2022 UCI World Calendar

Tour Down Under '20 | '19

Vuelta a San Juan '21 | '20

Étoile de Bessèges '21

Tour de Provence '21

Tour Colombia '20 | '19

Tour of Oman '19 | '18

Volta ao Algarve '20 | '19

Vuelta a Andalucía '20 | '19

UAE Tour '21 | '20

Paris-Nice '21 | '19

Tirreno-Adriatico '21 | '20

Volta a Catalunya '21 | '19

Coppi e Bartali '18 | '17

Itzulia Basque Country '21

Tour of Turkey '19

Tour of the Alps '21 | '18

Tour de Romandie '21 | '19

Tour de Yorkshire '19 | '18

Giro d'Italia '22 | '21 | '20

Tour of California '19 | '18

Critérium du Dauphiné '21

Tour de Suisse '21 | '19

Tour de Beauce '18 | '17

Route d’Occitanie '21 | '19

Tour de France '22 | '21

Tour de Pologne '21 | '19

Tour of Utah '19 | '18

BinckBank Tour '20 | '19

Colorado Classic '17 | '15

Arctic Race of Norway '19

Vuelta a España '21 | '20

Tour of Alberta '17 | '16

Tour of Britain '17 | '16

Paris-Nice 2008 Results, Photos and Video

The key moment from 2008: Eventual overall winner, David Rebellin, leads the break to the line after dropping the Yellow Jersey, Robert Gesink, on the twisty descent into Cannes at the end of Stage 6. Rebellin is shallowed by Rinaldo Nocentini (2nd overall, left) and Sylvain Chavanel (right) lurking in the background. Chavanel attacked and won the stage with 2k to go. Last year featured atrocious weather (before the sun shone on the last stage in Nice), power sprint finishes and successful breaks. Never a dull moment... that's what Paris-Nice is known for.

