Demare leads French jersey sweep as Bardet weeps

March 5 ^th 2017 - 17:49

Four-man break
The start was given in the rain and wind at 13:26 to the whole 176 riders on the entry list. After five kilometres,
Kristijan Koren (Cannondale-Drapac), Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Romain Hardy (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) and Gatis Smukulis (Delko-Marseille-KTM) broke clear and their gap quickly increased. It reached four minutes at the top of the Cote de Senlisse (km 19.5), on which Hardy collected four points.
The lead of the four topped at six minutes shortly before kilometer 41, when gusts of wind caused the peloton to split in several bunches. A group of 26 riders – including six Quick Step and six FDJ riders –  emerged thanks to the echelon.

Echelons
They were Haller, Kristoff,  Jon Izaguirre, Bole, Gallopin Greipel, Van der Sande, Wallays, Martin, Alaphilippe Bauer, Gilbert, Kittel, Lampart, Gorka Izaguirre, Henao, Rowe, Demare, Cimolai, Guarnieri, Le Gac, Molard, Sarreau, Lemoine, Coquard and Tulik. Most of the leaders, including Richie Porte (BMC) and Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo), found themselves in the second part of the peloton, lying 40 seconds behind the first chasing group. France's Romain Bardet (Ag2R), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) were even further back but they managed to fight their way back into the Contador group.
Chavanel won the first intermediate sprint in Beynes (km 55), ahead of Koren and Hardy.

Bardet crashes
Bouhanni was later dropped again and caught in a third chasing group also including Michael Matthews (Sunweb).
The four escapees were caught after 82.5 km by the 23 riders in the leading chasing group. At that stage, the group featuring Contador, Porte and Bardet were 55 seconds adrift. The gap remained stable at around one minute and even increased in the finale as the leading bunch lost several riders. With 20 km left in the stage, Bardet crashed along with Michael Schar (BMC) and Steven Kruijswijk (Lotto-NL). While noone was hurt, the incident further hampered the chase's chances to return. Bardet took shelter behind his team car to force his way back into the peloton and was later disqualified by the race jury.
The second intermediate sprint (km 132.5), won by Philippe Gilbert, slightly broke the leading group's momentum.

Alaphilippe surges
In the finale, Kittel, Greipel and Coquard lost touch, leaving Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) as the only two sprinters to battle it out for final victory. But Alaphilippe attacked boldly under the red flame to try and take them off-guard. Only Demare was able to react and beat his young compatriot on the line, with Kristoff settling for third place.
Overall,  Porte already trails Demare by 57 seconds, while Contador, who squandered time in the last two kilometers, is now 1:14 adrift. As for Bardet, Paris-Nice is already finished.