Andreas Klier

March 9, 2013

Vandenbergh Gains Fulcrum on Stage 5 of Paris-Nice

Stijn Vandenbergh of Omega Pharma-Quick-Step nearly scored the Point d’Appui Double. He finished with an overall race time at the dead center of all the surviving riders, placing him on the fulcrum for general classification, and he finished only spot off the fulcrum within the Stage 5 finish as well.

Vandenbergh’s time is 27 minutes and 1 second behind the newest race leader, Richie Porte of Sky Procycling, and 38 minutes and 44 seconds ahead of the newest Lanterne Rouge, Andreas Klier of Garmin Sharp. The 28-year-old Belgian’s great claim to fame prior to this stage was winning the Tour of Ireland his first year as a professional in 2008. He has also shown some good form this year, finishing second this year at the Omloop Het Nieusblad.

The median time for the general classification also changed, with the 2012 Point d’Appui of the Tour de France, Vasil Kiryienka of Sky Procycling, adding to his plamares, finishing at the chronological center of the race so far with a time of 32:56.

On the stage, Alessandro Petacchi of Lampre-Merida finished at the fulcrum position.

Only two stages left. Can Vandenbergh hold onto the fulcrum? Will Kiryienka make a stab at it? And what of Markel Irizar, who usually finds his way to middle of any race? Stay tuned.

March 3, 2013

Cofidis Teammates on Cuspides for Paris-Nice Prologue

A pair of Cofidis riders, Jerome Coppel and Rein Taaramae, have taken the Cuspides on the Prologue of the Paris-Nice stage race, the unofficial start of the 2013 racing season.

It took less than five minutes for even the slowest rider, Andreas Klier of Garmin Sharp, to finish the 2.9 kilometer Prologue in the Paris suburb of Houilles. All 184 riders came home safely, so there is no Point d’Appui to be awarded on the Prologue. Coppel and Taaramae were both 13 seconds adrift.

Damien Gaudin of Europcar won the Prologue, narrowly edging out Sylvain Chavanel of Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Lieuwe Westra of Vacansoleil-DMC. The Prologue win was unexpected for the Europcar Team, or at least anyone following Europcar. Chris Fontecchio over at Podiumcafe picked Europcar as the team whose ambition at Paris-Nice might be to “get noticed on camera at some point.” Gaudin has a string of first place finishes in the French national track championships, but this his first top finish in a stage race, albeit a Prologue that on paper looks more like a track race than a stage race.

A Frenchman, Yann Huguet of Team Argos-Shimano, had the median time of the day with right at 25 seconds.

Monday’s stage, 195 kilometers from Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Nemours, will be a romp for the sprinters. With only three seconds separating the middle 20 percent of the racers, anyone might slip into the fulcrum position by the end of the day.