Paris-Nice: Primoz Roglic wins stage 7 atop Valdeblore La Colmiane

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Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) caught Gino Mäder (Bahrain-Victorious) within the final 50 metres to win stage 7 of Paris-Nice atop La Colmiane.

It was a heartbreaking moment for the young Swiss rider, who had been part of the day’s break and appeared on the verge of holding off the GC riders to claim victory.

However, Roglič produced one final burst to drop Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Tiesj Benoot (Team DSM), Lucas Hamilton (Team BikeExchange) and Alexander Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech) and gain victory, while also strengthening his position at the top of the overall classification. 

He ends the day with an advantage of 52 seconds over Schachmann in second place, with the Astana duo of Vlasov and Ion Izagirre a further 19 and 24 seconds adrift in third and fourth respectively. 

On a stage where there were no attacks from any of the other GC riders, it always looked as though Roglič's overall lead would be safe. However, the possibility of winning another stage looked unlikely with just 1km to go, when Mäder still held an advantage of 20 seconds.

Having reduced the group of favourites to just five riders (himself, Schachmann, Benoot, Hamilton and Vlasov) with an attack 1.5km from the finish, Roglič made his second move, but sat up again after Schachmann managed to regain his wheel.

That appeared to swing the advantage back towards Mäder, but Roglič was not done yet, and made a third and final attack that saw him make the catch in the nick of time.

"At the end, there was a possibility [to win the stage], and I went for it," he said. 

“It was hard all day, from the beginning. It was ‘short but sweet’, as we say. It was really really tight, but luckily I managed to come first over the finish line."

How it unfolded

The ever-changing pandemic circumstances might have meant today’s stage was shortened to just 119km, but the crucial finishing climb of La Colmiane remained, ensuring that this would be one of the race’s key GC showdowns. 

The stage began with a climb of the category-2 Côte de Gilette, a late replacement for the initially-planned Col de Vance. On the climb, 13 riders broke clear, among them green jersey wearer and two-time stage winner Sam Bennett (Dececuninck-QuickStep), determined not to have a day off as he prepares for Milan-San Remo. 

The other riders accompanying him were: Neilson Powless (EF Education-Nippo), Andrey Amador and Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Julien Bernard and Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates), Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Dylan Teuns and Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious). 

Perez led over the summit of the Gilette to extend his lead in the King of the mountains classification. In the peloton, Jumbo-Visma refused to allow the break much leeway, knowing that Cattaneo, Teuns, Mader and Powless all lay within 2:30 of Roglič’s time on GC.

The gap between the break and the peloton remained small enough to encourage Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) to attempt to bridge the gap on his own, but he only succeeded in staying in no-man’s land for a while, before drifting back into the bunch.

Although the gap did extend to around 2:30 at around 50km to go, it came down once again on the rolling roads leading to the base of La Colmiane as teams like Bora-Hansgrohe, DSM and BikeExchange upped the pace, in the process shedding many non-climbers out the back of the peloton.

Bennett did much of the pace-setting in the break, working for his Deceuninck-QuickStep teammate Cattaneo, who was the highest placed rider on GC. The Irishman continued to dig deep as La Colmiane approached, but couldn’t help give the break the kind of gap that would be big enough to contest for the stage win. As the break began the climb, their lead was just 1:03. 

The break began to splinter on the climb, with Bennett among those dropped and swallowed up by the bunch almost immediately. The group continued to thin, largely due to aggressive riding from Lutsenko, although the Kazakh himself was left behind by Elissonde, Powless and Mader. 

In the peloton, Cofidis took over at the front from Bora-Hansgrohe for a few kilometres, before sending Simon Geschke out on the attack 11.5km from the finish. Geschke got a gap, but wasn’t able to bridge up to the leading trio, and was caught by the peloton after Jumbo-Visma upped the pace. 

Out front, Mäder attacked at 7km to go, managing to drop Elissonde, while Powless struggled to hold his wheel. The American held on for a couple of kilometres, but was eventually distanced, as Mäder struck out alone in the hope of gaining victory.

Powless was caught by the peloton at 2.4km from the finish, at which point Steven Kruijswijk took over from George Bennett at the front. His pace quickly reduced the peloton to just 11 riders, but Mäder continued to survive out in front.

The closer the finish approached, and the more time that went by without any of the GC favourites making an attack, the more it looked like Mäder would survive. 

Only the brutal accelerations by Roglič prevented the young Swiss rider from taking what would have been a maiden World Tour victory, and he ultimately finished second behind the Slovenian, with Schachmann in third.

Schachmann remains the closest man to Roglič on GC, but will need to have both very strong legs and very imaginative tactics if he’s to depose Roglič as overall leader on Sunday's final stage.