The teammate of Bradley Wiggins, Richie Porte became the first Australian to win Paris-Nice when he won the final time trial on Col d’Eze Sunday.
Riding for Team Sky, the 28-year-old Tasmanian clocked 19:16 minutes on the training roads that he is accustomed to near his home in Monaco.
It was a great victory for Porte who usually acts as a domestique for the stars on his team, and though he narrowly missed beating Wiggins’s record for four seconds he crushed the rest of the field.
The American from Miami, Andrew Talansky (GRS) who won stage three, was 23 seconds behind in the final stage, coming in second for both the stage and overall win by 55 seconds.
France’s Jean-Christophe Peraud (ALM) was third overall, just 1:21 seconds behind the leader.
The other honors went to Sylvain Chavanel, who topped a great week and a stage win with the green jersey while Johann Tschopp kept the best climber’s polka-dot jersey.
Reference times
Dutchman Rick Flens (BLA), the first man out, set a reference time of 22:35.
But he was quickly outpaced by France’s Jeremy Roy (FDJ), the first rider under 21 minutes in 20:59. The Frenchman’s mark was improved by Italy’s Mattia Cattaneo (LAM) in 20:51. Jerome Coppel (COF) who put in his best performance in this Paris-Nice with 20:33, former Giro winner Michele Scarponi (LAM) seized the lead with 20:19.
MoviStar’s Quintana impresses
But the first rider under 20 minutes was Colombia’s Nairo Quintana (MOV), who confirmed his climbing abilities reaching 29.2 kph.
American Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), presumed by many as the pre-race favorite, failed against the 20 minutes mark and Quintana’s time was enough to earn him a podium placing.
Porte was the best
When the top five riders in the GC started, so did the battle for the final placement.
Jean-Christophe Peraud (ALM) regained time after a careless crash in the first turn, clocking the 4th fastest time in 19:48, enough for him to make it to the podium.
