page_title: 2012 Paris–Nice
section_title: Stage 5
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 Paris–Nice / Stages / Stage 5
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Arrivée de Lieuwe Westra en haut de la croix neuve (montée Jalabert) à Mende lors de la 5e étape du Paris-Nice 2012
context_page_description: The 2012 Paris–Nice was the 70th running of the Paris–Nice cycling stage race, often known as the Race to the Sun. It started on 4 March in Dampierre-en-Yvelines and ended on 11 March in Nice and consisted of eight stages, including two time trials that bookended the race. It was the second race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
  The race was won by Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky, who took the lead on the second stage of the race and held the race leader's yellow jersey to the finish, becoming the first British rider to win the race since Tom Simpson in 1967. Wiggins also took home the green jersey for amassing the highest number of points during stages at intermediate sprints and stage finishes. Wiggins won the general classification by eight seconds over runner-up Lieuwe Westra, who was winner of the race's queen stage to Mende. Movistar Team's Alejandro Valverde completed the podium, 62 seconds behind Westra and 70 seconds down on Wiggins.
context_section_description: 8 March 2012 — Onet-le-Château to Mende, 178.5 km (110.9 mi)
  The race's queen stage consisted of six categorised climbs over the 178.5 km (110.9 mi) parcours, including three first-category climbs; the Côte de la Malène, the Côte de l'Estrade and the final climb to Mende, the Côte de la Croix-Neuve–Montée Laurent Jalabert – a 3 km (1.9 mi) climb at an average gradient of 10.1%, named in honour of the three-time Paris–Nice winner Laurent Jalabert – which had featured twice before as a summit finish in 2007 and 2010, won on both occasions by Alberto Contador. Many riders and teams believed that the stage suited Movistar Team's Alejandro Valverde, who had finished second on the Mende stage in 2010 before the result was expunged due to his doping suspension later in the year. Four riders – Vacansoleil–DCM's Frederik Veuchelen, GreenEDGE rider Simon Clarke, David Lelay of Saur–Sojasun and Team Europcar's Yukiya Arashiro – advanced clear of the main field after just 2 km (1.2 mi) of the stage, and managed to extend their advantage to a maximum of around seven minutes at one point during the stage.
  Veuchelen earned the majority of points on offer for the mountains classification, summiting the stage's first three climbs, cresting them all ahead of Lelay and Arashiro. Movistar Team riders began to step up the pace on the front of the peloton, looking to set up the basis for an eventual attack at Mende by Valverde. With around 50 km (31.1 mi) to go, Ag2r–La Mondiale's Blel Kadri exited the race, after breaking his left scapula in a crash. On the Côte de l'Estrade, Astana's Kevin Seeldraeyers and Rabobank's Laurens ten Dam attacked off the front of the main field, and set off in chase of the lead quartet. As Veuchelen continued to rack up points towards a mountains classification lead, Seeldraeyers and ten Dam continued to close on the lead group, and with around 10 km (6.2 mi) remaining, they latched on to the group as they were on the outskirts of Mende. The peloton caught all bar Veuchelen a short time later, with Veuchelen relenting to the foot of the final climb of the Côte de la Croix-Neuve–Montée Laurent Jalabert, before he too was engulfed by the main field through the advancing pace of several teams on the front of the pack.
  Team Sky then took up the reins through recent Volta ao Algarve winner Richie Porte, protecting their overall leader Bradley Wiggins; such was Porte's high tempo that less than twenty riders remained in the lead group as the race reached the final kilometre. Arnold Jeannesson attacked from the group for FDJ–BigMat, gaining several bike lengths before Wiggins upped his pace, putting youth classification leader Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) into difficulty. As Wiggins bridged up to Jeannesson, Lieuwe Westra, sixth place in the general classification overnight, attacked for Vacansoleil–DCM; pulling clear and earned the stage victory, six seconds ahead of a small group consisting of Valverde, Wiggins, Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step) and Simon Špilak for Team Katusha. Westra moved into second place in the general classification after reducing his deficit to Wiggins, to six seconds, while Valverde and Špilak both moved ahead of van Garderen, into the top five. Jeannesson's late-stage attack was also beneficial to his overall position, as he also moved inside the top ten, into seventh position.
caption: Vacansoleil–DCM's Lieuwe Westra in the closing metres at Mende. Westra's stage victory moved him into second place in the general classification, trailing overall leader Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) by six seconds.
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