Another day, another round of applause for Christian Prudhomme and ASO at Paris-Nice.
With no time trial and no big summit finishes, this year’s route could have back-fired for the race organisers, with defending champion Richie Porte (Team Sky) among those to openly state that his characteristics as a rider are better suited by Tirreno-Adriatico. However, Paris-Nice has proved to be an unpredictable and predictable race with attacks and counter-attacks the order of the day.
Designed with the Classics in mind, each stage – even the flat sprint stages – has thrown up plenty of drama with the tricky terrain costing several big-name riders time. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was among the high-profile casualties of stage six, with Jakob Fuglsang now leading the team after ‘The Shark’ lost time on the uphill finish.
t is simply impossible to predict how each stage will pan out – and while mountain-top finishes and time trials no double have their place in the big races, their absence has allowed other riders to shine who may not otherwise have been able to.
And with two stages still to come, there could well be plenty more twists and turns on the cards.