Paris-Nice 2008 Stage Details
P	Sunday, March 9th	4.6 km
	Amilly	TT
	profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video
1	Monday, March 10th	185 km
	Amilly → Nevers
	profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video
2	Tuesday, March 11th	201 km
	Nevers → Belleville-en-Beaujolais
	profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video
3	Wednesday, March 12th	166 km
	Fleurie → Saint-Étienne
	profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video
4	Thursday, March 13th	176 km
	Montélimar → Mont-Serein (Ventx)
	profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video
5	Friday, March 14th	173 km
	Althen-des-Paluds → Sisteron
	profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video
6	Saturday, March 15th	206 km
	Sisteron → Cannes
	profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video
7	Sunday, March 16th	119 km
	Nice → Nice
	profile | map | timetable | results | photos | video
Total Distance		1235 km
copyright (c) 2008 steephill.tv
Click to Enlarge Map
2008 Paris-Nice Teams Team Rosters and Withdrawals  17 teams, 8 riders ea. with team leaders in red  click the rider #s for their current P-N race stats GEROLSTEINER (Germany) 2  KOHL Bernhard Austria 3  MOLETTA Andrea Italy 1  REBELLIN Davide Italy 4  RUSS Matthias Germany 5  SCHUMACHER Stefan Germany 6  STAMSNIJDER Tom Netherlands 7  WESTPHAL Carlo Germany 8  ZAUGG Oliver Switzerland CAISSE D'EPARGNE (Spain) 12  ARROYO DURAN David Spain 13  CHARTEAU Anthony France 14  LOPEZ GARCIA David Spain 15  LOSADA ALGUACIL Alberto Spain 16  PERGET Mathieu France 11  PEREIRO Oscar Spain 17  PORTAL Nicolas France 18  SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon Spain LAMPRE (Italy) 22  BONO Matteo Italy 23  BOSSONI Paolo Italy 21  CUNEGO Damiano Italy 24  GAVAZZI Francesco Italy 25  LORENZETTO Mirco Italy 26  MORI Massimiliano Italy 27  SPILAK Simon Slovenia 28  TIRALONGO Paolo Italy LIQUIGAS (Italy) 31  ALBASINI Michael Switzerland 32  BERTAGNOLLI Leonardo Italy 33  CARLSTRÖM Kjell Finland 34  CORIONI Claudio Italy 35  FRANZOI Enrico Italy 36  KREUZIGER Roman Czech Republic 37  KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr Belarus 38  SANTAROMITA Ivan Italy SILENCE-LOTTO (Belgium) 42  AERTS Mario Belgium 43  BRANDT Christophe Belgium 44  CIONI Dario David Italy 41  EVANS Cadel Australia 45  LLOYD Mathew Australia 46  POPOVYCH Yaroslav Ukraine 47  VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen Belgium 48  VAN SUMMEREN Johan Belgium TEAM CSC (Denmark) 52  JULICH Bobby United States 53  KOLOBNEV Alexandr Russia 54  KROON Karsten Netherlands 55  MCGEE Bradley Australia 56  MCCARTNEY Jason United States 51  SCHLECK Frank Luxembourg 57  SØRENSEN Chris Denmark 58  VOIGT Jens Germany CRÉDIT AGRICOLE (France) 62  BONNET William France 63  BOTCHAROV Alexandre Russia 64  FOFONOV Dmitriy Kazahkstan 65  GERRANS Simon Australia 61  HUSHOVD Thor Norway 66  LE MEVEL Christophe France 67  PAURIOL Rémi France 68  ROLLAND Pierre France EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI (Spain) 72  ALBIZURI ARANSOLO Benat Spain 71  ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor Spain 73  APERRIBAY Lander Spain 74  GALPARSORO MARTINEZ Dionisio Spain 75  HERNANDEZ GUTIERREZ Aitor Spain 76  IRIZAR ARANBURU Markel Spain 77  VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI Gorka Spain 78  ZUBELDIA AGIRRE Haimar Spain FRANÇAISE DES JEUX (France) 82  CASAR Sandy France 83  CHEREL Mickaël France 84  DI GREGORIO Rémy France 81  GILBERT Philippe Belgium 85  JEGOU Lilian France 86  LE BOULANGER Yoann France 87  VANENDERT Jelle Belgium 88  VAUGRENARD Benoît France SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT (Spain) 92  BENITEZ ROMAN Jose Alberto Spain 93  COBO ACEBO Juan Jose Spain 94  DURÂN AROCA Arkaitz Spain 91  GOMEZ MARCHANTE José Angel Spain 95  INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA Benat Spain 96  JUFRE POU Josep Spain 97  MORI Manuele Italy 98  PASSERON Aurélien France BOUYGUES TELECOM (France) 102  CLEMENT Stef Netherlands 101  FEDRIGO Pierrick France 103  FLORENCIO CABRE Xavier Spain 104  GESLIN Anthony France 105  PINEAU Jérôme France 106  SPRICK Matthieu France 107  TROFIMOV Yury Russia 108  TSCHOPP Johann Switzerland HIGH ROAD (United States) 111  EISEL Bernhard Austria 112  GREIPEL André Germany 113  KLIER Andreas Germany 114  KNAVEN Servais Netherlands 115  LEWIS Craig United States 116  POSSONI Morris Italy 117  REYNES MIMO Vicente Spain 118  SIEBERG Marcel Germany COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉ. (France) 121  CHAVANEL Sylvain France 122  DUMOULIN Samuel France 123  FERNANDEZ BUSTINZA Bingen Spain 124  HUGUET Yann France 125  MINARD Sébastien France 126  MOINARD Amaël France 127  MONCOUTIE David France 128  MONFORT Maxime Belgium RABOBANK (Netherlands) 132  DE MAAR Marc Netherlands 133  ELIJZEN Michiel Netherlands 134  FLECHA GIANNONI Juan Antonio Spain 131  GESINK Robert Netherlands 135  HAYMAN Mathew Australia 136  MOERENHOUT Koos Netherlands 137  TANKINK Bram Netherlands 138  TEN DAM Laurens Netherlands AG2R - LA MONDIALE (France) 142  ARRIETA LUJAMBIO José Luis Spain 143  CALZATI Sylvain France 144  DEIGNAN Philip Ireland 145  DESSEL Cyril France 146  DUPONT Hubert France 147  EDALEINE Christophe France 148  GOUBERT Stéphane France 141  NOCENTINI Rinaldo Italy QUICKSTEP (Belgium) 152  BARREDO LLAMAZALES Carlos Spain 153  CARRARA Matteo Italy 154  CRETSKENS Wilfried Belgium 155  EFIMKIN Alexander Russia 156  GARATE Juan Manuel Spain 157  HULSMANS Kevin Belgium 151  STEEGMANS Gert Belgium 158  TOSATTO Matteo Italy AGRITUBEL (France) 162  BICHOT Freddy France 163  GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo Spain 164  ISTA Kevin Belgium 165  JALABERT Nicolas France 166  LEQUATRE Geoffroy France 161  MOREAU Christophe France 167  RINERO Christophe France 168  VOGONDY Nicolas France TEAM MILRAM (Italy) 172  EICHLER Markus Germany 173  GHISALBERTI Sergio Italy 174  GRABSCH Ralf Germany 171  GRIVKO Andriy Ukraine 175  KNEES Christian Germany 176  SCHRÖDER Björn Germany 177  TERPSTRA Niki Netherlands 178  VELITS Peter Slovakia SLIPSTREAM CHIPOTLE (United States) 182  EUSER Lucas United States 183  FARRAR Tyler United States 184  LAURENT Christophe France 185  LOWE Trent Australia 181  MILLAR David United Kingdom 186  PATE Danny United States 187  PETERSON Thomas United States 188  VANDEVELDE Christian United States SKIL-SHIMANO (Netherlands) 192  BEPPU Fumiyuki Japan 193  CURVERS Roy Netherlands 194  GOESINNEN Floris Netherlands 195  HUPOND Thierry France 191  LHOTELLERIE Clément France 196  TIMMER Albert Netherlands 197  VEELERS Tom Netherlands 198  WAGNER Robert Germany printable start list version

