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Haussler getting stronger, Tondo holds GC top 10

March 09, 2010 - Filed under: TestTeam

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Another two hundred kilometres race today, this one from Contres to Limoges for the second stage of the 2010 edition of Paris-Nice. William Bonnet (FRA- Bbox Bouygues Telecom) bettered Liquigas' Peter Sagan (SVK) in a drag race to the line, while Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP- Caisse d'Epargne) with a third place stage result also moved up one position into third in the GC as well. Lars Boom (NED - Rabobank) retains his overall race lead. Best result for Cervélo TestTeam was Heinrich Haussler (GER) in fifteenth position.

"Four kilometres from the start of the stage, similar to yesterday, there was a four rider break away, including Jens Mouris (NED-Vacansloleil), Mauro Finetto (ITA-Liquigas), Laurent Mangel (FRA- Saur-Sojasun) and Koen de Koert (NED-Skil Shimano). They were out front for a long time and we finally took than back with 50 kilometres to go," said Philippe Mauduit, sports director. "In between nothing special happened though Rabobank and Astana started to chase them back when they reached 4:15 minutes, which was their maximum gap. When the break away returned, the peloton began the final Category three climb. Eleven kilometres from the finish, Cyril Gautier (FRA-Bbox Bouygues Telecom) attacked but the peloton brought him back before the start of the final. Five hundred metres from the finish two riders (from Lampre and Saxo Bank) at the front of the peloton crashed and that really spoiled the stage's sprint possibilities. For Cervélo TestTeam it was a pretty uneventful day, we did what we had to do. We tried to get Heinrich Haussler and Dominique Rollin (CAN) in position at the final but in the end they didn't have a role to play today.
We were successful today protecting Xavier Tondo (ESP) who retained his top ten GC standing. We will bring him to the best position possible for tomorrow's final.

For stage 3 we face a 208 kilometre course and we will also have to deal with the expected wind conditions. The hills in this stage are also more significant with three Category 2 climbs that are longer than 5 km. The last one Côte de la Martinie is more than a 1 kilometre climb with 7% elevation about 3 kilometres from the finish, so tomorrow it should be a very exciting race."

Stage 2: Contres - Limoges 201.5km

01. William Bonnet (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 4:22:40
02. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas Doimo
03. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
15. Heinrich Haussler (GER) Cervélo TestTeam