Another mountain stage full of surprises in Paris-Nice today, in the area around Nice. After a long breakaway, especially for Lilian Calmejane who was taken back only in the final climb (which allowed him to take the polka dot jersey of the King of the Mountains classification), the favourites of the race came up in the final part of the stage and Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) finally won it. Sergio Henao (Team Sky) also had a good day since he took the lead in the general classification.

The summary of the 7th stage of Paris-Nice 2017: Nice > Col de la Couillole

In the area behind Nice, a stage towards the Col de la Couillole was on the programme of Paris-Nice 2017 today, 177 kilometers long and full of climbs all the way long ...

And it immediately started with the Côte de Gattières and in that climb a 5 rider strong breakaway was formed by Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale), Jan Polanc (UAE Abu Dhabi), Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) and Delio Fernandez (Delko Marseille Provence KTM). Approaching the top of this climb, Domont and Calmejane battled for the points for the King of the Mountains classification and Calmejane was the one who took the maximum number of points, followed by Domont and Polanc. The gap on the peloton was already (at km 10) 3'25" while Pierre-Luc Périchon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) decided to try and catch up with the 5 rider strong breakaway.

While the gap continues to go up, Périchon manages to bridge te gap with the breakaway and that's how we got to a 6 riders strong breakaway while the BMC team decided to control the gap, knowing that Richie Porte clearly checked off this stage in his roadbook to try to win it.

While approaching the summit of the Col de Vence, Lilian Calmejane accellerated again, to go get the additional points in the King of the Mountains classification, knowing that he was only 2 points behind Axel Domont at that time. Since Calmejane arrives alone on top, 30 seconds ahead of Domont and 50 ahead of the other riders of the breakaway, he manages to get to the same number of points as Domont. In the descent, the group gets back together and after 56 kilometers in the race, the 6 leading riders have a comfortable gap of 3'35" on the peloton.

At the feeding zone, Arnaud Démare (FDJ), wearing the green jersey as the leader of the points classification, decides to step off his bike, in order to start his recovery right now to be ready for his next goal which is Milan-Sanremo next week. Tonight, the rider of the French team declared: I'm very happy with my Paris-Nice but it's now time to start the next chapter. New goals are coming up quickly, especially with Milan-SanRemo next Saturday already and with the staff of the team we thus naturally decided to get ready for these right now.

Just before the intermediate sprint in Roquebillière, approaching the Col Saint-Martin-La Colmiane, Lilian Calmejane again broke away from the leading group and, while Fraile is dropped by the four others, he slowly created a gap while Domont and Fernandez also lose Périchon and Polanc a bit further on in what remains of the breakaway. Finally, they're all taken back by the peloton, except for Calmejane who continues his quest for points for the King of the Mountains classification.

Arriving alone on top, Calmejane immediately gets 10 points more than Axel Domont since other riders took the remaining points on top of this climb where Calmejane arrives with a 1'10" gap on the peloton led by Mauro Finetto (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb). Finetto counter attacks in the descent, but a flat tyre quite quickly ended his attempt to get back on Calmejane leading the race.

At 20 kilometers from the finish, the rider of the Direct Energie team still has a gap of 40 seconds. At the end of the descent it was up to Cyril Gautier (AG2R La Mondiale) to start chasing, joined in this attempt by Quentin Pacher (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and Diego Ulissi (UAE Abu Dhabi). This chasing trio gets back on Calmejane early in the climb of the Col de Couillole and rapidly after that, Pacher and Ulissi decide to attack, leaving Gautier and Calmejane behind.

At a bit over 12 kilometers from the finish, Ulissi also gets rid of Pacher, but at 10 kilometers from the finish, the survivors of the first peloton are not far behind him. Among these survivors we no longer saw the yellow jersey, Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), because he didn't manage to follow the speed dictaed by Team Sky in this climb. At 9 kilometers from the finish we see 13 riders in the leading group and this group progressively reduces down to 7 riders: Jarlinson Pantano and Alberto Contador for Trek-Segafredo, Sergio Henao for Team Sky, Richie Porte for BMC, Jon Izaguirre for Bahrain-Merida, Jakob Fuglsang for Astana and Dan Martin for Quick-Step Floors. Pantano and Contador attack one by one but they don't manage to get rid of the other members of this new leading group, something which Richie Porte doesn't manage to do either at 4 kilometers from the finish, nor at his second attempt but only at the third. Under the red flag indicating the last kilometer, the Australian rider has a 20 seconds gap on a Contador and Henao duo and while Contador gets rid of Henao, Richie Porte wins the stage, followed 21 seconds later by Alberto Contador and 32 seconds later by Dan Martin. Sergio Henao who finishes together with Martin can be happy with his efforts as well because he takes over the lead in the general classification and thus the yellow jersey, the day before the final finish in Nice. Nothing sure for now however because two riders who were quite present in today's final are at less than one minute behind Henao, Dan Martin at 30 seconds and Alberto Contador at 31! The last stage tomorrow will thus still be full of suspense!

In the King of the Mountains classification Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) thus now takes the lead ahead of Axel Domont with a 10 points gap and in the points classification Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) now has the lead, just like in the best young riders classification which he held from the start till the end of the week!

The video summary of the 7th stage of Paris-Nice 2017: Nice > Col de la Couillole

photos credit: ZUPERDEHLIE // Kåre Dehlie Thorstad & ASO/A.Broadway

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Paris-Nice | Paris-Nice 2017

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