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Paris-Nice 2008 Route Map, Stage Details
Teams, TV Schedule, Live Video, Results and Photos

Stage 7 results: Sanchez wins the last stage; Rebellin wins the overall
Nice → Nice, 119 km (mountainous)

Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) was thrilled when he just barely hung for his dramatic solo stage win on the last day of Paris-Nice 2008. A great way to end an awesome week of racing.

Route Map | Preview | Live Coverage | TV Schedule | Team Rosters | Stage Details

After twice being a runner-up at Paris-Nice, this year's winner, Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin
of Italy, had his eyes firmly set on finally winning "The Race to the Sun". The final standings...

Stage 7 Results
1 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
2 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis
3 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Quick Step
4 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel
5 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quick Step
6 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step
7 Simon Spilak (Slo) Lampre
8 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Credit Agricole                
Full Results — cyclingnews
Full Results — official site
 
General classification after stage 7
1 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner                     
2 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale                   0.03
3 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence-Lotto                      0.48
4 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank                               0.51  
Full GC Standings — official site

Full Report — velonews
Stage 7 photo recap — grahamwatson
Stage 7 Photos — sports.yahoo
  Stage 7 One-Minute Highlights — eurosport
   Stage 7, The Last Km — versus

Stage 7 preview:
March 16 update: Yesterday was quite a stage that required good climbing ability, great descending skills and a finishing kick for the flat finish... in other words, the complete package. No wonder Sylvain Chavanel was so happy when he crossed the line first. Robert Gesink's poor descending skills were exposed on the difficult descent into Cannes putting Davide Rebellin into the Yellow Jersey for the final stage as he found himself last year before Alberto Contador soloed home for the stage and overall wins. With tomorrow's three cat 1 climbs and only three seconds separating first and second (Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2r - La Mondiale), we should be in for another thrilling finish. It's been a tough, hard fought week of racing. Chapeau to the riders, the parcours committee but not to mother nature... and thanks for tuning in. — Steve
starts: 13:20 CET (12:20:00 PM GMT+0000); approximate finish: 16:42 CET (3:42:00 PM GMT+0000)

Live Video Coverage:
  Cycling.tv (North America only $) live internet coverage starts at 14:50 CET (1:50:00 PM GMT+0000)
NOT   Eurosport TV delayed broadcast starts at 17:15 CET (4:15:00 PM GMT+0000) 45 mins in total
  Eurosport (no live internet audio)
  TV2 Sputnik3 nice video from Denmark starts at 14:50 CET (1:50:00 PM GMT+0000) , no country restrictions. Takes about 30 seconds to start playing. Turn down the volume and open the eurosport english audio link (see above) to listen.
  Sporza Internet Video/Dutch; Belgium country restriction
  France4: French/Video; France only
... Today Versus Cyclism Sundays 3 PM ET Now (week highlights and today's delayed broadcast)
Live Text/Ticker Coverage:
  key moments | official site | Eurosport.fr | Velonews | Cyclingnews

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Stage 6 results: Robert Gesink gets dropped on the descent into Cannes; David Rebellin races smartly into Yellow; Sylvain Chavanel wins the exciting stage
Sisteron → Cannes, 201 km (medium mountainous)

