Paris-Nice: Primoz Roglic wins stage 6

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) tightened his grip on the yellow jersey at Paris-Nice in strikingly familiar fashion as he sprinted to victory on the hilltop finale in Biot on stage 6. The Slovenian held off Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) and Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) with a powerful acceleration to notch up his second win of the week and take another firm stride towards overall victory.

The stage winner’s bonus sees Roglic extend his lead over Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) to 41 seconds, but the psychological impact of the victory perhaps carries greater weight than the time gained. Once again, Roglic seemed at ease in holding his rivals at arm’s length.

The 202km stage was run off at searing speed across some decidedly rugged terrain, but Roglic seemed inured to such hardship in the final 400 metres, where he closed down Guillaume Martin’s acceleration in person before unleashing a vicious sprint of his own that established fast men like Laporte and Matthews simply could not match.

“It’s just cool to win like this. It’s something new again and I’m super, super happy to do it,” Roglic said afterwards. “It was just the whole day really hard, really from the beginning, and that’s why I thought at the end, ‘We’re all tired, so why not?’ It was beautiful that I could do it.”

Roglic also lost a rival on the road to Biot as Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) – third overall at the beginning of the stage – was forced to abandon after he crashed shortly before the day’s toughest climb, the Côte de Cabris. His team later reported that his injuries had required sutures but no surgery.

Ion Izagirre (Astana Premier Tech) moves up to third overall, 50 seconds down on Roglic, while his teammate Aleksandr Vlasov lies in fourth, a further second back. The Russian suffered a puncture in the finale, but a bike swap with the quick-thinking Omar Fraile saw him make it back to the yellow jersey group and stay in the hunt for the podium.

The day also saw the announcement of some late alterations to the Paris-Nice route after the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi confirmed that he would not allow the race to finish on the Promenade des Anglais on Sunday amid ongoing coronavirus restrictions in the Alpes-Maritimes department.

Saturday’s stage has been shortened to 119km, though the summit finish at La Colmiane has been retained, while the final stage has been cut to 92.5km and will now feature an uphill finale at Levens.

Roglic seemed unconcerned by the impact of the changes on his chances – understandably, given his remarkable form.

“I have to deal with it, what they give us,” Roglic shrugged. “I don’t really care about it. I just expect full gas racing because they are quite short both of them.”

How it unfolded

The long haul from Brignoles advertised itself as a day for the break but the uphill finale at Biot lent itself to sprinting puncheurs like Michael Matthews. That tension contributed to a stage of notable intensity, with the peloton clocking almost 48km in the opening hour of racing.

Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) and Florian Senechal (Deceuninck-QuickStep) formed the only break to gain any early traction, but they never got more than 15 seconds or so and they soon opted to desist.

The break of the day finally took shape over the first classified climb, the Côte des Tulières, where polka dot jersey Anthony Perez (Cofidis) made a sustained effort in search of the mountains points. He was joined at the top by Elissonde, Julien El Fares (EF Education-Nippo), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Premier Tech), Jonathan Hivert (B&B Hotels p/b KTM), and Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka-Assos) and they would eventually build a maximum lead of 4 minutes over the peloton.

Elissonde, who began the stage 2:24 down in 31st overall, spent much of the day as the virtual race leader, though the chasing of Jumbo-Visma and BikeExchange early on meant that he was never going to be able to claim the yellow jersey for real.

McNulty’s crash at the base of the category 1 Côte de Cabris brought an untimely end to his race and denied the youngster the chance to explore his limits still further on the final weekend. Out in front, meanwhile, the six leaders collaborated well over the ascent and the category 2 Col du Ferrier that followed immediately afterwards, but the speed began to ratchet upwards again in the peloton from that point onwards.

Perez and El Fares were dropped from the break on the climb towards the intermediate sprint at Cipières, while the speed in the bunch saw several fast men jettisoned out the back. The bulk of them made it back on, but it was an ominous sign ahead of the rolling finale.

Elissonde led the escapees over the final classified climb, the Côte de Goudon, with 50km to go. A puncture saw Lutsenko lose contact soon afterwards, and Elissonde found himself alone at the front with 22km to go after dropping Campenaerts and Hivert on the climb towards the second sprint at Roquefort-les-Pins.

Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange) outsprinted Pierre Latour (Total Direct Energie) and Izagirre for 2 bonus seconds there, while the peloton had closed to within 20 seconds of Elissonde, with Deceuninck-QuickStep and Cofidis now leading the charge for Sam Bennett and Laporte.

As the bunch closed to within touching distance of Elissonde with 13km to go, Jonas Rutsch (EF-Nippo) bridged across alone, and the German’s strength ensured that duo remained clear until the road began to rise once again towards the finish.

A spent Elissonde had to relent as soon as the climb to the line began, but Rutsch battled gamely to within sight of the flamme rouge before Remy Cavagna brought a reduced peloton back up to him. By then, the bulk of the sprinters had been distanced, while Bennett’s hopes were also faltering and he had to give best in the final kilometre.

In a mirror of his effort Orcières-Merlette on last year’s Tour de France, Guillaume Martin tried to pre-empt the sprint by accelerating from 400m to go, reasoning that the effort might double as a lead-out for Laporte if he was caught.

It did just that, but Roglic’s strength was such that he was able to chase down Martin while simultaneously holding off Laporte. Nothing to be done.