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Paris-Nice stage 7 and coronavirus – live updates

Paris-Nice 2020 stage profiles

(Image credit: ASO / Paris-Nice)

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the final stage of Paris-Nice and the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Countless sports events and leagues around the world have been called off over the past few days, but here we are on the road from Nice to the summit finish of Valdeblore La Colmiane, as Paris-Nice is somehow still running...

The final stage, due to be held on Sunday around Nice, has already been cancelled, of course.

157km remaining

Reports are circulating that the Tour of Flanders has been postponed. There's no official confirmation of that yet, though it is unlikely to take place as scheduled. In a radio interview, Flemish sports minister Ben Weyts said: "Let's be honest, I don't think it will be feasible."

150km remaining

Here's our latest on the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic – a feature on how it's affecting top level women's racing.

92 riders started Paris-Nice today, down from 136 who were on the start list in Plaisir.

138km remaining

The riders are midway up the first climb of the day, the first category Col de Vence (9.7km at 6.6 per cent).

45 seconds between the chasers and the lead. The peloton are 15 seconds further back.

128km remaining

Here's the KOM result over the top of the Col de Vence. Edet led the classification witht 29 points head into today.

115km remaining

Live TV coverage isn't set to start for some time yet.

Here's a shot of today's breakaway.

And here's what Alaphilippe had to say at the start of the stage.

As well as the statements from Flanders Classics about the Tour of Flanders, Scheldeprijs organiser Jack Vissers has spoken about his race, which is set to run on April 8.

105km remaining

The break pass the 100km to go mark.

Bora-Hansgrohe lead the peloton on behalf of race leader Max Schachmann.

The break hit the second climb of the day, the second-category Col de la Sigale (6.6km at 4.9 per cent).

A 42kph average speed in the second hour. The break lead by three minutes as they  near the top of the climb.

Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) has left the race.

71km remaining

Meanwhile, EF Pro Cycling are up there with Bora-Hansgrohe at the head of the peloton.

67km remaining

Once they hit the bottom of the descent, there's a spell in the valley before the final climb of the day, the 16.3km summit finish of Valdeblore La Colmiane.

The gap between break and peloton is still around the 2:40 mark.

58km remaining

Here's a shot of Alaphilippe and the rest of today's break, with KOM leader Edet and Thomas De Gendt just behind him.

44km remaining

Nicolas Edet heads back to the team car to get a quick fix on something on his bike. He's not very happy.

Edet had to stop altogether. There was something wrong with his front wheel. He'll have to work his way back to the break now.

40km remaining

Tom Scully (EF) and Patrick Konrad (Bora) are up front now.

The road is up and down on the run-in to the final climb. It's not flat by any means.

There's 2:50 between these guys and the peloton.

Edet made it back to the break after his mechanical problem.

Anthony Perez is back in the peloton now after dropping from the break. Five men out front now.

Bettiol nips ahead at the intermediate sprint to take the seconds away from Alaphilippe, just in case of any surprises from the Frenchman later on. He lies tenth overall, 2:02 down on Schachmann and 1:01 behind Higuita.

According to Eurosport's Rob Hatch, today there's no VIP car, no spectators on the climb and none at the finish.

27km remaining

AG2R's Mickael Cherel had a crash earlier today. Not a great day for the team.

That sound you hear is the 'Alaphilippe is no longer in the virtual race lead' klaxon, as the break's advantage drops under two minutes.

23km remaining

20km to go now and Arkéa take it up on the front with Connor Swift.

Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) has abandoned the race. He must be the rider who crashed earlier.

16km remaining

Less than a minute between break and peloton now.

De Gendt pushes on now, dropping Alaphilippe. 

Dayer Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic), Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-QuickStep) drop from the peloton.

14km remaining

And now Großschartner is back.

12km

Trek head to the front of the peloton now. There's maybe around 13-14 riders left there as they catch Alaphilippe.

10km remaining

I remember De Gendt saying last summer at the Tour de France that 20-30 minute climbs were his favourite – the point where he can ride at a 420-watt threshold while the chasers can't realistically put in a substantially bigger effort.

Kenny Elissonde leads the peloton.

7km remaining

Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) drops from the peloton now.

6km remaining

4km remaining

3.5km remaining

Higuita, Benoot, Nibali, Pinot and Schachmann chase.

3km remaining

Pinot ups the pace too. Nibali tried a move a few seconds ago. Still the five men stick together as they catch De Gendt.

2.5km remaining

Schachmann is looking comfortable as the men he's with keep putting in digs.

2km remaining

1km remaining

Benoot lies 36 seconds down on Schachmann in the overall rankings. Six seconds up for grabs if he takes second place on the stage...

It's a big effort from Benoot and he's gaining time metre by metre. No big attack from Higuita so far...

250 metres to go for Quintana. It's another big win for him in 2020.

And Nairo Quintana wins the final stage of Paris-Nice!

Benoot is approaching the finish now.

Schachmann is going to hang on to yellow here.

Benoot is second, 47 seconds down.

Pinot leads the chasers over, 56 seconds back. Schachmann sheds a few seconds but he's won Paris-Nice!

Schachmann collapses to the ground after the finish.

Here's the top ten today

And here's the final GC

Here's Quintana celebrating victory today.

And Schachmann recovering from his effort after the finish.

Here's what Schachmann had to say after the finish.

And here's Quintana's post-race flash interview...

That was was Quintana's third summit finish victory of the 2020 season, and his fifth win this year. It looks like the Quintana renaissance will be put on hold now though, with no races scheduled for the rest of the month, and April and May race under dire  threat as well.

Meanwhile, Paris-Nice is Schachmann's first stage race win as a pro. He won 2016 Tour d'Alsace when he was riding as an Under-23 for Klein Constantia, which was Deceuninck-QuickStep's feeder team.

Max Schachmann was in good form at the Volta ao Algarve last month. There, he finished second overall and told Cyclingnews that he felt better than the same point in 2019, and that his big goals were coming up around the corner.

Our full stage 7 report is now live

That's all for our live coverage of the 2020 edition of Paris-Nice. We'll be back with more live race reporting... at some point.