Sir Bradley Wiggins’ hopes of ending his road-racing career with victory in Paris-Roubaix next month received a boost today after Tom Boonen, a four-time winner of the race, had his spring classics campaign effectively wiped out by a broken collarbone.
Boonen, a one-day specialist, would have been a major rival to Wiggins at Paris-Roubaix having won the 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2012 editions of the race but is unlikely to take part this year having been injured in a fall 16 kilometres from the finish of stage one of Paris-Nice.
Wiggins is 12th in the week-long stage race, 15 seconds off the lead which continues to be held by Michal Kwiatkowski, Boonen’s Etixx Quick-Step team-mate, after his victory in the prologue on Sunday. Alexander Kristoff, the Katusha rider, powered clear from the back during a hectic bunch sprint to win the 196.5-kilometre stage from Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse to Contres.
Jonathan Hivert surged ahead at the outset to take the King of the Mountain points on offer and those from the first intermediate sprint after 19 kilometres but was reeled in. Two of the Frenchman’s compatriots - Anthony Delaplace, his Bretagne-Séché Environnement team-mate, and Thomas Voeckler, the Europcar rider, then built up a lead of more than six minutes by the 100-kilometre point, and were still two minutes clear with 20 kilometres to go.
Etixx Quick-Step led the chase, losing Boonen along the way, and the two escapees were swallowed up with 1,500 metres remaining before Kristoff, the Norwegian, kept his cool to outstrip Nacer Bouhanni, of FDJ, and Bryan Coquard, of Europcar, to take his fifth win of the season in 5hr 15min 18sec.
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Ben Swift, Wiggins’ Team Sky colleague, was ninth while Geraint Thomas gained a second on Kwiatkowski courtesy of a one-second bonus picked up at the second intermediate sprint, where he crossed the line in third place.
Geraint Thomas, moved within 13 seconds of race leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx - Quick-Step) courtesy of a one-second bonus he picked up in the second intermediate sprint behind Delaplace and Voeckler.
Stage one result (Saint-Remy-Les-Chevreuse - Contres - 196.5km): 1 A Kristoff (Nor, Katusha) 5hr 15min 18sec, 2 N Bouhanni (Fra, Cofidis Solutions Credits), 3 B Coquard (Fra, Europcar), 4 H Haussler (Aus, IAM Cycling), 5 G Nizzolo (Ita, Trek), 6 J Rojas (Spa, Movistar), 7 M Hofland (Ned, LottoNL-Jumbo), 8 N Bonifazio (Ita, Lampre-Merida), 9 B Swift (GB) Team Sky, 10 M Matthews (Aus, Orica GreenEdge). Selected others: 22 G Thomas (GB, Sky), 33 S Yates (GB, Orica GreenEdge), 132 D Mclay (GB, Bretagne-Seche Environnement), 140 B Wiggins (GB, Sky) at same time, 151 L Rowe (GB, Sky) at 57secs.
General classification: 1 M Kwiatkowski (Pol, Quick-Step) 5h 22min 58sec, 2 R Dennis (Aus, BMC) at same time, 3 T Martin (Ger, Quick-Step) at 7sec, 4 J Degenkolb (Ger, Giant-Alpecin) at 9sec, 5 L Sanchez (Spa, Astana), 6 L Boom (Ned, Astana), 7 M Matthews (Aus, Orica GreenEdge), 8 S Chavanel (Fra, IAM Cycling) at 10secs, 9 T Dumoulin (Ned, Giant-Alpecin), 10 G Thomas (GB, Sky) at 13sec. Selected others: 12 B Wiggins at 15sec, 93 B Swift at 37sec, 108 S Yates at 41sec, 141 D Mclay at 1min, 157 L Rowe at 2min 13sec.