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RACE REPORTS: PARIS-NICE STAGE TWO: BONNET GETS BIG WIN
Road Bike Action & AFP
March 9, 2010
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(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
French cyclist William Bonnet recorded his first major stage race win on Tuesday when he won the second stage of the Paris-Nice race, a 201 kilometers ride from Contres. Dutchman Lars Boom held on to the yellow jersey. Bonnet, 27, beat Slovakia's Peter Sagan and Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez in a sprint finish.
"This is my first big win, I've been waiting a long time for it," said Bonnet. "I managed to avoid the collision in the last mile and caught up with Sanchez, who started the sprint with 400 meter to go."
"I felt great. I decided to get involved in the sprint to try and win the stage," Sanchez said. "There was a strong headwind, which complicated things but I'm very satisfied with third."
Slovenia's Grega Bole, who finished second in Monday's race, fell in the final sprint along with Bonnet's compatriot Jimmy Casper. While it was reported earlier that Alberto Contador crashed, it now appears that the that Two-time Tour de France winner completed the stage without incident after falling on Monday and bruising his leg. Germany's Jens Voigt of the Saxo Bank team trails overall leader Boom by just five seconds, while Spaniard Sanchez is ten seconds behind the Dutch Rabobank rider.
The third stage is a 208-kilometer ride between Saint-Junien and Aurillac on Wednesday.
Paris-Nice Stage 2: Contres - Limoges 201.5km
1. William Bonnet (Fra/Bbox Bouygues Telecom) 4:22:40
2. Peter Sagan (Svk/Liquigas-Doimo) @ s.t.
3. Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa/Caisse d'Epargne)
4. Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita/Lampre)
5. Juan Jose Haedo (Arg/Saxo Bank)
6. Samuel Dumoulin (Fra/Cofidis)
7. Tom Veelers (Ned/Skil-Shimano)
8. Eduard Vorganov (Rus/Katusha)
9. Borut Bozic (Slo/Vacansoleil)
10. Francesco Chicchi (Ita/Liquigas-Doimo)
Overall Classification After Stage 2
1. Lars Boom (Ned/Rabobank) 8:55:51
2. Jens Voigt (Ger/Saxo Bank) @ .05
3. Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa/Caisse d'Epargne) @ .10
4. David Millar (GBr/Garmin-Transitions) @ .13
5. Roman Kreuziger (Cze/Liquigas-Doimo) @ .15
6. Gregory Henderson (NZl/Sky) @ .20
7. Peter Sagan (Svk/Liquigas-Doimo) @ .23
8. Levi Leipheimer (USA/RadioShack) @ .25
9. Alberto Contador (Spa/Astana) @ s.t.
10. Xavier Tondo (Spa/Cervélo) @ .29
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