Phonak takes stock after Paris-Nice

The Phonak Hearing Systems team finished Paris-Nice with Slovenian Tadej Valjavec the best placed on GC in 29th at 5'33 down. It was a less than inspirational result in itself, but team manager John Lelangue described himself as "satisfied" with the team's performance last week. "I knew that we didn't have any favourites for the overall win at this demanding test. That's why we had our sights on partial successes. In addition, we wanted to develop strategy and tactics and implement them well."

Lelangue blamed bad luck for the team's lack of results. "After a good ninth place finish for Oscar Pereiro in the prologue, luck wasn't very sweet to us in the various other situations." In the first stage, Pereiro lost time due to the big crash near the end of the stage, effectively ending his GC chances. Miguel Martin Perdiguero was also involved in the crash, and, "Due to severe abdominal pains as a result of the injuries caused by the fall, he wasn't able to take part in the sixth stage."