Although it was shortened to 109 kilometres, stage 7 of Paris-Nice proved to be far from enjoyable on Saturday. Heading towards Auron, the peloton once again experienced very difficult weather conditions. Stefan Küng and Johan Jacobs joined the day’s breakaway but were unable to hold off Michael Storer on the summit finish. Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet fought hard to maintain his position in the top 15 overall (14th). Sunday, the usual stage around Nice will take place with, finally, pleasant weather.
Although Nice hosted the start of the penultimate stage of the “Race to the Sun” on Saturday, the riders still didn’t quite have the end of the race in sight… Heading towards the Auron resort in the Mercantour National Park, they barely saw the horizon, as rain and clouds followed them again in the second part of the race. While La Colmiane had been removed from the route, precisely because of the threatening weather conditions, the summit finish was still maintained despite a risk of snow after just 109 kilometres. Stefan Küng and Johan Jacobs took advantage of the milder skies at the start to slip into the day’s breakaway, along with a dozen other competitors. “The goal over the first ten flat kilometre was to put a big man in front, either Stefan or Johan,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard. “It was very well done since the two of them ended up in the lead. They gained a maximum lead of three minutes, but it was a breakaway that could go far since some of the climbers in the group also had a teammate.” In the endless valley leading to the final climb, the breakaway did show a great resistance to the peloton, while the weather conditions were clearly deteriorating.
“There’s still something to go for,” Benoît Vaugrenard
“The conditions were very bad in the final in particular, with the rain and cold like yesterday,” Benoît confirmed. “It was another day where the bodies were put under a lot of strain.” Up front, the breakaway prevailed from the bunch this Saturday, as they were able to start the Auron climb (7.3 km at 7%) with an advantage of two minutes. Johan Jacobs and Stefan Küng were unable to compete with the best climbers in the group, including Michael Storer, who won at the summit under snowflakes. Within the peloton, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet held on until the last three kilometres, before losing a bit of terrain and reaching the finish line about a minute behind the main favorites. “Guillaume struggled a bit,” confirmed Benoît. “He doesn’t like this kind of stage, very short, with a sole climb. He prefers it when there are several climbs. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but we’re not going to be content with fourteenth place overall. I think there’s still something to go for. It’s up to us to be careful, attentive, and smart to try to move up overall or get close to the stage victory.”
