Saturday 10 March 2018 at 23h13
The forelast stage of Paris-Nice 2018, who partly took place in the rain, was a difficult stage with several climbs. Simon Yates is the one who managed to be the last one to get away, in the final climb towards the mountain top finish and that's how the English rider not only won the stage but also took the jersey of the general classification!
The summary of the 7th stage of Paris-Nice 2018: Nice > Valdeblore La Colmiane
Apparently the Race to the sun, the nickname of Paris-Nice, doesn't really respect its nickname this year. Indeed, the forelast stage of Paris-Nice 2018 started in Nice under the pouring rain today!No breakaway attempts before the first climb of the day, the Côte de Gattières, but in this climb we saw several riders try to get away. Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) managed to do so in the last part of the climb, looking for precious points for the King of the Mountains classification.
Following this accelleration, the first real breakaway group was formed, in which the Belgian rider got company from Rory Sutherland (UAE Team Emirates), Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale), Alessandro de Marchi and Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing Team), Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo), Amaël Moinard (Fortuneo-Samsic) and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis). This group manages, despite the hard work of the Astana team leading the peloton, to create a gap of up to 3'20" in the Côte de la Sainte-Baume and that's where De Gendt again takes the points on top, where the gap was already way down, to 2'35".In the Côte de Villars-sur-Var the gap continues to disappear and on top where De Gendt again took 7 additional points it is down to only 1'10". With all the points he collected, De Gendt is than sure to wear the polka dot jersey of the King of the Mountains classiciation and dropped back down to the peloton. The breakaway lost other elements and when it starts the final climb towards La Colmiane, we only have Gallopin, Roche and Moinard left, with only 30 seconds gap on the peloton. In this climb, Moinard is the first to lose contact and finally we only have Tony Gallopin solo ahead. At 13 kilometers from the finish his adventure however also comes to an end.
After that, a real selection takes place in the group of favourites all along the climb, until Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) attacks at 4.5 kilometers from the finish. Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) is the only one to follow him at first, but Yates also drops him and ends of the climb solo, with the stage victory in the end .. as well as the yellow jersey with the white band of the general classification!
The classifications of Paris-Nice 2018 after the seventh stage
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The stage classification: Nice > Valdeblore La Colmiane
Here's the top 5 of today's stage:1/ Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) - 5h02'54"
2/ Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing Team) - +0'08"
3/ Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida)
4/ Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) - +0'13"
5/ Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)
The general classification
Simon Yates, winner of today's stage, also took the yellow jersey with the white band of the general classification, which was so far worn by Luis Léon Sanchez since the finish of the 3rd stage:1/ Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) - 27h29'02"
2/ Ion Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) - +0'11"
3/ Gorka Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) - +0'12"
4/ Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) - +0'13"
5/ Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing Team) - +0'27"
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Points classification
Now Arnaud Démare didn't start the race for today's stage, Tim Wellens took over the green jersey as the leader of the points classification:1/ Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) - 29 points
2/ Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) - 28 points
3/ Gorka Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) - 26 points
4/ Luis León Sanchez (Astana Pro Team) - 23 points
5/ André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) - 23 points
by Dany45 over