Friday 09 March 2018 at 23h13
After the time trial in Saint-Etienne won by Wout Poels (Team Sky) and the 5th stage of Paris-Nice 2018 won in a solo victory by Jérôme Cousin (Direct Energie), it was again a solo victory which concluded the 6th stage in Vence today. Indeed, Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) went off alone just before the last kilometer and won the stage in this way!
The summary of the 6th stage of Paris-Nice 2018: Sisteron > Vence
At the start in Sisteron and despite several attempts to break away, we had to wait for about twenty kilometers before we saw a group get away. Rather quickly this group was joined by a second group and thus formed a big breakaway of no less than 13 riders: Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal), Amaël Moinard (Fortuneo-Samsic), Paul Martens (Lotto NL-Jumbo), Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis), Tom Scully (EF Education First-Drapac),
Fabien Grellier (Direct Energie), Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Nils Politt (Katusha Alpecin), Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing Team), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Carlos Barbero (Movistar) and Bert van Lerberghe (Cofidis).While the gap of this big group continued to grow, Dylan Teuns decided to drop back because, since he was at 1 minute from the leader of the general classification, Luis Léon Sanchez (Astana), he risked to make the breakaway fail. In the end, the gap reached its maximum value of 3 minutes and while approaching the first difficulty (Col de Luens) there was a gap of still 2'15" for this leading group.
In the climb of the second difficulty of the day, the Col Bas, the breakaway exploded and 5 riders ended up in the lead, De Gendt, Barbero, Moinard, Scully and Grellier, before they got company again from Kristoff, Pollit, Martens and Lemoine before the first 5 again get away in the Côte de Cipières. On top of the next climb, the Côte de Gourdon, these five riders still have a gap of 35 seconds on the peloton but they quickly come back on the leading group and that's how the whole bunch got back together at 25 kilometers from the finish.
In the climb of the Côte de la Colle sur Loup we see repeated attacks, but in the end it was in the descent that Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) got away, joined by Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal). At 3 kilometers from the finish, this leading duo was taken back by the yellow jersey group however and it was Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ)'s turn to attack. In vain for the first time, but when approaching the last kilometer, the French rider really manages to get away and to resist to the group chasing behind, thus winning this 6th stage with a solo victory!
The classifications of Paris-Nice 2018 after the sixth stage
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The stage classification: Sisteron > Vence
Here's the top 5 of today's stage:1/ Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) - 4h40'05"
2/ Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) - +0'02"
3/ Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors)
4/ Luis Léon Sanchez (Astana Pro Team)
5/ Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb)
The general classification
Luis Léon Sanchez, who took the yellow jersey with the white band of the general classification after the 3rd stage, still keeps the lead in this classification:1/ Luis León Sanchez (Astana Pro Team) - 22h25'33"
2/ Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) - +0'22"
3/ Marc Soler (Movistar Team) - +0'26"
4/ Gorka Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) - +0'34"
5/ Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) - +0'35"
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Points classification
Arnaud Démare still keeps the lead in the points classification:1/ Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) - 31 points
2/ Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) - 28 points
3/ Luis León Sanchez (Astana Pro Team) - 23 points
4/ Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) - 23 points
5/ André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) - 23 points
by Dany45 over