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Vande Velde wins stage 4, Chavanel retains overall lead
VdV recounts how he won
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Christian Vande Velde’s world went from black to kisses from the podium girls in just four days at Paris-Nice.
The Garmin-Slipstream captain attacked with 20km to go out of a seven-man breakaway to snatch a thrilling solo victory in a hard-fought rainy and cold day in Wednesday’s fourth stage at the 67th Paris-Nice.
“I was good at (Tour of) California, nothing special, so to come out and do that today, it gives me a lot of confidence,” Vande Velde told VeloNews. “The form is coming along really well. I am just surprising myself.”
Overnight leader Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) barely retained the leader’s jersey after finishing in a second chase group at 41 seconds to the celebrating Vande Velde, who rocked his arms as if he was cradling his newborn baby as he crossed the line.
Stage 4 Vichy to Saint-Étienne 173.5 km (107.7 miles)
GC Leader: Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step)
Stage winner: Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) in 4:01:31
Stage winner's average speed: 43.10 kph (26.78 mph)
Best Young Rider GC: Kevin Seeldrayers (Quick Step)
Mountain leader: Stephane Auge (Cofidis)
Best Team GC: Rabobank
Points Leader: Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre - N.g.c)
Peloton: 150 riders finished stage 4.
Up next: Stage 5 is 204km from Annonay to Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, including the first category Col du Bénas climb.
2009 Stage winners:
Stage 1: Alberto Contador (Astana)
Stage 2: Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo TestTeam)
Stage 3: Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step)
Stage 4: Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream)
On Sunday, Vande Velde hit the deck in the opening prologue, a crash that not only left him banged up, but torpedoed his chances for the GC in the “Race to the Sun” after forfeiting 1:15 to winner Alberto Contador.
That setback, however, opened the door for Vande Velde’s breakaway opportunity in Wednesday’s six-climb stage to St. Ètienne along the fringes of the Massif Central.
“I crashed really hard on a slippery corner cover with oil. I wasn’t taking any risks, I must have just hit it at the wrong angle,” Vande Velde continued. “In hindsight, it’s the best thing that could have happened to me. If I was top 5 or top 10, I would have killed myself yesterday and I wouldn’t have been able to get into the break today.”
Brutal pace
The pace was brutal over six third-category climbs sprinkled along the Wednesday’s 173.5km fourth stage from Vichy to Saint Étienne, making the profile tailor-made for a breakaway.It was so fast that a group of about 15 riders got dropped in the first climb at the Cat. 3 Côte de Cheval Rigon.
Vande Velde astutely followed a move by Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) at about 70km into the stage.
Joining them were Nicholas Roche (Ag2r), Dani Moreno (Caisse d’Epargne), Alexandr Kolobnev (Saxo Bank), Tony Martin (Columbia-Highroad) and Xavier Florencio (Cervélo TestTeam).
With the potentially dangerous group and the hilly finale, the Quick Step team of leader Sylvain Chavanel kept the break on a short leash. The gap never topped two minutes.
“It was a pretty epic stage from the beginning. It was really fast and it wasn’t until 70km until the break was established,” Vande Velde continued. “It was cold, rainy, up and down, a typical Paris-Nice stage. I decided to test my legs a little bit and get into the break. At first I was feeling stupid for doing so, because we weren’t getting very far away.”
Solo break to victory
At 25km to go, with one climb still to go and with three chasers less than 25 seconds back and the peloton breathing down their necks at 45 seconds behind, Vande Velde made a fateful decision.After clearing the penultimate climb at Saint-Chamond, Vande Velde put his head down to power away from the remnants of the breakaway.
Roche was the only rider who tried to follow Vande Velde, but the American kept pouring it on to clear the final climb at Rochetaillée with 6.5km to go nursing a slender, 30-second lead to Roche and three counter-attackers.
“I realized I was better than those with me in the break, so I got a little gap with about 20km to go and just went for it,” he said. “It was total time trial mode there. I just had to dig deep and focus and not let the opportunity slip away.”
He certainly didn’t. Vande Velde crossed the line 14 seconds clear of Jonathan Hivert (Skil-Shimano), who led a 21-rider chase group that included pre-race favorites Alberto Contador (Astana) and Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank), Garmin-Slipstream teammate David Millar, but not Chavanel.
The French leader trailed through at 41 seconds back and saw his lead dwindle to just six seconds to Juan Garate and Rabobank teammate Juan Antonio Flecha, who’s tied in third at 36 seconds back with Contador.
The victory is Vande Velde’s first of the 2009 season and his first since winning the Tour of Missouri last summer.
Not counting team time trial victories, it’s also Vande Velde’s first European road victory since winning the Tour of Luxembourg in 2006.
Thursday’s fifth stage will serve up another head-banger’s ball. The hilly 204km ride from Annonay to Vallon-Pont-d’Arc features seven climbs, including the Cat. 1 Col de Benas with 91km to the finish.
The stage finishes with a 25km circuit around Vallon-Pont-d’Arc in the spectacular Gorge de l’Ardèche.
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