2013 Paris-Nice

Mar 7: Paris-Nice, Stage 4: Brioude - Saint-Vallier 199.5km

Swiss rouleur Michael Albansini gave ORICA GreenEdge the first of two wins on the day taking stage 4. His teammate Matt Goss followed up with the stage win at the Tirreno Adriatico a short time later.

Alabsini wins stage 4© Graham Watson/ORICA GreenEDGE

Albasini was part of a small group that remained after contesting the last of the stage's seven hills. The Swiss all-rounder perfectly timed his acceleration to take his 25th professional victory.

“I actually wasn’t sure of my condition when I came here,” admitted Albasini. “I was feeling good, but we couldn’t race Lugano and my last race before that was three weeks ago last Wednesday. Without racing, it’s hard to understand what’s going on with your body. I’m super happy to start the season with an early, important win. I’m a bit surprised, too. It’s even nicer to win on a day when we also won with [Matt] Goss in Tirreno,” Albasini added. “It’s really perfect. It’s important to keep the wins going like we did last year.”

A frenzied first hour of racing eventually saw the formation of a seven rider breakaway. Michael Morkov (Saxo-Tinkoff), Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Johann Tschopp (IAM), Warren Bargueil (Argos-Shimano), Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Hubert Dupont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) solidified their advantage after the first two of seven categorised climbs. With the day’s break established, Garmin-Sharp assumed responsibility for setting tempo at the front of the bunch.

With assistance from BMC, Omega Pharma-QuickStep and Astana, the field reeled in the breakaway riders ahead of the last ascent. BMC put pressure on the pack, and the injection of speed caused splits in the peloton up the climb, leaving a 30-rider front group as the race entered its final descent.

“At the end, there was a roundabout 500 metres or so from the finish,” explained Albasini, “There were two guys about 50 metres ahead at the point. They started sprinting, and I knew I had to go. If I didn’t, it would have been too late. I opened my sprint and went full gas. Once I overtook them, I was able to maintain control all the way to the line.
“It was a long sprint but it worked out in the end.”

Andrew Talansky retained his lead with scantiest of margins, 3 seconds from Andriy Grivko (Astana).

Stage 3 Results - Top 15

General Classification - After Stage 4 - Top 30

Race Route for 2013

2013 Paris Nice route© ASO 2013

Links

2013 Paris Nice Official Website

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