Greipel powers to stage 5 win

March 9 ^th 2017 - 16:53

Take six
The start was given to 166 riders at 11:55 but Stef Clement (Lotto NL-Jumbo) gave up after only a few kilometres. Local rider Axel Domont (Ag2R) surged after 6.5 km with Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data) and Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo). The three were joined by  Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie), Federico Zurlo (UAE) and Remy di Gregorio (Delko-Marseille) at kilometre 8 and the peloton let them go. Their lead went up to 7:30 after 50 km. Katusha and FDJ took the reins of the pack and the gap decreased to 4:20 on the sprint line in Brindas (km 70) as the pace remained reasonably slow, slightly under 40 kph.

Battle for KOM points
The first intermediate sprint was won by Domont, in front of Calmejane and Perichon.
Calmejane went for the KOM points on the Cote de Givors (Km 101.5) while Domont was again fastest at the sprint in Serrieres (km 133.5) when the gap with the chasing pack and settled at 3:30. Perichon collected seven points at the top Cote de Saint-Uze, protecting his team-mate Romian Hardy's polka-dot jersey. In the climb, Zurlo was unable to stay with his breakaway companions while Calmejane also lost ground in the descent after missing a corner. The gap had gone down under two minutes with 40 km to go.

Peloton splits
Di Gregorio, Domont, Perichon and Berhane held hardly a minute with 30 km to go as Katusha, Quick Step and FDJ were taking turns at the front of the peloton. With 18 km to go, a crash by Davide Formolo (Cannondale) split the peloton, trapping race leader Alaphilippe for a kilometer before the pack regrouped. Sensing the pack on the breakaway's heels, Di Gregorio attacked at the 15-km mark and parted company with his former companions.  

Break over
But his move was short-lived and the peloton reeled the four in at kilometer 187. The stage was set for the scheduled bunch sprint and teams FDJ, Direct Energie and Lotto-Soudal all worked hard for the best positions in the slightly uphill last stretch. Green jersey holder Arnaud Demare launched the sprint from afar alongside Dutch champion Dylan Groenewegen but it is Andre Greipel who made the right decision by surging on the opposite side of the road to upstage them and snatch his second stage victory in Paris-Nice after the one he clinched in St Amand-Montrond two years ago.