Van Garderen down, but not out after Mende losses

BMC may have hoped that its perfect team performance on stage 5 of Paris-Nice would give Tejay Van Garderen the leg-up he needed to compete for stage honours in Mende, but despite the best laid plans, it was not to be. The American slipped out of the lead group agonisingly close to end of the tricky finale, allowing Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Simon Spilak (Lampre-ISD) to leapfrog him in the GC standings, where he now sits in sixth.