Slagter bags another stage win in Paris-Nice

Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) put yesterday's disappointment behind him to win his second stage of Paris-Nice, ahead of Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) and Carlos Betancur (AG2R-La Mondiale).

It was a close finish, with several of the riders shoulder to shoulder up the final ascent. Slagter launched his sprint out of the final corner, chasing down an attack from Wilco Kelderman (Belkin), and nobody could match him in his run for the line. Costa tried to go around the outside of the Garmin-Sharp rider, but he ran out of time to pass.

The Dutch rider was ever-present in the closing kilometres, marking some of the late attacks, but allowed the Lampre and AG2R riders to do much the work on the front of the peloton.

An overjoyed Slagter said the win meant even more to him than his stage 4 victory. "I can't believe it. Today is maybe even better. Like yesterday I lost everything that I had. I was happy I had the victory, but to win again today is the best feeling ever," he said at the finish. "It's incredible. I've never ridden here before. The stages suit me really good and I like the racing here. "

Slagter went into yesterday's stage only four seconds off the race lead and was within touching distance of a solid result. However, he lost any chance in the general classification when Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale) crashed in front of him in the finale of stage 6. He says that the win makes up for losing out in the race for the overall victory.

"That was really hard. I could have done a result, maybe top 5 in the GC maybe and that all disappeared. So today, everything is ok again."

The frustration of finishing second for the fifth time this season showed on Costa, as he slumped over his handlebars looking dejected at the finish. The Portuguese rider is yet to take a win since becoming world champion last season. Costa does move into second place after Geraint Thomas (Sky) crashed on a descent. The Briton crossed the line over seven minutes down, effectively ending his challenge for a top placing in the general classification. Carlos Betancur kept hold of the yellow jersey, with a 14 second lead over Costa

How is happened

With the climbing beginning so early in the day, a break was quick to form. Laurent Didier (Trek Factory Racing) kicked off the move and he was joined by Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Belisol), Sylvester Szmyd (Movistar), Albert Timmer (Giant-Shimano) and Florian Guillou (Bretagne-Séché Environnement). They quickly established a gap that went up to 4:25.

With the leader's advantage at its highest Marco Marcato (Cannondale), Matthias Frank (IAM Cycling), Brice Feillu (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis) set off in chase of the leaders, however Marcato was dropped before they bridged the gap.

Feillu's presence in the break was a cause for concern for the general classification riders back in the peloton. The French rider began the day just over a minute behind Betancur in the standings. With Feillu up the road AG2R decided to tighten the leash and began to cut down the advantage down, and by the time the hit the top of the first climb the gap had been reduced by a minute.

With the king of the mountain's classification in his sights, Ligthart lead the escapees over each of the day's ascents. The Lotto-Belisol rider claimed all 32 available points to surpass Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) and take a 17 point lead in the competition. Feillu managed to make it over the third climb of the day before he was ousted by his fellow escapees. The remaining eight riders enjoyed a little bit more space from the peloton, but they were gradually reeled in by 40km to go.

Westra tried to go it alone, but it proved too much for the Astana man and he was absorbed back into the main group just after the final intermediate sprint. There was still a long way to run to the finish and AG2R had a lot of work to keep tabs on all the attacks. Several riders tried their luck in various groups. Chavanel made it into a number of these, including one on his own, but none were successful and it was left to big favourites to battle it out between themselves.

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