Paris-Nice queen stage 7 shortened again to just 47km of racing as 'inconceivable' conditions that already forced organisers to cut mountaintop finale in Auron continue

Riders will race only 47km on stage 7 of Paris-Nice, the organisers announced on Saturday morning, with heavy rain at the start in Nice forcing the second alteration of the queen stage.

Racing will get underway in Pont Louis Nucera at 13:45 local time in France, with the first 73km of the shortened route to Isola village being completed on the team buses in a convoy.

"As weather conditions have deteriorated further compared with yesterday’s forecast, the race organisers have decided to make additional changes to the route for stage 7, in consultation with the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture, the UCI race jury, and representatives of the teams and of the riders," read a post on the race's live updates.

"To avoid the sections made dangerous by rain in the first part of the route, riders will be transferred in their team buses to a new start location on the Louis Nucéra bridge, at Le Broc. After a 2.5 kilometre transfer, the official start will be given at kilometre 73 of the original route. The finish line remains in Isola-Village, at the end of a route now reduced to 47 kilometres."

Adverse weather conditions and heavy snowfall had already forced organisers of Paris-Nice to alter and shorten the queen stage 7 by 18km to just 120.4km, with the finish line moved away from the summit in Auron to Isola to ensure rider safety.

"The organisers of Paris-Nice have been closely monitoring the weather conditions in the Alpes-Maritimes department throughout the week. The latest forecasts make an arrival in the Auron resort inconceivable, with the rain-snow line estimated to be around 1,100 metres altitude," race organisers confirmed on Friday evening before stage 7 was set to start in Nice on Saturday.

"To ensure riders' safety, the decision to modify the route for stage 7 was made in agreement with the city of Nice, the Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur, the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture, the municipalities of Auron and Isola, and in consultation with the panel of commissaires from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), as well as representatives of the teams (A.I.G.C.P) and riders (C.P.A).

"The finish of stage 7 will therefore take place in Isola, where the intermediate sprint was already scheduled, as the conditions do not allow the finish to be moved to another mountain top. The stage distance is reduced to the first 120.3 kilometres of the originally planned route."

The peloton was initially scheduled to compete across 138.7km from Nice to the mountaintop finish at the ski station of Auron. The field will now race the first 120.4km of that course, which includes two climbs: Côte de Carros at the 14.8km mark and Côte de Bouyon at the 24km mark.

The stage will now finish at what was scheduled as the intermediate sprint in Isola, removing the hardest and most decisive climb up to Auron, which is 7.3km with an average of 7.2% all the way to the finish line.

Snow had already been forecast for Saturday in the Alps of southern France, and had the potential to put the planned summit finish at risk for the second time in three years, causing organisers to have to consider a contingency plan.

Overall race leader Jonas Vingegaard came through a tough stage 6 on Friday with no setbacks or major challenges to his yellow jersey, and will lead the general classification into the shortened stage 7.

The Visma-Lease a Bike racer was aware of the potential risks posed by poor weather threatening the race's closing weekend, but said rider safety was the highest priority.

"I also have to trust ASO have safety of the riders in mind, I believe they have a plan B or something that they will do instead," he told the media earlier in the week.

Vingegaard took over the race lead after winning stage 4 in Uchon, also under treacherous rainy weather conditions.

He now leads the general classification into the penultimate stage with 3:22 ahead of Daniel Felipe Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and 5:50 ahead of Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost).