What We Learnt: Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico

Richie Porte should be given a shot at a Grand Tour

On most other teams Richie Porte would be one of the biggest names on the roster. However the diminutive Australian has found himself relegated to domestique duties with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome leading the charge for GC. However, there is no doubt that Porte has the potential to win a Grand Tour. His climb up the Col d’Eze on the final stage of Paris-Nice was only four seconds slower than Wiggins’ time last year, while, perhaps more impressively, his ascent of the Montagne de Lure on stage 5 was 20 seconds faster than Alberto Contador’s time in 2009. When combined with decent skills against the clock (he was sixth in the 2011 World Time Trial Championship), Porte definitely has the potential to win a grand tour. I would like to see him given the opportunity at the Vuelta this year, but with him likely to be on domestique duties for Wiggins and Froome at the Giro and Tour respectively, this seems unlikely.

Kwiatkowski is the real deal

This is a young rider that has slipped completely under the radar of most of the English-language media. The Polish rider is only 22 but is already compiling a decent palmarès. Third overall in both the Dreidaagse van West Vlaanderen and the Three Days of De Panne, both tough races, in his first year in the Pro Tour, second overall in the Tour of Poland last year and second in the Tour of Algarve in mid-February this year all prove that he is a good all-rounder who should be able to challenge for one week stage races in the future. He was able to stay with the leaders on Prati di Tivo and only lost time on stages five and six which included short steep climbs. Perhaps he could even develop into a contender for the Tour de France in the future if ASO continue to shy away from France’s steeper climbs.

Sagan secures Milan-San Remo favourite tag

Peter Sagan has won an awful lot of bike races for such a young man. However, in my opinion, his win on stage 6 around Porto Sant’Elpdio is the best win of his career. We already knew that he could sprint with the very best while also winning on more difficult terrain, but the weather and the fight between the overall contenders made this a properly hard day which may have seen the Sagan of last year throwing in the towel along. Here Sagan showed that he can cope with repeated difficult climbs alongside the best climbers in the world, and looked much stronger than both Chris Froome and Alberto Contador. We already knew that Sagan had the ability to win Milan-San Remo from a bunch sprint, but now we know that even if the race is made very difficult by the likes Nibali, fragmenting on the Poggio or even the Cipressa, Sagan will be right up there and looking for the win.

Gerrans out of Milan-San Remo contention

One man who looks unlikely to be able to challenge in the first monument of the season next weekend is Simon Gerrans. The Australian has been has been ill recently but has still looked in fairly turgid form since the start of the year. The tough, wet finish into Brioude, won by Andrew Talansky, would last year have been a stage with Gerrans’ name on it. Instead he came in at the back of a large group almost three minutes down alongside the likes of Elia Viviani, Michael Matthews, and Alessandro Petacchi, before failing to start stage 5. Last year’s Milan-San Remo victory was preceded by a second place on stage 3 of Paris-Nice. There has been no sign of such form this year.

Tour wildcards still up for grabs

Traditionally Paris-Nice and the Criterium International have been important gauges for which Pro Continental teams can be handed a wildcard and be trusted to put on a show come July. However, the lower ranked teams were a little quiet this year. Damien Gaudin of Europcar took the opening prologue and Johann Tschopp of IAM won the mountains jersey, but Daniel Navarro was the only Pro Continental rider in the top 20 overall, and did so decidedly anonymously. If the presence of Thomas Voeckler and Pierre Rolland all but ensures a spot for Europcar, the other two spaces are still up for grabs with no stand-out performances in Paris-Nice.