Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Sylvain Chavanel keeps the Green points jersey, finishing 9th (+1'05") in the 9.6km final time trial on the Col D'Eze on Sunday. He also finished 5th overall, and OPQS rider Peter Velits rounded out the top 10 of the GC.
Chavanel, who won the Stage 6 bunch sprint yesterday, was 7th fastest at the intermediate point. Richie Porte (Team Sky ProCycling) won the time trial with a time of 19'16" after also posting the fastest intermediate time. Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) was 2nd, three seconds back. Alex Quintana (Movistar) was 3rd, 27 seconds back.
"I'm happy about the week I had here at Paris-Nice," Chavanel said. "I finished 5th in the GC and won the Green Jersey. I won a stage and I was 2nd in the prologue. I did exactly what I was expecting from this race. Today in the TT I was able to limit the gap. My objective today was to remain in the top 10 of the GC and I reached my goal. Paris-Nice is the first of a series of races that count a lot for me. The condition is good and the morale is high. I'm really looking forward to the next races."
"Today wasn't the best day of my life," Velits said. "I did not have a great feeling since the beginning. Sometimes it happens, but I'm happy that I managed to stay in the top ten. In general the week was good even if in one or two stages I could have done better. We came here with the goal to put me and Chavanel in the top 10 and win at least one stage. We reached our goals, and that's important for the team. I think we had a good race, taking the responsibility when it was necessary."
