vital Concept), Thierry Hupond (Delko–Marseille Provence KTM) and Perrig Quéméneur (Direct Énergie). With the peloton not trying hard to chase them, they built a ten-minute lead by the middle of the stage. In the second half of the stage, there was some sunshine, but also strong crosswinds: with Sky, Tinkoff and Etixx–Quick-Step working hard at the front of the peloton, there were splits in the group.[20] Alexander Kristoff was in the second group on the road, but he was able to get back to the front as the groups came together.[21]
On the first gravel section, the breakaway's lead had been reduced to ten seconds and they were soon caught with Sky's Luke Rowe working at the front of the peloton. Pierre-Luc Périchon (Fortuneo–Vital Concept) attacked on the first time over the climb; he was caught by work from Orica–GreenEDGE as the riders rode through Vendôme. On the second lap, Marcel Kittel was dropped on the final climb and, despite an attack from Tony Gallopin (Lotto–Soudal) that was followed by Geraint Thomas, a large group crossed the final climb together.[20] Around 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the finish, Edward Theuns (Trek–Segafredo) attacked and went under the flamme rouge alone. He was caught, however, by Sky.[22] Sky's Ben Swift was the first to sprint and came close to taking the victory, but he was passed by Démare in the final metres, with Bouhanni finishing third.[20]
Michael Matthews increased his lead by winning two bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint. After finishing fifth at the end of the stage, he retained the yellow jersey; there were no significant changes to the general classification.[20] Démare said that the stage victory was "an immense relief" after he had failed to win any races in 2015.[23]
|
|
Stage 2
8 March 2016 — Contres to Commentry, 213.5 km (132.7 mi)
The second road stage was held on a 213.5-kilometre (132.7 mi) route from Contres in Loir-et-Cher to Commentry in Allier. The route was flat for almost the entire stage, with only one third-category climb that came 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the finish line. After the peloton reached Commentry, there was a lap of a 17-kilometre (11 mi) circuit with a small, uncategorised climb. The final kilometres were slightly uphill, with a 90-degree turn at a roundabout 500 metres (550 yd) from the finish line.[26]
There was again a four-main breakaway at the beginning of the stage, with Evaldas Šiškevičius (Delko–Marseille Provence KTM), Anthony Delaplace (Fortuneo–Vital Concept), Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling) and Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre–Merida) earning a 10-minute lead by the time they had raced 20 kilometres (12 mi). This was quickly reduced to under four minutes, however, by Etixx–Quick-Step and Orica–GreenEDGE. On the climb, Delaplace won the maximum points. Grmay dropped out of the break with 30 kilometres (19 mi) remaining and as the riders reached Commentry the breakaway had just a 40-second lead.[27]
Šiškevičius and Brändle attacked at the start of the final lap, with Delaplace unable to follow, but with 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) remaining they were caught by the peloton. In the final 2 kilometres (1.2 mi), Cofidis came to the front on behalf of Bouhanni and gave him a good lead-out.[27] Bouhanni followed the wheel of Christophe Laporte and opened his sprint with 200 metres (220 yd) remaining. He was on the right-hand side of the road, with Michael Matthews coming up on his left. In the final 100 metres (330 ft), Bouhanni drifted to the left and leaned into Matthews; the two riders nearly crashed. Bouhanni crossed the line first, with Matthews just beating Niccolò Bonifazio (Trek–Segafredo) for second place, but the result was changed shortly after the stage. Bouhanni was relegated to third place after the jury decided that he had driven the sprint dangerously, giving Matthews the stage victory and putting Bonifazio into second. Alexander Kristoff led the rest of the field home, one second behind. Marcel Kittel, one of the favourites for the stage victory, finished 65th.[28][29]
