Simon Yates brilliantly solos to Paris-Nice stage six victory
Orica-Scott's Simon Yates had 'nothing to lose' as he brilliantly soloed to victory in Fayence on stage six of Paris-Nice after attacking on the Col de Bourigaille to move up to eighth on general classification.
Yates shot off the front of the leading group with 19 kilometres to go and managed to make his attack stick, safely navigating the descent and expertly climbing the short yet horrendously steep ramp into Fayence to pick up his first ever victory on Paris-Nice and his first win of the season.
"I had a small idea to try something but it was all depending on how I feel and the conditions," explained Yates, "It got to the moment and I said, 'Ah, why not, you've nothing to lose?! If I get caught, I get caught'. So I tried and I'm just happy that it worked!"
Colombian champion, Sergio Henao (Team Sky), mounted a spirited effort to finish 17 seconds behind the leader, with Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), with encouragement from team mate Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors), just fewer than 30 seconds back.
Jon Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida), Jacob Fuglsang (Astana), Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tony Gallopin (Lotto Fix ALL) finished together at 32 seconds down to round out the top ten on the stage.
The result means Alaphilippe retains the yellow jersey and extends his lead slightly over Gallopin in second to 36 seconds with Henao, Gorka Izaguirre (Movistar) and Martin filling out the top five on GC. Contador remains out of contention for the moment, still over a minute and a half down on Alaphilippe.
Stage six was where the nitty-gritty battle for GC places would begin in earnest: 192km through the Alps from Aubagne to Fayence via six categorised climbs, including two ascents of the Col de Bourigaille and a steep 1.3km section at the finale.
As expected, the first category one climb of the day - Col de l'Espigoulier - split the field immediately. Yesterday's winner, Andre Greipel (Lotto Fix ALL), as well as sprinters Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors), John Degenkolb (Trek Segafredo), Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) were all dropped within moments and only 60 riders remained in the lead group.
The breakaway that went the longest came in the form of Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing) and Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) who at 35km to go still had a lead of a minute over the group behind containing the yellow jersey.
They were eventually reeled in 21km from the finish, however, with the climbers' teams looking to put their riders in the best position over the final climb of the day - the second ascent of the Col de Bourigaille.
Up the Bourigaille the lead group went for the second time and Team Sky were driving the pace for their leader, Henao, when at 19km Yates attacked. He managed to maintain his advantage over the top and all the way to the bottom of the 1.3km ramp up to Fayence and all that remained was for Yates to pace himself and not over extend.
The young Brit wasn't going to throw away this opportunity at a stage win though, and successfully kept the time gap and managed to leap into the top ten on GC.
Stage seven is the Queen stage of the 2017 Paris-Nice: 177km from Nice to Col de la Couillole - the highest point the famous race has ever been - and features two long category one climbs in the final 77km. This will be the penultimate chance for someone to cause a stir on GC, and if Contador still have overall victory in mind, attacking on this stage is a must.
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| Credit: velonews.com |
"I had a small idea to try something but it was all depending on how I feel and the conditions," explained Yates, "It got to the moment and I said, 'Ah, why not, you've nothing to lose?! If I get caught, I get caught'. So I tried and I'm just happy that it worked!"
Colombian champion, Sergio Henao (Team Sky), mounted a spirited effort to finish 17 seconds behind the leader, with Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), with encouragement from team mate Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors), just fewer than 30 seconds back.
Jon Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida), Jacob Fuglsang (Astana), Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tony Gallopin (Lotto Fix ALL) finished together at 32 seconds down to round out the top ten on the stage.
The result means Alaphilippe retains the yellow jersey and extends his lead slightly over Gallopin in second to 36 seconds with Henao, Gorka Izaguirre (Movistar) and Martin filling out the top five on GC. Contador remains out of contention for the moment, still over a minute and a half down on Alaphilippe.
Stage six was where the nitty-gritty battle for GC places would begin in earnest: 192km through the Alps from Aubagne to Fayence via six categorised climbs, including two ascents of the Col de Bourigaille and a steep 1.3km section at the finale.
As expected, the first category one climb of the day - Col de l'Espigoulier - split the field immediately. Yesterday's winner, Andre Greipel (Lotto Fix ALL), as well as sprinters Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors), John Degenkolb (Trek Segafredo), Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) were all dropped within moments and only 60 riders remained in the lead group.
The breakaway that went the longest came in the form of Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing) and Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) who at 35km to go still had a lead of a minute over the group behind containing the yellow jersey.
They were eventually reeled in 21km from the finish, however, with the climbers' teams looking to put their riders in the best position over the final climb of the day - the second ascent of the Col de Bourigaille.
Up the Bourigaille the lead group went for the second time and Team Sky were driving the pace for their leader, Henao, when at 19km Yates attacked. He managed to maintain his advantage over the top and all the way to the bottom of the 1.3km ramp up to Fayence and all that remained was for Yates to pace himself and not over extend.
The young Brit wasn't going to throw away this opportunity at a stage win though, and successfully kept the time gap and managed to leap into the top ten on GC.
Stage seven is the Queen stage of the 2017 Paris-Nice: 177km from Nice to Col de la Couillole - the highest point the famous race has ever been - and features two long category one climbs in the final 77km. This will be the penultimate chance for someone to cause a stir on GC, and if Contador still have overall victory in mind, attacking on this stage is a must.
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