Paris-Nice: Benoot wins stage 6

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While much of the world went into lockdown to limit the spread of the coronavirus covid-19, Paris-Nice continued for another day, with Tiesj Benoot (Team Sunweb) winning the hilly sixth stage to Apt in the south of France.

The Belgian jumped across and then past an earlier attack by teammate Søren Kragh Andersen over the top of the 4.2km Côte d’Auribeau climb with 13km to go and held off the big-name overall contenders with a superb solo performance.

Michael Matthews won the sprint some 22 seconds behind Benoot to give Team Sunweb a one-two on the stage and take the six-second time bonus.

Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) responded to a number of attacks on the late climbs but then crashed into the barriers on the final decent. It was inside the final three kilometres and so he was given the same time as the other riders and so kept the overall race lead.

Benoot moved up to second overall at 18 seconds, with Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling) third at 43 seconds.

"I'm really happy to give a victory to the team now. We did a really good preparation with some really nice team camps. We put a lot of effort into the Classics team. Unfortunately we cannot ride the Classics this year but I’m sure in the future we can still achieve some nice things," Benoot said reflecting on the impact of the coronavirus on the spring racing season.

"It was a really hard day, full gas from the start. QuickStep immediately started to pull behind the break. I knew that was a good situation for me, I had really good legs, and I like the days where you have to push all day and today was a day like this. I came in a really situation. I went in the counter attack with Nibali and there I felt I still had something left, so I went full with him and then alone when there was 10-15k to the finish.

Schachmann was happy to have survived the day in yellow after his late spill.

"I crashed at 800 metres to go. The race was full on and the guys where going full gas down," the German explained post-race.

"We didn’t see the descent before and it was really crazy. I had a little gap and I came back fast but I made a mistake. It was crazy."

How it unfolded

Riders lined-up for the start in a deserted Sorgues but Paris-Nice rolled on. Teams reportedly voted 11-5 to continue racing despite the coronavirus crisis but Bahrain McLaren decided to head home and put the safety and health of their rider, staff and the wider public in France first. At the finish in Apt, Israel Start-up Nation also decided to quit the race and head home.

Race organiser ASO confirmed Paris-Nice would end after Saturday's mountain stage from Nice to Valdeblore La Colmiane but there was growing frustration amongst teams and riders.

However when the flag dropped, the racing began.

Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ), Anthony Perez (Cofidis) and Niccolo Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie) formed the first break but rolling terrain left the race in flux.

With 110km to race, world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Winner Anacona (Arkea-Samsic), Alexis Gougeard (AG2r La Mondiale) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) bridged across to Anthony Perez (Cofidis) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) on the upper reaches of the Col de Murs. However the Deceuninck-QuickStep team lead the peloton, to keep them in reach.

Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) jumped across to the attack and then left the break of seven over the top of the Col de Murs. He was soon joined by Edet and they worked together in a long-range attempt to win the day. 

Edet lead the attack through the intermediate sprint with 50km to go but the peloton refused to let them go and then gap never rose above 1:30. Søren Kragh Andersen moved to set-up Team Sunweb strategy at this point. He was second on GC, only 58 seconds down on Schachmann, and attacked from the bunch on the Cote de Caseneuve, knowing the German would not have the climbing ability to chase him down.

Andersen soon joined Bardet and Edet and became the virtual overall leader but it looked difficult for him to stay away as Deceuninck-QuickStep lined-up on the front of the peloton as the one classified climb left on the agenda, the category 2, 4.5km Cote d' Auribeau began.

Andersen soon dropped Edet and Bardet but the peloton closed rapidly. Before the summit Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) attacked and Benoot jumped on his wheel, knowing it was a fee ride up the road.

Benoot then kicked clear insight of the summit, caught and passed Andersen and began his lone escape to victory. Behind Alaphilippe struggled and other attacks by Higuita and Jungles were closed down, slowing the pace of the chase. Benoot did not hesitate, taking risks on the twisting descent but managed to open a 30-second lead. It was enough, giving him time to celebrate a well-earned stage victory, which lifted him second place overall.

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