The 3rd time for a stage win and yellow in Paris-Nice 2013: Richie Porte first on top of the Montagne de Lure!

Added: friday 08 March 2013 at 21:37:00

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He was one of the favourites, he showed today he deserved that title, Richie Porte (Team Sky) arrived solo on top of the Montagne de Lure, the small sister of the Mont Ventoux, and also takes over the yellow jersey.

The last time Paris-Nice visited the Montagne de Lure, in 2009, Alberto Contador took (back) the yellow jersey on top of this mountain by winning the stage, but despite his 1'13" gap in the general classification, he didn't win the race. Porte currently heads the general classification with a 32 seconds gap on Talansky. Will he be luckier?
The summary of stage 5/ Châteauneuf-du-Pape > Montagne de Lure
176 kilometers were on the programme in today's stage between Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the summit of the Montagne de Lure with, apart from the final first category climb, a 2nd category climb early in the stage and 3 difficulties of the 3rd category.

170 riders came to the start to go off towards the top of the Provençal climb, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) didn't start since he was a bit ill:
I got a bit sick over the past couple of days so decided to pull the pin on P-N. Really happy for my bud @richie_porte on the win today.
— Simon Gerrans (@simongerrans) March 8, 2013

The first serious attempt of the day came from the oldest rider of the peloton, Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Leopard), at kilometer 14. The German rider quickly got company from Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun), Paolo Longo Borghini (Cannondale) and Thierry Hupond (Argos-Shimano) and 10 kilometers after Voigt's attack, their gap was already up to 2'50" and it continued to go up to and reached 5 minutes at the foot of the Col de Murs.

On the top of this first difficulty they won another minute when Cyril Lemoine arrives first on top, ahead of Thierry Hupond. In the peloton the rider with the polka dot jersey, Johann Tschopp (IAM Cycling) took the last point awarded on this climb.

When Gaëtan Bille (Lotto-Belisol) and Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) leave the race, the gap starts to drop a bit before going back up, to 5'40" at the intermediate sprint in Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, won by Paolo Longo Borghini ahead of Voigt and Hupond.

At the foot of the second difficulty of the day, the Côte d'Oppedette the gap again goes up to 6 minutes and a new maximum is reached during this climb, at 6'35". On top, Thierry Hupond is the first to start the descent, ahead of Cyril Lemoine, Jens Voigt and Longo Borghini and 6'25" ahead of the peloton where Tschopp again takes the remaining point.

Hupond again arrives first on top on the Côte de Saint-Martin-les-Eaux, this time ahead of Voigt and Lemoine and the result is exactly the same on the Col de la Mort d'Imbert where Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Team Sky) leaves the roads of Paris-Nice 2013.

A bit less than 15 kilometers further, at the intermediate sprint in Forcalquier, the points for the classification with the green jersey are again for Paolo Longo Borghini, again ahead of Voigt and Hupond. The gap of the leading group, at 27 kilometers from the finish is 3 minutes there.

While approaching the Côte des Mourres we see the last abandon of the day, Sébastien Hinault (IAM Cycling), and a bit later Thierry Hupond again took the points on top, this time ahead of Voigt and Longo Borghini.

When the gap of the leading group gets under two minutes at the foot of the final climb, Jens Voigt decides to attack and try to reach the finish alone. Behind him and his formed road companions the peloton falls apart, while several Team Sky riders lead the peloton. Thanks to their work in the yellow jersey group, Voigt is taken back at 7.5 kilometers from the finish and a bit further it's Christophe Le Mével's (Cofidis solutions crédits) turn to attack. The French rider doesn't stay ahead for long however since Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida) goes off to find him and takes over his spot leading the race.

After repetitive attacks by the yellow jersey rider, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), the leading group loses several riders but apart from getting tired before the finish, Talansky doesn't manage to really get away.

Denis Menchov (Katusha) does manage to do that and Talansky attacks for a third time to go find the Russian rider. Before he gets there he sees an Australian rider, Richie Porte, the leader of Team Sky in Paris-Nice 2013, passing by. He goes on until the finish and wins this stage solo, 26 seconds ahead of Denis Menchov and 33 ahead of Andrew Talansky. At the same time the Australian rider takes the yellow jersey which Talansky sees disappear from his shoulders, for 32 seconds.
The classifications of Paris-Nice 2013 after the 5th stage
The classification of stage 5/ Châteauneuf-du-Pape > Montagne de Lure
Here's the top 5 of this 5th stage of Paris-Nice 2013:

1/ Richie Porte (Team Sky) - 4h50'54"
2/ Denis Menchov (Katusha) - +0'26"
3/ Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) - +0'33"
4/ Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team)
5/ Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida)
General classification
In the general classification of Paris-Nice 2013 Richie Porte thus takes over the yellow jersey reprend from Andrew Talansky:

1/ Richie Porte (Team Sky) - 24h26'08"
2/ Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) - +0'32"
3/ Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) - +0'42"
4/ Jean-Christophe Péraud (AG2R La Mondiale) - +0'49"
5/ Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) - +0'52"
Points classification
Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) thus loses his yellow jersey to Richie Porte but he takes over the green jersey of the points classification from Elia Viviani (Cannondale) who goes down to the 2nd place.

1/ Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) - 61 points
2/ Elia Viviani (Cannondale) - 55 points
3/ Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) - 50 points
4/ Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) - 45 points
5/ Richie Porte (Team Sky) - 43 points
King of the Mountains classification
Even though Thierry Hupond took quite some points for the King of the Mountains classification on the different mountain tops today, Johann Tschopp (IAM Cycling) keeps the lead in this classification:

1/ Johann Tschopp (IAM Cycling) - 31 points
2/ Thierry Hupond (Argos-Shimano) - 24 points
3/ Richie Porte (Team Sky) - 17 points
4/ Thomas Voeckler (Europcar)
5/ Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun) - 14 points
Best young riders classification
For the young riders, Andrew Talansky keeps the first position, Richie Porte being to old to be considered for this classification:

1/ Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) - 24h26'40"
2/ Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) - +0'20"
3/ Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) - +0'22"
4/ Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) - +2'21"
5/ Romain Bardte (AG2R La Mondiale) - +3'06"
by Thomas Vergouwen
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