Aleksandr Vlasov took his first victory of the season on the mountaintop finish to La Madone d’Utelle on stage 7 of Paris-Nice. The Bora-Hansgrohe rider launched a counter-attack with 4km to go, as those in the group behind looked around and marked each other.
Vlasov had not been a threat in the general classification, as he found himself nearly three minutes down at the start of the day. However, this victory brings him further into contention, as he moved himself up to tenth overall ahead of tomorrow’s final stage around Nice.
Behind him on the road, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) managed to maintain his overall lead in the general classification, despite being dropped by the main group in the closing kilometres. He would lose time to those around him in the overall standings, but holds on to the maillot jaune, as he managed to limit his losses in the finale.
The route for the stage had been altered a couple of days prior, with the finish being moved to La Madone d’Utelle due to adverse weather at the planned mountaintop finish at Auron. The riders still faced wet conditions throughout the day though, as they all tried to stay warm in the peloton.
The stage began with a group of three riders going clear, as Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), Johan Jacobs (Movistar) and Martijn Tusveld (dsm-firmenich PostNL) got a gap on the first categorised climb of the Côte de Gattières.
After Tusveld suffered a mechanical a few kilometres later, it left just Thomas and Jacobs at the front, with the pair working together for around 50km until the Frenchman called it quits and dropped back to the peloton.
Soudal Quick-Step were setting the tempo behind in the main group for Remco Evenepoel, who was clearly feeling at home in the Flandrien-esque conditions in the South of France.
They left Jacobs dangling out front for several kilometres before making the catch at the foot of the final climb with around 14km to go.
As they reached the lower slopes of the La Madone d’Utelle, the GC contenders had stripped down to their race jerseys in preparation for the challenge to come as the pace began to ramp up, with more and more teams coming to the front of the peloton.
The likes of Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) dropped early on the climb, as they were clearly suffering in the cold conditions and were unable to stick with the pace in the group, which was still being set by Soudal Quick-Step.
With 8.5km to go Laurens De Plus came to the front of the main group for Ineos Grenadiers as he brought Egan Bernal to the front of the group to contest the intermediate sprint at Utelle. The Colombian took maximum points and six bonus seconds, ahead of Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) and Evenepoel.
Van Wilder then resumed pacing for his teammate, as Evenepoel then attacked with 4.4km to go, with Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) quickly latching himself to the wheel of the Belgian National Champion, neutralising the attack as the group continued to whittle down.
Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) then took his chance, getting a sizeable gap on the other contenders, as Evenepoel attempted a counter-attack which dropped Brandon McNulty.
As the American tried to chase back on, his compatriot Jorgenson moved to the front of the group to try and extend the gap to the maillot jaune, as he trailed McNulty by just 23 seconds at the start of the day.
Vlasov managed to hold off the chasing group to take the victory, whilst Evenepoel won the sprint behind ahead of Vlasov’s teammate Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe), as they swept up the remaining bonus seconds on the line.
McNulty managed to limit his losses to just 19 seconds to Jorgenson, as he maintained his overall lead by just four seconds.
RESULTS: PARIS-NICE, STAGE SEVEN, NICE > LA MADONE D’UTELLE (104KM)
1. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hangrohe, in 2:44:03
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) UAE Team Emirates, +8s
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Bora-Hangrohe
4. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek
5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time
6. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, +13s
7. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates, +27s
8. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +31s
9. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +36s
10. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +40s
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE SEVEN
1. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:00:28
2. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +4s
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek,+35s
4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +36s
5. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +47s