Boonen blazes victory trial
Boonen blazes victory trial
"BEIJING, Mar. 8 -- Belgium's Tom Boonen confirmed he is the rider to watch when he snatched the first stage of the Paris-Nice cycle race over 186.5 kilometres on Monday.
In-form Boonen, winner of two Tour de France stages last year, out-sprinted Brazil's Luciano Pagliarini and Estonian Jan Kirsipuu who came in second and third in the Etampes to Chabris stage.
The win was Boonen's third success since the start of the season after he snatched two consecutive stages in the Tour of Qatar in February.
Boonen did receive some luck when several riders collided on a narrow road eight kilometres from the end.
The race still has six days to go but some riders like double winner Alexander Vinokourov and Liberty Seguros team leader Jorg Jaschke, victor in Nice last year, may have already lost out in the crash.
T-Mobile team leader Vinokourov and Discovery Channel's Lance Armstrong finished 41 seconds behind but the American had always made it clear he was not chasing a win.
Armstrong admitted that he was having difficulty getting fired up in his first race of the season.
He insisted that he will be as fired up as ever when he bids for a seventh Tour de France title this summer.
On Tuesday the second stage will lead the riders from La Chatre to Thiers over 191 kilometres of hilly roads but organisers said they are considering shortening the ride because of snow."
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