Today the fifth stage of Paris-Nice 2009 took place between Annonay and Vallon-Pont-d'Arc.

After 204 kilometers the Française des Jeux rider honors his name by ... becoming the king of the stage!

The route

Today's stage completely took place in the Ardèche between Annonay, where the Race to the sun didn't stop since 1952, and Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, which was never visited before by Paris-Nice.

On the route there were no less than 7 climbs, especially in the first part of the stage:
- 3 third category climbs (the Col de Comberon [4,3 km @ 4,4%], the Côte de Vernoux-en-Vivarais [0,8 km @ 5,9%] and the Col du Moulin-à-Vent [2,4 km @ 5,3%]),
- 3 second category climbs (the Col de Juvenet [7,3 km @ 4,2%], the Col de Montreynaud [7,4 km @ 5%] and the Côte de Chambon-de-Bavas [4,8 km @ 5,1%])
- and one first category mountain: the Col de Benas (10,7 km @ 4,8%)

Just after the first climb the riders came through Saint-Félicien, as the race's organisor says to quickly say hi to the organisors of the famous amateur race « l'Ardéchoise ». In addition to all this, two intermediate sprints were planned in Lamastre after 44,5 kilometers and in Sainte-Remèze at 41,5 kilometers from the finish.

> Click here to read all information about Paris-Nice 2009's route

The story of the stage

While the end of the stage must have given cold shivers to many French cycling fans with Jérémy Roy's stage win, at the start there was another reason for cold shivers: under a clear sky the temperature was no more than ... 4°C.
Enrico Franzoi (Liquigas) and Inigo Cuesta (Cervélo TestTeam) didn't start at this stage and Steven Cozza (Garmin Slipstream), Brian Vandborg (Liquigas) and Philippe Gilbert (Silence Lotto) abandoned on the way.

At kilometer 13, just before the climb of the Col de Juvenet, Jérémy Roy (Française des Jeux, photo), Tony Martin (Columbia High Road) and Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues Telecom) form a leading group.

This group gets a maximum distance of 6 minutes and 40 seconds before the Quick.Step, Astana, Milram, Cervelo TestTeam and Lampre teams together decide to accellerate at the front of the peloton.

In this group Tony Martin takes no less than 39 points at the top of secerak climbs, which allows him to take the polka dot jersey at the end of the stage.

When they cross the finish line for the first time, at 25 kilometers from the finish, the three riders still have a 4'35" advance.

After Thomas Voeckler and twice Tony Martin, Jérémy Roy realises at 7 kilometers from the finish that he won't be able to win a sprint of the other two riders and thus decides to attack. He doesn't manage to get more than 10 seconds (the difference was no more than 4 seconds at two kilometers from the finish) but he does manage to cross the finish line alone and thus win the stage.

While he finished last in yesterday's stage and at Tour de France 2008 in the sprint in Montluçon had to recognise that the current yellow jersey in Paris-Nice - Sylvain Chavanel - was stronger than he (see photo below in the list of ranking), he was really crowned king of the stage today!
And it's as if he already knew it yesterday ... indeed, on his website he wrote yesterday after the stage: at 25 km from the finish I decided not to put many efforts in staying with the group so I could spare some energy which might be very useful tomorrow.

This is great
In an interview after the stage, Jérémy Roy clearly showed his happiness with this first stage victory as a professional rider: It's unbelievable that I can get such a victory in Paris-Nice. Yesterday I was completely behind and finished last; today I still felt the pain in my legs. Christophe Le Mével even suggested me not to attack today but I took the risk anyway. In the first climb I almost had to give up on the two others, but I finally did it anyway.
At 10 km from the finish I knew that I would never be able to win a sprint from those two riders so I decided to attack and to completely go for it. I felt cramps everywhere but didn't want to give up. This is great.

The rankings

The general ranking
The general ranking doesn't change after this stage: Sylvain Chavanel (Quick.Step) keeps his first place and thus the yellow jersey. Tomorrow on the Montagne de Lure there might be some surprises in the general ranking!

1/ Sylvain Chavanel (Quick.Step, photo with Jérémy Roy in the sprint in Montluçon during the Tour de France) - 18h 32' 56"
2/ Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank) - 18h 33' 02" / + 00' 06"
3/ Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) - 18h 33' 32" / + 00' 36"
4/ Alberto Contador (Astana) - 18h 33' 32" / + 00' 36"
5/ Kevin Seeldrayers (Quick.Step) - 18h 33' 33" / + 00' 37"

Ranking by points (green jersey)
A few small changes in the ranking for the green jersey but nothing really important: the Italian Mirco Lorenzetto keeps the jersey on his shoulders after having taken it in yesterday's stage. The ranking by points now looks as follows:
1/ Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre-NGC, foto) - 62 pts
2/ Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) - 60 pts
3/ Sylvain Chavanel (Quick.Step) - 51 pts
4/ Tony Martin (Columbia High Road) - 44 pts
5/ Alberto Contador (Astana) - 34 pts

Best climber (polka dot jersey)
With the 39 points he managed to get in today's stage, Tony Martin clearly benefits from his presence in the leading group to be able to take the polka dot jersey. The ranking now is as follows:
1/ Tony Martin (Columbia High Road) - 43 pts
2/ Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues Telecom) - 29 pts
3/ Stéphane Augé (Cofidis) - 23 pts
4/ Jérémy Roy (Française des Jeux) - 18 pts
5/ Aitor Hernandez (Euskaltel Euskadi) - 16 pts

Best young rider (white jersey)
The top 5 of riders under 23 doesn't change:
1/ Kevin Seeldrayers (Quick.Step) - 18h 33' 33"
2/ Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) - 18h 34' 13" / + 00' 40"
3/ Jonathan Hivert (Skil Shimano) - 18h 34' 17" / + 00' 44"
4/ Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) - 18h 34' 19" / + 00' 46"
5/ Yuriy Trofimov (BBox Bouygues Telecom) - 18h 34' 29" / + 00' 56"

Ranking by team
Not many changes here either:
1/ Rabobank - 55h 39' 50"
2/ Quick.Step - 55h 41' 32" / + 01' 42"
3/ Saxo Bank - 55h 42' 10" / + 02' 20"
4/ Cofidis - 55h 42' 49" / + 02' 59"
4/ Katusha - 55h 42' 59" / + 03' 09"

The video of the last few kilometers

Below you can see a short video of the last few kilometers of the stage, completely by some comments from the France Télévisions director:

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Paris-Nice

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