Paris-Nice stage 8 - live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the final stage of Paris-Nice, which packs five climbs into a 115km race around Nice.

The race begins and ends in Nice today, as the riders tackle the mountains surrounding the city. Five categorised climbs shape the 115.6km route today; three category 2 climbs followed by two category 1 climbs. The Col d’Eze is the most difficult and significant; its summit is just 15.7 kilometres from the finish.

Just 96 riders finished the stage yesterday, and David de la Cruz abandoned overnight leaving a hugely reduced peloton of 95 from a start-list of 154. They roll out at 13:40 from Nice and begin racing at 14:00.

Primož Roglič remains in the yellow jersey. He extended his lead yesterday, and has an advantage of 47 seconds over second-placed Simon Yates. Behind Yates is the Ineos-Grenadiers pair of Dani Martínez and Adam Yates at 1'00" and 1'05" respectively.

As well as David de la Cruz, there are 6 other non-starters. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Damien Touzé (AG2R-Citroën), Matthew Holmes (Lotto-Soudal), Luka Mezgec, Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange-Jayco), Matteo Jorgenson and Johan Jacobs (Movistar). There are now 89 riders in the field.

The riders are currently riding through the neutral zone, as they leave the town of Nice for the mountainous roads around it.

-115km

The flag drops, and the racing begins for the last stage of Paris-Nice 2022. 

-110km

Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal) is among the first attackers of the day but a breakaway is yet to escape.

-102km

It is a fierce battle for the breakaway today; despite several attacks the race remains together.

-99km

The peloton is already on the first climb of the day, the Côte de Levens. Perhaps its slopes will help draw out the strongest riders to form the breakaway.

The Côte de Levens is 6.2km long with a gradient of 5.6%. The village at its summit is ancient, dating back to the Roman era.

-98km

Valentin Madouas, the polka-dot jersey, has suffered an unfortunately timed puncture as he seeks to defend his lead in the mountains classification.

The peloton is thinning as riders are dropped on the slopes of the first climb. Gilbert, Ethan Hayter, Bryan Coquard and Ryan Mullen are among those distanced.

-95km

Franck Bonnamour accelerates and builds a gap of 20 seconds but he is reabsorbed by the peloton.

-95km

Riders are still being spat out the back of the peloton as Wout van Aert and Jumbo-Visma move to control the pace. 

-93km

The Côte de Levens has marked the end of the race for many riders. 

Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers), Otto Vergaerde (Alpecin-Fenix), Michael Morkov (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), Albert Torres (Movistar), Campbell Stewart (BikeExchange-Jayco), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM) have all abandoned. The peloton stands at 82 riders.

-92km

Quentin Pacher takes the maximum five points in the King of the Mountains classification at the summit. Omar Fraile takes three, Rohan Dennis two and Wout van Aert one.

-90km

Bauke Mollema attacks and is joined by van Aert and Fabio Felline.

-88km

Connor Swift bridges across and finishes second in the intermediate sprint taking two points and two bonus seconds. Van Aert collects the maximum three points and bonus seconds, while Mollema finishes third to take one point and bonus second.

-84km

There is a short descent before the road kicks up again to the Côte de Châteauneuf in five kilometres. This climb is 5.3km with an average gradient of 4.3%

-89km

A group of ten riders- Connor Swift (Arké-Samsic), Andrey Amador, Omar Fraile (Ineos Grenadiers), Fabio Felline (Astana), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Bauke Mollema, Alex Kirsch (Trek-Segafredo), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar) and Soren Kragh Andersen (Team DSM)- have opened up a gap over the peloton. 

At the back of the race, meanwhile, Nairo Quintana has a mechanical.

-88km

The breakaway was short-lived as they are caught by the Jumbo-Visma controlled peloton.

-80km

Quintana has returned to the peloton after requiring mechanical assistance.

-74km

The riders have just reached the summit of the Côte de Châteuneuf, the second climb of the day. Pacher once again took maximum points at the top.

So many riders have dropped out of this race that there are now two teams down to just one rider. Hugo Houle and Fabio Felline were pictured together at the stage's start.

-69km

Mauri Vansevenant (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) crashes on the descent but gets back on his bike soon afterwards.

-68km

The bunch splits, and a group of about twenty riders driven by Christophe Laporte remain at the head of the race. Aleksandr Vlasov calls for the medical car and rides alongside it.

