Schachmann holds on to win Paris-Nice

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Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) secured overall victory at the 2020 Paris-Nice on Saturday despite a late attack from Tiesj Benoot (Team Sunweb) on the closing climb to Valdeblore La Colmiane that pushed the German to the limit.

Nairo Quintana took the final stage with a blistering attack with 3.6km to go for which a select group of his rivals had no response. Arkea-Samsic’s Colombian leader soloed across the line for his third stage win of the season after taking overall wins previously at Tour de la Provence and Tour des Alpes.

Further down the hill, Schachmann battled to hang on to a chase group that included Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling) and Benoot, who started the day just 36 seconds down. 

The Belgian played his final card with just over a kilometre remaining, jumping away from his rivals with Quintana already up the road. Benoot got an initial gap, but Schachmann benefited from a chase by Higuita and was able to limit his losses to just 12 seconds, preserving his overall lead to Benoot by 18 seconds.

Higuita finished third overall at 59 seconds, Nibali was fourth at 1:16 and Pinot was fifth overall at 1:24.

"It was very, very hard,” Schachmann said after collapsing to the ground beyond the finish line.

"I think you saw that Patrick [Konrad], Schwarzy [Michael Schwarzmann] and Felix [Grobschartner] did an incredible job. We controlled the race with three riders. For me it was a really hard finish. I'm going to be honest, in the last three kilometres I walked through hell and a world of pain. But now it's like being in heaven. Every little bit of pain in my legs was worth it."

The 26-year-old German led the race from start to finish after taking out the opening stage and then finishing second to Søren Kragh Andersen in the 15.1km stage 4 time trial. With Paris-Nice being cut short one stage early because of the coronavirus pandemic, Saturday’s summit finish was Schachmann’s biggest test of the week, and he handled it well.

"This is the fourth year of my career, and this is one of the biggest wins of my career and one of the most important steps," he said. "It feels so great because for my whole life people were doubting if I could be a GC rider, but it was always my dream. Now I'm here and I've won one of the most prestigious one-week stage races."

Quintana’s stage win was further proof that the 30-year-old Colombian is on stellar form, albeit with the cycling season going into hiatus until at least April, if not longer. 

"I always try to win like this, with elegance and a good attitude," Quintana said after the stage. "We were highly motivated to do things well and have been working hard. The team worked hard to catch the break, and then I did what I had to do. 

"There was nothing I could do for the GC," he explained. "I crashed badly and l lost too much time that day. So I knew I had to attack today, because I wanted to bring joy to the team because of the effort that everyone has made. It is a gift for all of them. I always demand a lot, but here are the results."

Quintana showed no disappointment in the suspended season while he is riding high atop a curve of fitness, saying the world’s health is more important. He plans to return home to Colombia and continue training after a spell in quarantine to protect his family after the risk of coming into contact with the coronavirus during Paris-Nice.

"Now we'll try to return to Colombia, spend time with the family while this important problem for the world is resolved," he said.

"We are aware of what is happening, we've finally finished today and we will also be quarantined so that this virus does not continue to spread. We have to listen to the authorities so that this does not get out of hand, and we can all return to work soon."

How it unfolded

With Sunday's final stage around Nice cancelled because of the ongoing pandemic, Saturday’s 166.5km stage from Nice to a summit finish in Valdeblore La Colmiane would prove to be the most decisive of Paris-Nice.

The stage started like any other, as attacks sprang from the start until a move finally started to take shape when Anthony Perez (Cofidis) and Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale) slipped away less than 10km into the day.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Fabien Doubey (Circus Wanty Gobert), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) went on the attack, forcing a concerted chase by the other overall contenders

With 140km remaining, the lead group had coalesced into Alaphilippe, Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R La Mondiale), De Gendt, Alberto Bettiol (EF Pro Cycling), Perez and Edet. The leaders built an ultimate gap of three minutes and Alaphilippe became virtual race leader for a moment, but Schachmann’s Bora-Hansgrohe teammates kept the escapees well in check throughout the day.

Perez dropped from the lead group with 35km remaining, leaving five up front while the gap started to come down precipitously, dipping to 1:30 with 25km to go.

Arkea-Samsic moved to the front of the bunch to help with the chase and set-up Quintana, and the leaders’ advantage continued to fall as teams positioned for the stage hunt and the final general classification effort.

The breakaway disintegrated at the bottom of the climb to the finish with 16km to go, leaving Just Alaphilippe and De Gendt up front. Soon it was just De Gendt at the head of affairs after Alaphilippe cracked, as the GC battle started to take shape behind them.

With 12km to go, De Gendt had 1:20 on the rapidly exploding peloton, but attacks from the bunch meant his chances were doomed.

Quintana was the first to pass De Gendt with 2.5km to go as the Belgian faded back into the fold and the GC fireworks started to go off. Quintana was on a mission and uncatchable, as Trek-Segafredo lined out the select group and an isolated Schachmann dug deep to stay on the wheels. 

Benoot made a late, brave attack and finished second but failed to gain enough time on Schachmann, who collapsed to the ground but went from the hell of lactic acid to the heaven of overall victory.