Paris-Nice 2020 – Stage 5 [FULL STAGE]

March 12, 2020

Paris-Nice 2020 – Stage 5 – Gannat – La Côte-Saint-André : 227 km

Who is and who isn’t? Ian Brown’s repeated question from the stage of Blackpool’s Empress Ballroom all those years ago during a famous Stone Roses concert has been echoed in the days leading up to the 2020 edition of Paris-Nice. At the time of writing, seven WorldTour teams have confirmed their withdrawal from the Race to the Sun, citing concerns over the risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus Covid-19. The withdrawal of Team Ineos of defending champion Egan Bernal is also a mark of respect to the late Nicolas Portal, who died tragically earlier this week and whose funeral takes place in Auch on Monday. CCC Team, Mitchelton-Scott, Movistar, Astana, UAE Team Emirates and now Jumbo-Visma have pulled out of Paris-Nice – and the since-postponed slate of racing in Italy – strictly as a precaution against Covid-19. Earlier this week, however, the French ministry for sport gave the green light for Paris-Nice to go ahead, albeit with a caveat that local governments along the route retain the right to impose restrictions if the situation develops. As of Friday morning, France had 423 confirmed cases of Covid-19 distributed nationwide, but Emmanuel Macron’s government has for the time being stopped short of declaring a stage 3 epidemic in the country and taking dramatic actions similar to those decreed in Italy that forced the cancellation of all the March races.

While multiple races were being called off due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Paris-Nice peloton continued to make its way down France to La Cote-Saint-Andre, where Niccolo Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie) broke the heart of breakaway rider Jan Tratnik (Bahrain McLaren) in a thrilling finale.

Having toiled out front for the best part of 227km on the longest stage of the race, and having dropped his three breakaway companions, Tratnik looked set to rob the peloton as he entered the home straight alone.

However, the bunch came charging up at the very last moment, and Bonifazio sprang past him with just 60 metres to go.

The Italian’s turn of speed in the frantic finale was emphatic, and he won by some distance ahead of Tratnik’s teammate, Ivan Garcia Cortina and Bora-Hansgrohe’s Peter Sagan.

“Things are difficult in Italy at the moment, my family have to stay inside, they can’t go out,” Bonifazio said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic.

“For the team, it’s an important day because Paris-Nice is a big race and goal for the season. I’ve worked well this winter but I’ve only done eight races and so I was lacking race rhythm in the opening stages. Today I felt good and made sure I was well placed in the final kilometres and then did my sprint and won. This is a little gift for the people at home.”

Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) retained his overall lead as the general classification contenders finished safely in the bunch, but the German was forced onto the defensive when Julian Alaphilippe and his Deceuninck-QuickStep team launched attacks in the final 15km.

The stage had looked like a straightforward chase of a breakaway ahead of a bunch sprint, but the intermediate sprint with 17km to go briefly changed all that. By that point, Tratnik had just Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) for company, Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo) and Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie) having been dropped, thus leaving one bonus second for the first rider from the peloton. Dylan Teuns (Bahrain McLaren) hit out and was challenged by Sergio Higuita. The Belgian just edged the Colombian to move to three seconds behind him in the overall standings, and to 1:09 from Schachmann.

Alaphilippe showed no interest in the intermediate sprint but, just after Teuns and Higuita settled back into the bunch, the Frenchman launched a stinging acceleration. He was joined by Cortina before Schachmann, looking around to see a peloton lined out at breaking point, decided he had to take matters into his own hands and surged to close the gap. Almost immediately, QuickStep, in offensive mood given their sprinter Sam Bennett is no longer in the race, sent Bob Jungels and Kasper Asgreen up the road. They were joined by Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren) and Nikias Arndt (Sunweb), but were caught with 9km to go.

A couple of kilometres later, Tratnik dropped Gougeard and went it alone, taking 25 seconds into the final 5km and holding it admirably. Lotto Soudal stopped chasing when Caleb Ewan punctured with 2km to go but Sunweb took it up and the gap fell to 10 seconds with 1000 metres to go.

Tratnik made his way to the line and looked set for a memorable victory but took a look around with 100 metres to go and saw Bonifazio springing from the pack. One last plea to his legs to produce one final acceleration fell on deaf ears and he bowed his head as the sprinters piled past.

Tratnik, Gougeard, Turgis, and Mullen had broken free of the bunch after 8km and built up a lead of seven minutes before the chase began in earnest with just over 100km to go. With his teammate Jonathan Hivert in the polka dot jersey as leader of the mountains classification, Turgis made a point of going after the four minor categorised climbs – two in the first 40km, two in the last 60km.

It was a bruising day for the bunch as seven riders abandoned: Oliver Naesen (AG2R), Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julien El Fares (Nippo Delko), Diego Rosa (Areak-Samsic), Fredrik Backaert (B&B Hotels Vital Concept), and the EF Pro Cycling dup of Michael Woods and Lawson Craddock. While most retired due to illness, Woods crashed heavily with 50km to go and lay on the ground in distress before receiving medial attention. To make matters worse for EF, Tejay van Garderen did no start the stage, reportedly to beat the travel ban about to be imposed by US president Donald Trump.