-66km

Dani Martínez missed the initial split but has bridged across. João Almeida was also caught out and is still chasing behind.

-65km

Jumbo-Visma, clad in black rain-jackets, lead the front group of 21 riders. They are represented by Roglič, Rohan Dennis, Steven Kruijswijk and van Aert. Quintana, Adam Yates, Martinez, McNulty, Haig and Simon Yates are all there too.

-65km

The front group has swelled to about 30 riders as Almeida makes it across.

-63km

The riders crest the summit of the Côte de Berre-les-Alpes. Every rider in the top ten, except Vlasov, is in the front group.

-61km

Rohan Dennis carefully leads the peloton down the descent. It is a technical descent full of hairpins but the roads seem dry, despite the rain which has fallen on the stage so far.

-58km

Pierre Latour punctures on the descent and takes a teammate's bike. He currently lies eighth place overall.

-57km

Latour is being paced back to the peloton by his teammate and they have nearly reached the convoy following the front group. 44 seconds separates them from the peloton.

-55km

Simon Carr (EF Education-Easy Post) abandons the race.

-53km

Pierre Latour receives his spare bike from the team car; he is still 46 seconds behind the main field.

-51km

The fourth climb of the day is the Côte de Peille which is 6.6km long and an average gradient of 6.8%. Kruijswijk leads the peloton onto its slopes with Latour 1'32" behind.

-50km

Fraile takes up the pace-setting as Ineos-Grenadiers seek to challenge Roglič. Dennis and Kruijswijk are dropped from the group

-50km

Fraile is decimating the peloton on the steepest slopes of the climb. Almeida, the white jersey, is among those dropped.

-49km

Only van Aert remains in the front group for Roglič. Ineos-Grenadiers still have three riders- Fraile, Yates and Martínez.

-49km

Martínez launches the first attack. He is immediately followed by van Aert, with Roglič on his wheel. It is a very select group that remains now.

-48km

Van Aert moves to the front, followed by a small group comprised of Martínez, Quintana, Roglič and Simon Yates. Adam Yates is distanced.

-46km

The leading quintet have opened up a gap of thirty seconds over the rest of the field.

-45km

Yates' group are caught by a larger group and they are now 57 seconds behind the leaders.

-43km

Van Aert attempts to force those on his wheel to work but no one is willing. He resumes his place at the front of the race.

-42km

Roglič now rotates with his teammate as they remain 50 seconds ahead of the chasing group.

-37km

Despite his heroics earlier, Fraile has rejoined the second group on the road as the pace has slowed a little. There is still 50 seconds between the two groups.

-36km

It is unlikely that the time gap will change in the next fifteen kilometres as the riders are now descending to the foot of the day's final climb. 

-34km

In the fight for the bonus seconds at the second intermediate sprint, Yates jumped away gathering three bonus seconds. Martínez takes two and van Aert one. Yates is now 44 seconds behind Roglič in the general classification.

-32km

The leaders' acceleration at the intermediate sprint has stretched the time gap further to 1'05".

-31km

Martínez has a back wheel puncture and is being assisted by neutral service. He is back on his bike, chasing to rejoin the leaders.

-30km

Martínez is stranded in between the two groups, 45 seconds behind the leaders.

-26km

The leading group are just a couple of kilometres away from the foot of the Col d'Èze, and they will begin the climb with an advantage of 45 seconds over Martínez and a minute over the chasing group.

-23km

Nice appears on the lefthand side of the riders but they will turn away from the town to tackle the Col d'Èze first, before making their way back to the Promenade des Anglais.

-21km

As the leaders begin the Col d'Èze, Martínez is caught by the chasing group. The second group on the road are making some inroads, and are only 42 seconds behind

-20.7km

Quintana accelerates on the lower slopes of the climb but he is unable to distance anyone in the leading group.

-20km

Behind the leaders, the chasing group is fracturing again on the climb. Finn Fisher-Black and Almeida are dropped

-19km

Quintana accelerates again and van Aert briefly drops away but fights his way bike. Yates attacks and distances the rest of the group

-18.8km

Yates creates a gap and is beginning to ride away from everyone else. His advantage is now 21 seconds.

-18.3km

Roglič's advantage in the general classification has halved since that attack. Van Aert is clawing his way back to set a steady tempo for his teammate.

-17.8km

The gap between Yates and Roglič is remaining steady at about 20 seconds. There are still 2.4km of climbing left.