Chavanel jumped from the back of the lead group in the final km
high-res victory salute

Gesink working hard to mitigate the damage after losing his lead on the tricky descent into Cannes

Stage 6 Results
1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone    5.00.25
2 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                   0.02
3 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC                                        
4 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - Fondital                         0.06
5 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner                                 
6 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2r - La Mondiale                         
7 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quickstep                                     
8 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole                                 
9 Jerome Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                               
10 Aurelien Passeron (Fra) Saunier Duval - Scott                
Full Results — cyclingnews
Full Results — official site
 
General classification after stage 6
1 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner                                 
2 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2r - La Mondiale                     0.03
3 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence - Lotto                        0.48
4 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank                                   0.51
Full GC Standings — official site

Full Report — velonews
Key Moments — official site
Stage 6 photo recap — grahamwatson
Stage 6 Photos — sports.yahoo
  Stage 6 One-Minute Highlights — Eurosport
  The Last Km — sporza
Frank Schleck misses a left hand turn and crashes into the embankment on the other side of the road on the descent into Cannes causing two others to lose their concentration as well

Stage 6 preview:
March 15 update: It's a case of the terrible twos today with four cat 2 climbs sandwiched around three cat 3 climbs. If the contenders hovering 30 seconds to a minute back are going make something happen then it will have to be today, because it's unlikely a climber like Robert Gesink will crack on the cat 1 climbs tomorrow. Today's stage is the longest of the week and over 85k longer than tomorrow's final stage around Nice. The weather and the action have been warming up all week so lets see what happens today. No Eurosport live coverage today. See below for live coverage sources and times. By the way, 17 riders didn't start or finish stage 5. See the updated rosters (right) for who's left in the race. — Steve

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Stage 5 results: Carlos Barredo (Spa) Quick Step successfully attacks the five-man break 10k from the line
Althen-des-Paluds → Sisteron, 173 km (hilly)

Carlos Barredo (Spa) Quick Step broke free with 10k to go but his previous breakmates were never far behind

Stage 5 Results
1 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Quick Step                         3.58.01
2 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC                               0.04
3 Manuele Mori (Ita) Saunier Duval-Scott                         
4 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel                              
5 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Credit Agricole                           
6 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Credit Agricole                        1.33
Full Results — cyclingnews
Full Results — official site
 
General classification after stage 5
1 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank                           21.10.28
2 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner                         0.32
3 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale                   0.35
4 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence-Lotto                      0.42
5 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quick Step                        1.06
6 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Quick Step                            1.42
7 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                   2.06
8 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi                      2.11
9 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quick Step                         2.30
10 Clement L'Hottelerie (Fra) Skil-Shimano                   3.25
Full GC Standings — official site

Full Report — velonews
Key Moments — official site
  Stage 5 One-Minute Highlights — Eurosport
  The Last Km — sporza
Stage 5 photo recap — grahamwatson
Stage 4 preview:
March 14 update: Some thoughts while sifting through the carnage of yesterday's action/results: Cadel Evan's win was a little cheeky. First, he drops his new super domestique (Yaroslav Popovych), who was the Virtual Yellow Jersey with two km to go and then he pips Robert Gesink at the line. Gesink was clearly the stronger of the two all the way up and, at age 21, we have a new bona fide pure climber to enjoy for years to come. Gesink has a 1/2 minute lead. Will he close it out with two more hilly stages to go? ... I can't stop thinking () of Michael Rasmussen when I see Gesink on the road... Skil-Shimano may be second last in the team classification, but much more importantly their leader, Clément L'Hottelerie, is sitting smartly in 9th overall just 3.25 behind Gesink. Surely, a top 10 at Paris-Nice will be good enough to get Skil-Shimano invited to ASO's main event in July especially since L'Hottelerie is currently the top French rider at P-N... David Millar was off-the-back (OTB) right at the base of Mont-Ventoux and finished 21 minutes off the pace. It has been a very average (bordering on disappointing) showing by Slipstream this week. Their top man is now Trent Lowe, who is 21st. By the way, if you haven't seen the slick feature Versus did with David Millar () then here it is. Here are more Versus P-N clips from last weekend's show. I was hoping to post it in more favourable circumstances, but at the rate he's going with crashes and all, I'd better post it now.

