Tadej Pogacar won the seventh stage of the Paris – Nice race and consolidated his lead in the general classification. The Slovenian beat David Gaud and Jonas Vingaard on the mountain finish.
After yesterday’s canceled stage, a royal stage of 144 km from Nice to the Col de la Couillole is scheduled today. Immediately after the start, the cyclists had to climb an unmarked climb at Gattières, and after less than fifty kilometers they had to reach the summit of Tourette-de-Château, where a first category climb was marked out. After about fifty additional kilometers, the climb to Villars-sur-Var is planned, with bonus seconds to be won at the top. The fate of the stage will however be decided during the final first category climb of more than fifteen kilometers towards the Col de la Couillole.
At the start of today’s stage, two excellent sprinters were missing: Arnaud de Lie (Belgium, Lotto Dstny) and Sam Bennett (Ireland, Bora – hansgrohe) and Maximilian Schachmann (Germany, Bora – hansgrohe), and during the race, more competitors resigned from the following: Mads Pedersen (Denmark, Trek – Segafredo), Ruben Fernandez (Spain, Cofidis), Soren Waerenskjold (Norway, Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), Joshua Tarling (Great Britain, Ineos Grenadiers) and also Davide Martinelli (Italy, Astana Qazaqstan team).
The start of the stage was marked by the struggle to find the breakaway of the day. Finally, it was formed after the cyclists had traveled less than thirty kilometers, and it was made up of eighteen people: Lucas Hamilton (Australia, Team Jayco AlUla), Kelland O’Brien (Australia, Team Jayco AlUla), Nils Politt (Germany, Bora – hansgrohe), Dorian Godon (France, Team AG2R Citroën), Larry Warbasse (USA, Team AG2R Citroën), Gregor Mühlberger (Austria, Movistar), Remi Cavagna (France, Soudal – Quick Step), Florian Senechal (France, Soudal – Quick Step), Pascal Eenkhoorn (Netherlands, Lotto Dstny), Harry Sweeny (Australia, Lotto Dstny), Brent van Moer (Belgium, Lotto Dstny), Jeremy Cabot (France, TotalEnergies), Soren Kragh Andersen (Denmark, Alpecin – Deceuninck), Lilian Calmejane (France, Intermarché – Circus – Wanty), Kobe Goossens (Belgium, Intermarché – Circus – Wanty), David de la Cruz (Spain, Astana Qazaqstan Team), Javier Romo (Spain, Astana Qazaqstan Team) and Hugo Houle (Canada, Israel – Prime Tech). Among these riders, Remi Cavagna was the best placed before this stage, three minutes and twenty seconds behind the race leader.
In the following kilometers, other cyclists try to join the leaders, but none of them succeeds. In the peloton, the UAE Team Emirates team was in charge, and the difference between the two groups at peak time was around three minutes.
On the first climb of the day, Tourette-de-Chateau, Pascal Eenkhoorn scored plenty of points, but he did not threaten the leader of the mountain classification Jonas Gregaard (Denmark, Uno-X Pro Cycling Team). In turn, David de la Cruz earned a six-second flight bonus. Shortly after passing it, four riders broke away from the breakaway: de la Cruz, Javier Romo, Kobe Goossens and Harry Sweeny, and a few kilometers later they were joined by: Nils Politt and Soren Kragh Andersen. At this point, their advantage over the peloton was around two minutes. At the back, the pace was boosted by the riders from Ineos Greendiers, which caused the main group to burn out.
The action of the six mentioned above, however, ended thirty-six kilometers before the finish line and once again all skirmishers rode together. We only had to wait seven kilometers for the leaders’ next split attempt. Then five cyclists took the lead: Politt, Eenkhoorn, Romo, Goossens and Jeremy Cabot. These athletes were the first to start the final climb of the Col de la Couillole. By then their advantage was about forty-five seconds over the chasing group and about a minute and a half over the peloton, which was no longer ridden by the fourteenth rider in the general classification, Mattias Skjelmose ( Denmark, Trek – Segafredo). The Dane, twenty-one kilometers from the finish, suffered a fall and was no longer considered in the fight for the top places.
From the foot of the aisle in front, Kobe Goossens decided to attack, and only Javier Romo could sustain his pace. In the main group, however, the cyclists of the Jumbo – Visma team dictated a strong pace. It was first made by Jan Tratnik (Slovenia), then by Tobias Foss (Norway). During the work of the latter, twelve kilometers from the finish line, the seventh cyclist in the general classification, Daniel Felipe Martinez (Colombia, Ineos Greendiers), was behind the peloton.
Ten kilometers from the line, Goossens decides to attack alone, leaving behind a very tired Romo. In this situation, the Spaniard decided to wait for the peloton, and the Belgian’s advantage was then only ten seconds. So, a thousand meters later, he too was absorbed by a group of several people led by Foss.
More than six kilometers from the finish, Chris Harper (Australia, Team Jayco AlUla) attacked, but he was quickly caught up thanks to the acceleration of Jonas Vingaard (Denmark, Jumbo – Visma). After catching up with the Australian, Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates) decides to counterattack and takes a few seconds lead. At the same time, the defect was corrected by Aurélien Paret – Painter (France, Team AG2R Citroën).
Behind Pogacar, a pursuit group of four people formed: Vingaard, David Gaudu (France, Groupama – FDJ), Romain Bardet (France, Team DSM) and Matteo Jorgenson (USA, Movistar). With four kilometers to go, Vingeard and Gaudu reached the Slovenian. After a while, the Frenchman’s acceleration narrowly left the Dane. Two kilometers later, Gaudu made another attempt, this time successfully losing the Jumbo – Visma team cyclist.
Vingaard manages to take advantage of the slowdown in the lead and joins the leading duo a few hundred meters from the finish. The Dane, the most tired of the front three, started the sprint first, but his acceleration was effectively answered by Pogacar, who demolished his rivals at the finish. Gaudu was the second to cross the line, and the third was Vingegaard. The first three of the general classification present themselves as at the finish of today’s stage. Pogacar is twelve seconds ahead of Gaudu and fifty-eight seconds over Vingaard.
