Queen Stage Sunday: Porte Takes Paris-Nice; Quintana Storms Tirreno Summit

Nairo Quintana of Movistar seized control of Tirreno-Adriatico in a wintry finish atop the Terminillo, giving him the queen stage victory and a significant lead in the overall. The Colombian star, winner of the Giro d'Italia last year, escaped from a peloton of elite grand tour riders in a devastating solo attack, climbing steadily up the eight percent gradient, eventually making it to the line in a snowstorm. Bauke Mollema also eventually left the peloton, led by Alberto Contador of Tinkoff-Saxo, and soloed home in the snow for second, 41 seconds in arrears. The rest of the group stayed more or less together, 55 seconds behind Mollema.

Quintana jumped with just over 4km to go, and eventually got a significant gap, taking over the race lead with 3.6km to go when he passed Astana's Michele Scarponi, who had been away earlier. Contador attempted to kick up the chase, and Thibault Pinot of FDJ tried several accelerations, while Mollema was the only one to successfully escape the chasing peloton on his own. As the race entered the snow-bound summit of the Terminillo, heavy flakes began falling on the race, leaving a layer of white on the road, but the Colombian, who was raised in the clouds, was undaunted. He maneuvered the final kilometer without difficulty, and had plenty of time for a brief celebration on the line. Vincenzo Nibali was the biggest name to not make the summit with the chasers, losing [TK} on the stage.

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Richie Porte of Team Sky won the race-ending Col 'Eze time trial in dominant fashion, vaulting him to the overall victory in Paris-Nice. Porte came into the day second overall behind yesterday's stage winner Tony Gallopin, but the Frenchman finished well down on the stage, and Porte bested his closest rivals by half a minute, including Michal Kwiatkowski of Etixx-Quick Step, who finished second overall. Katusha's Simon Spilak held the best time for a while til Porte put it away.

Paris-Nice Stage 8 Results

1. Richie Porte, Sky
2. Simon Spilak, Katusha, at 0.13
3. Rui Costa, Lampre, at 0.24
4. Tony Martin, Etixx-Quick Step, at 0.29
5. Michal Kwiatkowski, Etixx-Quick Step, s.t.

Paris-Nice Final GC:

1. Porte
2. Kwiatkowski, at 0.30
3. Spilak, s.t.
4. Costa, s.t.
5. Geraint Thomas, Sky, at 0.41

Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 5 Results

1. Nairo Quintana, Movistar
2. Bauke Mollema, Trek, at 0.41
3. Joaquim Rodriguez, Katusha, at 0.55
4. Rigoberto Uran, Etixx-Quick Step, s.t.
5. Alberto Contador, Tinkoff-Saxo, s.t.
6. Thibault Pinot, FDJ, s.t.
7. Adam Yates, Orica-GreenEdge, s.t.
8. Domenico Pozzovivo, AG2R, s.t.

GC

1. Quintana
2. Mollema, at. 0.39
3. Uran, at 0.48
4. Pinot, at 0.57
5. Contador, at 1.03