Paris-Nice: another day saved
07 March 2011

Movistar Team went untouched through another nervous stage in the 69th Paris-Nice, the first World Tour race on European soil seeing many crashes in its second day of competition. The 200km trek from Montfort l’Amaury to Amilly were another big test for the riders directed by Yvon Ledanois on French turf, but the telephone squad claimed a big mark at the end.

Always on front through a bunch which got split several times due to strong winds and high speed –“All crashes are happening on the latter part of the peloton, and it’s better to ride up-front,” explained Ledanois-, the riders from the Spanish team avoided numerous troubles showing up during the race and searched for the options from his main sprinter José Joaquín Rojas.

The Spanish powerhouse, who had a flat tire in his way to the finish on Sunday ruining his chances to contest the sprint, got boxed in the final rush and could not profit from his great speed in the narrow, complicated finishing straight, having to content with the 8th place in the sprint. The main good news on the day were the absence of crashes -only Pardilla went to the floor in a crash with no consequences- and the good recovery by David López after his big blow on Sunday. Tomorrow, Rojas and his teammates will be looking for a different scenario, as the third stage features the Côte de Becoup (3ª) just 12km from the finish, surely to clear the group from pure sprinters that competed for the honours on previous days.