Code: RD265C
A timely lesson in team strategy by Danish squad CSC in general and budding stage race star Jorg Jaksche in particular made Paris-Nice 2004 a fascinating demonstration of how sometimes it's not the strongest rider, but the strongest team, that can win one of the most prestigious of events in cycling's international calendar.The yellow jersey on Jaksche's back was for real from start to finish of Paris-Nice, the first rider to hold the lead throughout the Race to the Sun since Frank Vandenbroucke six years ago. How Jaksche managed to pull off such a feat was due to a blistering ride in the opening time trial that saw him fend off experts like World Time Trial Champion David Millar, followed by a superb collective display of force by CSC the following day which effectively polished off half the opposition. From there on strongman Jaksche and CSC fought a tense defensive war against hardy rivals like Italy's veteran Davide Rebellin, who tested the German as the race moved south to the Mediterranean. But there was one rider the CSC boys could not control - Alexandre Vinokourov, the double Paris-Nice winner who scooped a hat-trick of stages, the last on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice - and one feature of the race they could not control: the freezing weather. Jaksche's 2-wheeled struggle both against the elements and his arch-rivals is in a class of its own: this is a must have DVD of the 71st Paris-Nice shows exactly why. Commentary by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.
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