The stage continued and Mullen and Turgis fell away on the false flat up towards the late intermediate sprint. The GC contenders came to the fore briefly but it was Tratnik who ensured drama to the last and Bonifazio who collected his second win of the season.

Results :
1 Niccola Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie 5:18:02
2 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
5 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
6 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert
7 John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto Soudal
8 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
9 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
10 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
11 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
12 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
13 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
14 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-Quickstep
15 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence
16 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
17 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence
19 Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Pro Cycling
20 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep
21 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
22 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
23 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
24 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation
25 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
26 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
27 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
28 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Israel Start-Up Nation
29 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
30 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
31 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling
32 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
33 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain McLaren
34 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
35 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
36 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
37 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
38 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
39 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
40 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
41 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Team Sunweb
42 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic
43 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
44 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
45 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
46 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Start-Up Nation
47 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
48 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep
49 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
50 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep
51 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
52 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
53 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
54 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
55 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
56 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
57 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
58 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-Quickstep
59 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
60 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
61 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
62 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
63 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
64 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis
65 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
66 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Circus-Wanty Gobert
67 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
68 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) NTT Pro Cycling
69 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:15
70 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Nippo Delko Provence 0:00:19
71 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:20
72 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb
73 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
74 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
75 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
76 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
77 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:00:25
78 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:00:30
79 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis
80 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain McLaren 0:00:44
81 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:49
82 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
83 Michael Hundahl (Den) NTT Pro Cycling 0:00:54
84 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
85 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic
86 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling
87 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:01:10
88 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:14
89 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:01:19
90 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:22
91 Kevin Reza (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:01:45
92 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:02:53
93 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis
94 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis 0:02:59
95 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
96 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
97 Julien Vermote (Bel) Cofidis 0:03:08
98 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:04:09
99 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
100 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Pro Cycling
101 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
102 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Total Direct Energie
103 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie
104 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie
105 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo
106 Michael Gogl (Aut) NTT Pro Cycling
107 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
108 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:08:03
109 Ben O’Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling
110 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
111 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
112 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling
113 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Total Direct Energie
114 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
115 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:08:05
116 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:12:29
117 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
118 José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence
119 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
120 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe
121 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation
122 Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Arkea-Samsic
DNF Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R la Mondiale
DNF Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Pro Cycling
DNS Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Pro Cycling
DNF Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling
DNF Julien El Fares (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
DNF Frederik Backaert (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept

General Classification after Stage 5 :
1 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 18:49:00
2 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:58
3 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:01
4 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:05
5 Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:06
6 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:09
7 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:01:11
8 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Israel Start-Up Nation
9 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:15
10 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:16
11 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:18
12 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:28
13 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:29
14 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:30
15 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:31
16 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:32
17 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:36
18 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:04
19 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:06
20 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:10
21 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:02:15
22 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:16
23 John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:02:18
24 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:38
25 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:03:04
26 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:03:06
27 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:33
28 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:03:41
29 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis 0:03:56
30 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:04:11
31 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:04:33
32 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:40
33 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:04:47
34 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence 0:04:57
35 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:05:01
36 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:05:10
37 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:05:19
38 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis 0:05:31
39 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:05:37
40 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:06:16
41 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:06:28
42 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:31
43 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:06:38
44 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain McLaren 0:06:52
45 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:06:53
46 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling 0:06:54
47 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:07:23
48 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:07:38
49 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) NTT Pro Cycling 0:08:12
50 Michael Hundahl (Den) NTT Pro Cycling 0:08:13
51 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:35
52 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:37
53 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:09:13
54 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:09:56
55 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
56 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis 0:10:21
57 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:10:42
58 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain McLaren 0:10:47
59 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:11:11
60 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:11:19
61 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:11:42
62 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence 0:11:55
63 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 0:12:01
64 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:12:10
65 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling 0:12:21
66 Julien Vermote (Bel) Cofidis 0:12:41
67 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:47
68 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:13:06
69 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:13:26
70 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:13:55
71 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
72 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:15:10
73 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie 0:15:57
74 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Pro Cycling 0:16:06
75 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:16:11
76 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Nippo Delko Provence 0:16:19
77 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:17:24
78 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Pro Cycling 0:17:30
79 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling 0:17:31
80 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:51
81 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:59
82 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:18:05
83 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:18:07
84 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis 0:18:35
85 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Total Direct Energie 0:18:41
86 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:19:20
87 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:19:47
88 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:20:00
89 Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:21:18
90 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:21:20
91 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:21:42
92 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:21:54
93 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:22:10
94 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:22:16
95 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Total Direct Energie 0:22:18
96 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
97 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:22:21
98 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:22:33
99 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:22:35
100 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:22:40
101 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:45
102 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:23:22
103 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:24:32
104 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:24:38
105 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:25:20
106 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:26:26
107 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:26:27
108 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:28:49
109 Michael Gogl (Aut) NTT Pro Cycling 0:29:34
110 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:29:51
111 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo 0:30:06
112 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:30:26
113 Kevin Reza (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:31:58
114 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:32:35
115 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:33:15
116 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:34:22
117 Ben O’Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling 0:35:22
118 José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence 0:35:29
119 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:35:36
120 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:35:46
121 Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:38:32
122 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:45:09