Today's stage will start with a stiff climb and continues lumpy for the rest of the day. The last 5k are relatively flat and the last k is dead flat. Breaks are more likely to succeed at this point in the race, but a sprint finish is definitely not out of the question. — Steve

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Stage 4 results: Evans pips Gesink at the line, but Gesink gets Yellow
Montélimar → Mont-Serein (Mont Ventoux), 176 km (mountainous)

Stage 4 Results
1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto             
2 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank                  
3 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2r - La Mondiale      .33  
4 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner              
5 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC                    .34
6 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence - Lotto         .38
7 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep             1.03
8 Simon Spilak (Slo) Lampre - Fondital          
9 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Credit Agricole           1.30
10 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quickstep     1.33
Full Results — cyclingnews
Full Results — official site
 
General classification after stage 4
1 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank  
2 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner              .32
3 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2r - La Mondiale      .35
4 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence - Lotto         .42
Full GC Standings — official site

Full Report — velonews
Key Moments — official site
  Stage 4: The Maillot Jaune (Sylvain Chavanel) gets dropped; Tete de la course (Jens Voigt) in difficulty — France4
  Stage 4: The last 1 km — France4
  Stage 4: The last 5 km... and then there were two on Mont-Ventoux — Sport Diretta
Stage 4 photo recap — grahamwatson
Stage 4 Photos — sports.yahoo
CSC Pulling Sponsorship After 2008 — bikeradar

high-res Jens
Stage 4 Preview:
March 13 update: Today we'll see a bunch of cat 3 climbs before the action lights up on the lone "mountaintop" finish of this year's race. I put mountaintop in quotations because today's ascent will be from the north side of Ventoux and they'll stop at Mont-Serein which is 500m shy of the top. To vicariously cycle to the top from the south side -- the side the Tour de France normally uses -- checkout our report with photos from our ascent of Le Mont Ventoux in August 2006. By the way, here's the list of abandonments during the week and here are the overall standings which will change dramatically after today. — Steve

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Stage 3 results: Kjell Carlstroem (Fin) Liquigas wins the long, two-man break; Chavanel now in Yellow
Fleurie → Saint-Étienne, 166 km (medium mountainous)

Stage 3 Results 1 Kjell Carlstroem (Fin) Liquigas 2 Clement L'Hottelerie (Fra) Skil-Shimano 3 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Credit Agricole 0.43 4 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 5 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 6 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2r - La Mondiale 7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 8 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 9 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 10 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi Full Results — cyclingnews Full Results — official site   General classification after stage 3 1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Credit par Telephone 12.37.01 2 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC 0.02 3 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.03 4 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0.08 5 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 0.14 6 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep 0.18 7 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence - Lotto 0.19 8 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2r - La Mondiale 0.21 9 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 10 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quickstep 0.34 Key Moments — official site Full Report — velonews   Stage 3 One-Minute Highlights — Eurosport   Stage 3: the last 20 km including the cat 1 climb — Sport Diretta Stage 3 photo recap — grahamwatson

Stage 3 Preview:
March 12 update: Although, not officially a mountain stage, today's action will feature five catergorized climbs with a cat 1 positioned before the 20k descent and run into Saint-Étienne. Also, note that our Tirreno-Adriatico Live Dashboard starts today covering the coast to coast week-long stage race in Italy. Most of the big sprinters are there preparing for Milan-San Remo... in other words, it's the perfect complement to this year's Paris-Nice. — Steve

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Stage 2 results: Steegmans wins again in miserable conditions
Nevers → Belleville-en-Beaujolais, 201km, (flat then hilly)

Stage 2 Results
1 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step           5.29.47 (36.57 km/h)
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole
3 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis
4 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas               .07
5 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Francaise des Jeux
6 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step
7 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre
8 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Liquigas
9 Manuele Mori (Ita) Saunier Duval-Scott
10 Vicente Reynes (Spa) High Road
Full Results — cyclingnews
Full Results — official site
 
General classification after stage 2
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole
2 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step           0.03
3 Jerome Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom      0.23
4 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC  

Key Moments — official site
Full Report — velonews
  Stage 2 One-Minute Highlights — Eurosport
  Stage 2: the final km — Sporza
Stage 2 photo recap — grahamwatson
  Excluded from Paris-Nice, Levi Leipheimer competed at a local (Berkeley, CA) TTT event and easily won as a one-man team — results
  Crash and scurry aftermath

