Discover the Stage 7 highlights !
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More Information on:
https://www.paris-nice.fr/
https://www.facebook.com/parisnicecourse
https://twitter.com/parisnice
https://www.instagram.com/parisnicecourse/
© Amaury Sport Organisation - www.aso.fr
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SportTranscription
00:00Visma Lisebight caught most of their rivals napping yesterday, although Mads Pedersen
00:06wasn't one of them, as Matteo Jorgensen tightened his grip on the yellow jersey.
00:11There's more miserable weather forecast today on a shortened seventh stage, in which
00:15the defending champion will be looking to hammer home his advantage.
00:19The American's in a great position to go back-to-back at Paris-Nice, but he knows that
00:23anything can happen in this race.
00:28I think we all, at least we should know now, that Paris-Nice is very unpredictable and
00:32this final weekend is dangerous in many different ways.
00:37So I think if they have watched Paris-Nice before, they know that there's still a lot
00:41to play for.
00:42I don't feel any pressure to win the stage, but I would like to really secure the GC today
00:47and go in tomorrow with the same or more lead.
00:51Jorgensen's main GC rivals are Florian Lippovitz and Matthias Schjelmose, both within a minute,
00:56although the German's main objective is securing a place on the podium.
01:00I showed good legs on the mountain, so I'm really confident, but yeah, we have to see.
01:07Confident for what?
01:08Do you think you can win this Paris-Nice?
01:09No, no, just to stay with the best guys and just stay there, maybe finish on the podium,
01:17but we have to see today.
01:21The climbers who have lost a lot of time may be going for glory today, notably Lenny Martinez
01:26who won stage five only to drop nearly nine minutes on stage six.
01:33I could maybe have got a good GC result, but I'm very happy to have a stage win and it's
01:37not the end of the world.
01:39Do you like today's stage on paper?
01:41Yeah, I like it.
01:43If I've got the legs, I think I can get a good result again, so I hope it goes well.
01:47Well, due to adverse weather conditions, stage seven has been shortened by around 40 kilometres
01:54and no longer features the Cote de Belvedere or the Col de la Colmiane.
01:58The final is unchanged though, with the summit finish to Oran, and even if the climbers officially
02:02only 7.3 kilometres at 7.2 per cent, they'll be going uphill for a lot longer.
02:08There's definitely a chance to open up some gaps.
02:13Well, as Jorgensen pointed out, the final weekend of Paris-Nice is always unpredictable
02:21and sadly, one of his main GC rivals had a nasty crash with 52km to go.
02:27Oh, oh dear me.
02:31Matthias Schielmos are clearly in pain and forced to abandon.
02:34We wish the Dane a speedy recovery.
02:37Well, the race to the sun really hasn't lived up to its name this year.
02:42More dreary conditions as a group of 15 riders went up the road.
02:47Former world champion Julian Alaphilippe was up there with his Tudor team-mate Michael
02:51Stohrer, the best-placed man on GC at 3 minutes and 55 seconds.
02:56Other big names included Mauro Schmidt, Nielsen Paulus, Ivan Romeo, Stephan Kung, Fred Wright
03:03and Josh Tarling, and they increased their gap to over three minutes with 45km to go,
03:08UAE Team Emirates XRG setting the pace in the peloton.
03:15The average speed was still over 43km an hour since the start in Nice, but the road
03:20was already rising as they approached the intermediate sprint in Isola.
03:25The front group still working well together and definitely in with a chance of going for
03:29the stage victory.
03:31Their gap was still over three minutes as they hit the last 30km.
03:36Other teams getting involved in the chase because they didn't want to give the escapees
03:40too much time, notably Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe and XDS Astana.
03:52Between the punishing pace and the woeful weather, riders began to go backwards, but
03:56the 15 at the front were still together at the intermediate sprint, Stohrer taking six
04:01bonus seconds in his bid to move up on GC.
04:06In these freezing conditions, the riders were just trying to warm themselves up as
04:10best they could, and things were looking good for the breakaway.
04:14They still had a gap of over two minutes heading into the final 10km.
04:20They were soon on to the final climb and it was job done for Alaphilippe who'd absolutely
04:24buried himself for Stohrer.
04:27The breakaway slowly being whittled down on the first few kilometres of the climb which
04:31was nice and consistent, but the gap was coming down as well.
04:36The peloton was now a yellow jersey group of around 25 riders, although nobody had attacked
04:41Jorgensen just yet and they trailed by around 1 minute 20.
04:47At the front, Stohrer seemed to be having one of those days and only the Swiss champion
04:52Schmidt could hold the wheel and with some difficulty.
04:55The peloton closing, but not fast enough.
05:03Stohrer finally went solo with 2.7k remaining, going off in search of his first victory in
05:09Tudor colours.
05:11Meanwhile Felix Gann and Lennie Martinez had attacked from the peloton, neither man a threat
05:15to Jorgensen, but had they left it too late?
05:19Stohrer was absolutely tearing his way up this climb and he wasn't losing any time to
05:24the chasers, still over a minute clear as he entered the final kilometre.
05:30As it was, unable to stay with Gao, but no matter, because the day belonged to Stohrer.
05:38Michael Stohrer with the hordes of fans, he hears the cheers, he's going to take his first
05:43victory for Tudor Pro Cycling.
05:48Well it was brilliant teamwork from Tudor today, with Alaphilippe setting up Stohrer
05:52for his first win since August 2023 and the first at World Tour level since La Vuelta
05:582021.
05:59The Aussie riding everybody off his wheel to win the day and make a massive leap in
06:03the GC from 13th up to 4th overall.
06:08It's super nice to win, I just wish it wasn't so cold today, it's such a good day, it's
06:19not every time that you have a two times world champion pulling you out of the front groove,
06:25it was super, super motivating for today and also all my team mates have been helping
06:31me all week.
06:33Stohrer taking his 7th career win and the 5th on French soil, ahead of Schmidt, Steinhauser,
06:38Romeo and Jäger, with Gao the highest placed man from the peloton in 6th.
06:45Jorgensen is a day away from winning Paris Nice for the second time, although Lippovitz
06:49did shave three seconds off his lead.
06:51Arendtsman is 3rd with Stohrer now 4th, ahead of João Almeida.
06:56Another great ride from Mads Pedersen today to finish with the yellow jersey group.
07:00Ledijn even picked up a point for coming 10th and now leads Tim Mollier by 2, Jorgensen
07:05is 7th back in 3rd.
07:08Thomas Gachignard still has the polka dot jersey, just about, but Stohrer and Almeida
07:13are both breathing down his neck, just one point behind the Frenchman in the standings.
07:20And Lippovitz is set to finish as the race's best young rider.
07:23The German now has an advantage of 2 minutes 17 over Magnus Sheffield.
07:29Seven down and one to go.
07:30This Paris Nice has been a real slog and the final stage will be anything but a walk in
07:35the park.
07:36120 kilometres, three climbs and no doubt plenty of surprises.
07:40Join us for that on Sunday and thanks for watching.