Paris-Nice favourite Remco Evenepoel has admitted making a "tactical mistake" in not responding to the stage 6-winning move initiated by Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease A Bike) on the Côte de la Colle-sur-Loup.
However, the Belgian champion also lamented the lack of cohesion in the 29km chase behind Jorgenson and the two men who bridged across – new leader Brandon McNulty and stage winner Mattias Skjelmose – in what turned out to be a race-upending move.
Speaking to assembled media, including Het Laatste Nieuws, after the finish of Paris-Nice's longest stage, Evenepoel said that things just hadn't come together for him on the 10% gradients of the day's decisive 1.8km climb.
"It was a tough day. The tailwind and the long fight for the break meant it was fast going down, fast going up. I felt really good, though," the Soudal-QuickStep leader said, before analysing the key point of the stage.
"Maybe I gambled a bit on the steep climb when Jorgenson jumped. Maybe next time I shouldn't think so much and instead just follow the feeling and the legs.
"I made a small tactical mistake which made a big tactical difference."
Jorgenson's attack drew out Skjelmose and McNulty three kilometres later, with the trio quickly building on a 15-second lead on the wet descent of the climb as few in the chase group behind were willing to work.
For some time, Evenepoel was the only man making the pace, at least until Primož Roglič's Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Aleksandr Vlasov got back on and headed to the front.
Others in the group including race leader Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale pair Aurelien Paret-Peintre and Felix Gall, though, showed no sign of coming through.
"In the group behind people looked to myself and Roglič, which does make sense. I think we lost it on the small hill. That's racing," Evenepoel said.
"You see how many of us were there and you see riders sitting there. There were two from AG2R, so they could have sacrificed someone. And maybe if we rode with five or six like what happened at the end then Plapp would stay leader as well.
"If those guys don't do anything then it's really difficult. So yes, we lost a lot of time because only two or three of us were riding at the beginning of the chase."
Evenepoel remains in fifth overall after the stage heading to the final weekend and Saturday's weather-abbreviated queen stage, albeit now 33 seconds further from the race lead at 1:03 behind Brandon McNulty.
He concluded that one lesson to take from the stage could be to trust his legs over his head, before turning his attention to the remaining pair of stages.
"Maybe in the future, I shouldn't think so much and instead just follow my feelings and my legs," he said. "But generally, I can be happy that I took responsibility and tried to limit the damage.
"I will pull out all the stops [at the weekend] anyway. It's a completely different kind of course, one that really requires climbing. It won't be easy, but I hope I can keep these legs and then we'll see how I end up."
