Lutsenko steals the show in "Ventoux" stage

March 11 ^th 2016 - 16:40

Seven-man break
The race started at 11:12 without Sergio Paulinho (Tinkoff). On the gun, seven riders, Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-Quick Step), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ), Lars Boom (Astana), Wouter Wippert (Cannondale), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Matthias Brandle (IAM) and Antoine Duchesne (Direct Energie) boike clear and were joined by Jesus Herrada (Movistar) at kilometre four. Their lead topped at 11:05 (km 27). The first sprint of the day saw Lars Boom take the three points while Herrada made his KOM intentions clear by reaching the Col de la Madeleine in the front.  

Down to five
The eight tackled the Ventoux with an eight-minute lead over the peloton. In the first corners of the climb, Brandle lost ground. In the peloton, most of the leading sprinters climbed at their own pace - Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Marcel Kittel (Etixx) and Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) were among those dropped and they never made it back. Greipel later called it quits, as did Frenchman Alexis Gougeard (AG2R) with flu. At the front, Courteille and Herrada parted company with their companions, the Spaniard going for the polka-dot jersey. Herrada reached the top in the lead, ahead of Courteille with Duchesne on their heels. The three were chased down by Boom and Vandenbergh in the descent, while the pack reached the summit six minutes behind.

Duchesne on his own
In the long descent,  the gap between the five front riders and the bunch remained stable but was down to 3:25 at the Col du Pointu (km 131) which Courteille reached ahead of Herrada. In Lourmarin, Vandenbergh took the sprint honours but the group split at the foot of Cote de la Roque d'Antheron (2nd cat), when Duchesne went solo. He reached the top of the Cote de la Roque d'Antheron on his own, followed by Herrada and Courteille. In the climb, Tom-Jelte Slagter (Cannondale) shook the peloton while Alberto Contador was seen near the front of he pack for the first time in this Paris-Nice.

Lutsenko goes
In the final ascent of the day, Col de Seze (2nd cat, km 169.5), Duchesne retained 33 seconds over the pack, from which Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) surged in the descent. While the succession of climbs allowed Herrada to strengthen his KOM jersey, it was fatal to Trek-Segafredo team leader Frank Schleck, involved in an earlier crash, who was forced to call it a day. Lutsenko caught Duchesne and went on his own with 15 kms left in the stage. The 2012 under-23 world champion retained 40 seconds with 10 km to go. Katusha tried briefly to bridge the gap for Kristoff but gave up for lack of support and let Lutsenko go for a splendid solitary win.