Paris-Nice: Molard surprises on stage 6 in Vence

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Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) surprised with a hard-fought solo victory during stage 6 of Paris-Nice on the climb in Vence. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) finished second in the chase ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors).

Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), raced in for fourth place, and kept his lead in the overall classification after a challenging finale that saw second placed Wout Poels (Team Sky) crash and break his collarbone. Alaphilippe moved into second place overall, now 22 seconds behind Sanchez while Marc Soler (Movistar) is third at 26 seconds.

It was only the second win of Molard's career, but a prestigious one ahead of some big names.

"It's fantastic, Groupama-FDJ's second victory Paris-Nice, and my first WorldTour victory," Molard said, adding he had some extra motivation and knowledge. "I live in Antibes nearby, I knew the final climb - I've done it a dozen times - and when the route for Paris-Nice was revealed in the winter I was delighted to see stage finish like that, one that's well suited to me. I was on a good day, it's fantastic."

The stinging climb of the Côte de la Colle sur Loup could have been a launching pad for victory, and AG2R La Mondiale's Alexis Vuillermoz gave it a go, but Team Sky's Sergio Henao chased him back. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) attacked over the top and set a blistering pace on the descent, but was unable to stay away.

"I knew that on the Côte de la Colle sur Loup I had to follow the wheels but not give it everything. I saw Vuillermoz was doing a lot but I decided to sit there without making any huge accelerations as I knew it would come down to later on," Molard revealed. "I felt good and knew that if I waited for a sprint I'd lose. I attacked a couple of times but the last one was the good one."

Sanchez hangs on, Poels abandons

Luis Leon Sanchez's hopes of clinging onto the overall lead in Paris-Nice received a significant boost this afternoon, when the Spaniard survived a series of sharp accelerations on the final climb to Vence, and then saw race favourite Wout Poels crash out on a high speed descent.

As Molard slipped ahead of the final selection of 16 riders on roads the 28 year old knows well from training, to take the fourth French stage win of the week, Poels was being transported to hospital in St Laurent du Var, with a broken collarbone, cuts to his left knee and chest trauma.

The Dutchman's crash leaves Team Sky with yet more problems. Not only was Poels expected to challenge for the race lead in the weekend's back to back mountain stages, he was also slated to ride as key support — and possible substitute leader — to Chris Froome in the year's first Grand Tour, the Giro d'Italia.

"The guys went down a pretty steep descent and the race was full on," said Team Sky's sports director Gabriel Rasch. "I'm not sure what happened but Wout couldn't make the corner and hit the barriers."

With two stages remaining, including tomorrow's summit finish to Valdeblore La Colmiane, Sanchez's main rivals — Julian Alaphilippe, of Quick Step, Marc Soler of Movistar and Tim Wellens or Lotto Soudal — are running out of road on which to attack the Spaniard and to break down his Astana team's solid defence.

With Poels out of the race, Team Sky will now throw their weight behind defending Paris-Nice champion Sergio Henao. "Sergio looked good," Rasch said. "He had to pay for some of the work he was doing in the last four kilometres but he looked strong. We'll go all in for him now."

Chaos out of the gate

The 198-kilometre sixth stage of Paris-Nice left Sisteron under clear blue skies as it headed south through the Alpes-Maritimes towards Vence, overlooking the Cote d'Azur.

Not for the first time, there were some non-starters, further depleting the sprinters, with misfiring fast men, John Degenkolb and Nacer Bouhanni, both heading home due to illness.

A fast start was also marked by a bizarre incident after only 25 kilometres when the whole peloton took a rare wrong turn and found themselves mixing with the traffic on open roads.

Soon afterwards as the race got back on course, a six-man break, containing Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal), Amael Moinard (Fortuneo-Samsic), Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo), Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis), Thomas Scully (EF-Drapac) and Fabien Grellier (Direct Energie) moved up the road.

They were joined by another seven riders, Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), stage five escapee, Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Carlos Barbero (Movistar), Dylan Teuns (BMC), stage one winner, Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Bert Van Lerberghe (Cofidis).

In a fast first hour, and despite going off course, the peloton clocked 46 kilometres of racing and the high speed took its toll on the breakaway on the steady drags towards Saint-Andre-les-Alpes, where the break fragmented as BMC's Dylan Teuns, best placed in the overall standings, dropped out of the move.

The ever-reliable breakaway specialist Thomas de Gendt — who else? — pushed on and led over the climb of the Col de Luens and the Col Bas, but with 50 kilometres still to race the group had dwindled to just four riders, De Gendt, Greilleir, Moinard and Scully.

But by the time the race reached the Cote de Gourdon with Mitchelton Scott chasing hard, the break's lead was down to half a minute. Although race leader Sanchez was dropped due to a puncture, as was Dan Martin (UAE), the Spaniard was soon back in the bunch as the peloton finally closed down the break with 22 kilometres to race.

From there on, it was all about positioning and on the steep tight bends of the Cote de la Colle sur Loup, Simon Yates played his hand, moving ahead with Alaphilipp and Poels as Sanchez slipped back a little.

It was Yates' flying descent on a bad surface that drew out Poels and led to the Dutchman's high-speed crash as the leaders rejoined a main road. With Poels prone, Yates pressed on with Tim Wellens, but a regrouping of the major favourites in the final kilometres allowed Molard to slip away as the group entered the final kilometre.

The Frenchman's acceleration, allied to a moment's hesitancy among the favourites, took him clear to the biggest win of a career, in which his only other success had been a stage in the Tour of Limousin.

Molard's win, hot on the heels of Jerome Cousin's mugging of Nils Pollit on the road to Sisteron, is further evidence of a French renaissance.

"Every year I progress," Molard, based in nearby Antibes, said. "I started the season with a good foundation and this win confirms that.

"French cycling is now at a high level, you can see that in the results here and in the Grand Tours," he said. "I don't have any specific explanation but we are on the right track and the race isn't over yet. I hope French riders shine right through to Sunday."

With four stage wins out of six, not since 1989 has the home nation enjoyed such a successful Paris-Nice. The dream scenarios now for the hosts is for Alaphilippe to seize the day and become the first French rider since Laurent Jalabert, 21 years ago, to win the 'Course au Soleil.' 

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