-17.1km

Roglič seems to be struggling a little here, he is fighting to hold van Aert's wheel but the gap is remaining steady at 20 seconds.

-16.7km

Quintana is struggling too and loses the wheel of the Jumbo-Visma pair.

-15.7km

Just over a kilometre of climbing left in this year's Paris-Nice, and Roglič is fighting to save his yellow jersey. Yates prises the time gap open to 28 seconds.

-15.4km

After the summit there is a 15 kilometre descent to the finish which should favour the Jumbo-Visma pair. 

-15.1km

Yates crests the top of the climb 26 seconds ahead of Roglič.

-14.3km

Van Aert is pacing Roglič and they are beginning to stabilise the time gap again at 20 seconds.

-12.2km

If Yates does win the stage, he will also collect ten bonus seconds. Even with those bonus seconds, however, his current advantage will not be enough to overturn his deficit in the general classification. He is still 22 seconds ahead of Roglic.

-10.5km

It is raining on the descent, adding extra stress to the chase. Van Aert is choosing his lines carefully while Roglic stays on his back wheel. The gap is back up to 28 seconds.

-8.3km

On the wider sections of road, the advantage falls to 17 seconds. Roglič moves to the front to share the pace-setting with van Aert.

-7km

Yates' gap is falling now. It stands at just 14 seconds.

-5.5km

Roglič and van Aert are rotating now, and Yates' advantage has fallen to ten seconds.

-3.9km

The Jumbo-Visma pair are reeling in Yates who is now just seven seconds in front.

-2km

Roglic sprints out of a corner, but Yates is still holding them off for now with an 8 seconds advantage.

-1.2km

Roglič's yellow jersey is secure but Yates could yet hold on for the stage win. He is still seven seconds ahead.

-500m

Yates sprints along the Promenade des Anglais, looking behind him to check where Roglic and van Aert are.

Yates points at the sponsors on his jersey, puts his hands in the air and wins Stage 8 of Paris-Nice!

Van Aert and Roglič finish ten seconds behind him, securing Roglič's yellow jersey. Roglič wins this edition of Paris-Nice!

It is Simon Yates' first victory since last May. He finishes in second place on the general classification, 29 seconds behind Roglič.

Brandon McNulty leads the rest of the main field home, 1'44" behind Yates. Despite his earlier mechanical Martínez retains his third place overall, finishing in the same group as McNulty.

“I mean, I don’t go without a bit of drama,” Roglič said at the finish. “It was super hard the last one, but I’m happier than last year after the last stage. A big thanks to my whole team, especially Wout at the end- half human half-motor. He can do everything!"

"I was definitely not feeling strong enough. It was too steep and I didn’t have power. I was really suffering and fighting over the climb to limit the losses. Luckily I knew that Wout had a super day- he was really a big big help, going through with me and all the way to the finish." 

“Home race, home roads, but it didn’t make it much easier today.”

I just wanted the stage today," Yates said at the finish. "I think the GC was  already too far - for me to take that much time back today would have been a a very big ask."

"It's always in the back of your mind, but I knew in the downhill I would lose some time. I'm not a very big guy and with the two guys working behind it'd always be a difficult task."

"It was very difficult. I've had some experience here in the past in the rain so I was prepared for it. I was still prepared for it as I came across the line, still had my gloves on and everything so I was definitely warm today.Now I have two second places so maybe one day I'll come back and try to win again but I'm happy with what I've done here this week."

"I think we managed to take the overall," van Aert said after the stage. "It was maybe harder than we hoped and harder than expected. I knew today was a really difficult day to control. I was lucky to take it easy yesterday and was focussed on being there for Primož in the final. I think he did not have his best legs so it was up to me to fight over the last climb and bring him to the line close enough to Yates."

"Of course we knew we were losing time on the climb but I think already in the last part into the headwind towards the KOM we were stabilising it a little bit at 25 seconds. I knew from then on it was an advantage for me as a bigger rider and also Primoz could take some turns. We didn't take too many risks on the first part of the downhill and then on the big road to Nice it was just flat out. We were still thinking to take the stage but we came up short."

"After Friday's stage I was looking good for winning the points jersey and if you can take it, it's always nice. I won it in Dauphine and Tirreno-Adriatico and now Paris-Nice. Maybe this summer we'll try to win it in the big one in the Tour.Today was a really hard day on top of a really hard seven days, so we'll try to recover and be ready for the first monument."