Rudy Molard's surprise attack wins Paris-Nice stage six

Rudy Molard's attack in the final kilometre of the race surprised everyone as he raced away on his own to win stage six into Vence.

Rudy Molard takes only his second career win
Photo credit: inthebunch.co.za
There were a flurry of attacks in the closing 10km over the Cote de la Colle sur Loup but it was Molard (Groupama-FDJ) whose move stuck with 1.3km to go. 

 Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) finishing second and third respectively. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) finished fourth  retaining his overall race lead, with Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) in fifth.

 The general classification got a shake up as a result of this stage, with Wout Poels (Team Sky) abandoning due to a crash and Tony Gallopin (AG2R) losing five minutes.

The Race

Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal), Amael Moinard (Fortuneo), Paul Martens (Lotto-Jumbo), Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis), Tom Scully (EF Education First-Drapac) and Fabien Grellier (Direct Energie) made up the early break out of Sisteron.

Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ), keen to defend his green jersey on what would inevitably be a general classification finish in Vence, was part of a seven-rider counter intent on bridging to the front group. 

The French national champion, along with Alexander Kristoff (UAE), Nils Politt (Katusha), Dylan Teuns (BMC), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Carlos Barbero (Movistar) and Bert Van Lerberghe (Cofidis) soon joined with the front six to create a large breakaway of 13-riders.

After the first intermediate sprint at Prefaissal - won by Barbero - Teuns, who was only one minute behind Sanchez on GC at the start of the stage, knew his presence would put the success of the breakaway in jeopardy and so sat up to wait for the peloton. The Belgian's exit from the breakaway enabled the gap to double to three minutes.

Over the numerous climbs on the parcours, Grellier claimed the polka-dot jersey that he'd failed to win on stage two as he could only draw with Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Samsic). 

The breakaway was split around the midway point of the stage and with 40km to go De Gendt, Grellier, Moinard and Scully were the only remaining escapees.

Sanchez suffered a badly timed mechanical after the Cote de Gourdon, but thankfully for the race leader he managed to swap smartly with a teammate and rejoined the peloton as the breakaway was caught inside 20km. 

Mitchelton-Scott and Quick-Step Floors were ever present at the front as the peloton climbed the Cote de la Colle sur Loup, working for Simon Yates and Alaphilippe respectively.

Poels and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R) put in little digs but nothing solid, while no one else was keen on placing a meaningful attack.

Yates did attack on the descent though, and while Poels crashed into a barrier, Wellens joined the British rider to put 10-seconds into the chasing peloton with 4km to go.

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) pulled off the group having done his work for Sanchez, only for Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) to take control and join Yates and Wellens.

Everything seemed under control as the riders headed towards the flamme rouge, but what came next surprised everybody.

Molard put in a last ditch attack as the group went under the flamme rouge and it stuck, with no one willing to chase him down.

Stage Six Result

1. Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
2. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) at 2"
3. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors)
4. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana)
5. Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb)
6. Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing)
7. Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe)
8. Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott
9. Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida)
10. Sergio Henao (Team Sky) all at same time

General Classification

1. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) in 22-25-33
2. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) at 22"
3. Marc Soler (Movistar Team) at 26"
4. Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) at 34"
5. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) at 35"
6. Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) at 42"
7. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) at 45"
8. Sergio Henao (Team Sky) at 46"
9. Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) at 48"
10. Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 54"

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