On a different route from the one initially planned, due to weather conditions, the Paris-Nice riders covered 104 kilometers on Saturday towards La Madone d’Utelle. The “Race to the Sun”, however, did not live up to its name, as the rain followed the peloton all day long. Aleksandr Vlasov won the battle between the favorites at the top, which Quentin Pacher reached in 23rd position. Time for the last stage tomorrow around Nice.
Due to the risk of snow at 1,400 meters of altitude, Paris-Nice organizers had to reconsider their plans earlier this week. The summit finish first planned at Auron after climbing La Colmiane was therefore replaced by the lone climb of La Madone d’Utelle (15 km at 5.7%) on Saturday, on the eve of the final day. This seventh stage was also reduced to “only” 104 kilometres, but it still proved to be particularly demanding given the weather conditions. While Martijn Tusveld, Benjamin Thomas and Johan Jacobs managed to establish the day’s breakaway after a handful of kilometres, the peloton quickly organized for a continuous pursuit in the rain. “The plan was to have Quentin in the breakaway with some others to support him, but other teams had other ideas”, said William Green. “Ineos had a lot of confidence in Bernal and kept the breakaway at 1’30. It was a strong chase from the peloton”. On the tricky route leading to the Madone d’Utelle, the riders also had to be attentive.
“An even harder day than what we thought”, William Green
After 90 kilometers without any break, the peloton was actually made of only sixty men at the bottom of the last climb. The final attacker, Johan Jacobs, was caught right after, and the favorites group went away, without the riders of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team being able to join the fight. Aleksandr Vlasov won the stage after fifteen kilometres of climbing, Brandon McNulty kept his yellow jersey, while Quentin Pacher reached the summit in twenty-third position, which put him in twenty-second place overall. “Today ended up being an even harder day than what we thought”, explained William. “It was forecasted maybe to rain, but it was a lot of rain the whole day. Unfortunately David is still not 100% after his crash earlier in the week and couldn’t contest the final”. The last chances of results are therefore postponed until this Sunday, on a short but very hilly stage 8 around Nice. “Tomorrow will be another super hard day”, concluded William.
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