Stage 2 Preview:
March 11 update: After yesterday's tumultuous starting stage, this year's Paris-Nice has already been blown wide open. Many the big little GC contenders (little as in slight of build ie. climbers) were tossed around in the driving rain and are now forced to hunt for stage wins. Each day now gets harder and we are guaranteed to see more action than we bargained for due to yesterday's results, the tough parcours and the continuing bad weather. Tomorrow's stage finishes in Belleville-en-Beaujolais, not to be confused with the 2003 critically acclaimed cycling film, Les Triplettes de Belleville. (There is more than one beautiful village in France.) Just as Gert Steegmans thrived in cold, wet (Belgian?) weather yesterday, fellow Belgian Philippe Gilbert should power over the three cat 3 climbs and the only cat 2 at the end and cross first if all goes well. Today's stage is dead flat until the four modest categorized climbs at the end. Just over a week ago, we saw Gilbert crush the field at Het Volk ( 8:29 min in Dutch) so we know he's on good form. — Steve

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Stage 1 results: Gert Steegmans wins the power sprint in Nevers
Amilly La Chapelotte → Nevers, 185 94 km (rolling)

Stage 1 Results
1 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step                        2.21.29
2 Jerome Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                      0.02
3 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole                            
4 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux                     
5 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC                                  
6 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Liquigas                             0.04
7 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre                                 
8 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) High Road                                
9 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner                            
10 Aleksandr Kuschynski (Blr) Liquigas                      0.07
Full Results — cyclingnews
 
General classification after stage 1
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole                     2.26.55
2 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step                           0.06
3 Jerome Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                      0.12
4 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC                                  
5 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Team Milram                           0.17
6 Trent Lowe (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle - H30                0.18
7 David Millar (GBr) Slipstream Chipotle - H30              0.20
8 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step                           0.21
9 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                  0.22
10 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Silence-Lotto                   0.24

Full Report — velonews
  Stage 1 One-Minute Highlights — Eurosport
  Stage 1: the final 1.5k — France4
Stage 1 photo recap — grahamwatson
  Tyler Farrar's Prologue crash as skillfully captured by a spectator...&%#@!! — maxio.fr thanks Jason Knauff

March 10 2:00:00 PM GMT+0000 update: Due to heavy rains and very high winds, the start of today's stage was been moved to La Chapelotte just 94k from the finish. The race is now underway.
March 10 update: Today is a rolling stage as we start the track south to Nice. There is only one catergorized climb, a measly cat 3 at the halfway point, but the stages will get progressively harder until the queen stage finish near the top of the Mt Ventoux on stage 4. In fact, overall this is considered one of the harder Paris-Nice events. Today's stage will feature an uphill finish in Nevers with a 9% section so it will favour the power sprinters. — Steve

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Prologue results: Thor Hushvold wins, beating a time that stood for two hours

13:55 GMT The final results
Full Results — cyclingnews
Full Report — velonews
Hushovd beats an early best time — Eurosport
 Tyler Farrar's Prologue crash as skillfully captured by a spectator...&%#@!! — maxio.fr thanks Jason Knauff
Prologue photos — grahamwatson
Prologue photos — AFP/Yahoo

The leaderboard as of 13:20 GMT after 60 riders. These times have held for 1 1/2 hours. With the poor conditions, the late starters may not top these riders.
Prologue start order and start times
Current Results

13:40 GMT David Millar has the best time (so far) of the late starters crossing in 7th. The conditions are dryer now.

13:52 GMT Thor Hushovd crosses with a new best time... over 4 secs faster than anyone else. Too bad the TV cameras didn't follow him.

13:55 GMT Stefan Schumacher was last to start, posting the third best time for the last podium spot

Before the live coverage even started, Markel Irizar set a time in dry conditions that almost stood. He finished 2nd.

March 9 update: This morning's 4.6 km prologue is considered non-technical with the exception of several 90 degree corners. The rain is pouring down in Amilly and it's windy.

Internet Coverage:
Now Live Cycling.tv (North America only) live coverage starts at 12:10 GMT (8:10 ET, 5:10 PT taking into account daylight savings in the U.S.) and goes until 14:10 GMT. There appears to be no Free2View option.
... More live video options will be tested at race time... check back at 12:10 GMT... alternative video feeds... current status: the sopcast link works after a minute (requires special software), v2 is not broadcasting P-N.
Eurosport.fr text/ticker coverage starts at 12:00 CET
Velonews text/ticker
Cyclingnews live text coverage doesn't start until stage 4.

TV Coverage:
Versus (U.S.) will broadcast the Prologue at 4 PM ET.
Eurosport (Europe) will broadcast the Prologue at 22:35 GMT and then live coverage of the stages during the week.
France 4 (France) will broadcast from 13:40 CET to 15:00 CET
France3 (France) will broadcast 35 minutes of Prologue highlights at 15:00 CET.

Don't hesitate to contribute information if I've missed some important details especially related to live video coverage regardless of language — Steve

Cancellara Criticises ASO And UCI — cyclingweekly
UCI boss slams colluding ASO and French sports ministry — bikeradar
Paris-Nice starts under a cloud — velonews

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Paris-Nice Preview

March 7 update:
High noon in France: The showdown between UCI and ASO goes on — Cyclingnews

Live Video

March 1 update: Each stage will be broadcast over the internet on cycling.tv's premium channel (North America only, customer sign-up £29.99 annually). Live video of all stages start on Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:00:00 GMT (12:00:00 PM your time). There will also be a lower quality Free2View stream provided by cycling.tv which I'll link to when it becomes available. If you come across alternative video streams, regardless of language, then don't hesitate to send me an email. Cyclingnews will be providing live text coverage of the final four stages of the 66th Paris-Nice live starting at 14:00 local European time (CEST)/ 8:00 (USA East)/ 0:00 Australia (EST) - also on WAP-enabled mobile devices at http://live.cyclingnews.com/wap/. — Steve

Stage maps and profiles are now posted

March 1 update: Links to maps and profiles have been added to the stage summary table (see right).

Teams opt to ride Paris-Nice

February 27 update:
Cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, suffered a serious blow to its authority as teams opt to ride Paris-Nice — Agence France Presse

UCI won't recognize Paris-Nice race in dispute with Tour de France organizers

February 25 update:
According to the Associated Press (via cyclingfansanonymous), the UCI is threatening the organizers and teams of this year's Paris-Nice into playing by their rules or else Paris-Nice will not count as a UCI event. Says UCI president Pat McQuaid, "As far as the international federation is concerned, this event will have no classification and no winner, and no points will be awarded for it. Moreover, no anti-doping controls will be carried out by the UCI, nor will it be involved in the management of any tests which may be carried out under national law. Finally, no international or national commissaires will be authorized to work at the event, which will not be governed by UCI rules." — Steve
Also see,
UCI may shun Paris-Nice in row with ASO — Agence France Presse
Historic cycling decision looms in Paris — The Times
ASO appoints French anti-doping agency for Paris-Nice. — bikeradar/AFP

The official route is announced

February 19 update: The official towns are the same as those posted here on Jan 20th. Scroll down to the bottom for the official route map. Neither stage maps or profiles were released, just the stage timetables which gives the course detail of each stage in tabular format along with the appropriate time the peloton will pass through. See the timetable links (right) in the stage summary table. — Steve
Ventoux back for Paris-Nice — Velonews

Teams announced; No Astana in ASO races this year

February 13 update: ASO announced the 20 teams that will take the start of the 66th Paris-Nice and, as rumoured, Astana has been barred from all ASO races this year, thus preventing last year's Paris-Nice and Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, from defending his titles. The official race route still hasn't been announced. See the right sidebar for the complete list of 20 teams for Paris-Nice 2008. — Steve

February 12 update: Anticipation grows ahead of Paris-Nice selections. The teams announcement will be made on Feb 19th. — Steve

Paris-Nice TV Schedule

February 5 update: In the U.S., Paris-Nice highlights will be broadcast on March 9th at 4PM ET and March 16th at 3PM ET as part of Versus Cyclism Sundays. In Europe, Eurosport will be broadcasting the last 45-75 minutes live during the week and highlights on the weekends.

Preview Paris-Nice 2008

January 28 update: This year's one week Paris-Nice cycling stage race is just over one month away but the official route still hasn't been announced. Nonetheless, I've gleeened the unofficial route from a little research. Although the race is called Paris-Nice, the start often takes place in a commune just outside of Paris. This year we officially know it starts in Amilly with a 4.6k prologue. Here is the map of the prologue course. Along the way there will be three stages in Provence. I've filled in the stage summary table with the remaining host towns, but we'll have to wait a little longer for the official course details which must be coming shortly. — Steve

Paris-Nice Bicycle Race History and Past Winners — Wikipedia

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Paris-Nice 2008 Route Map (la carte du parcours)