The race towards the sun made a stop in Bouches-du-Rhône. A day initially promised to sprinters was once again disrupted by complicated weather conditions.
This 6th stage of Paris-Nice was far from a walk in the park. With 209 kilometers on the counter, the riders experienced a long day filled with all kinds of hardships. The X factor was the wind. Although the chances of crosswinds were lower than during the first stage, the race intensified a little over 50 kilometers from the finish when the gusts picked up.
Among those caught out, Lenny Martinez, yesterday’s winner, lost all hope of performing well in the general classification. This was due to a strong acceleration by Visma Lise a Bike in the descent of Côte des Beaux de Provence. The Dutch team, having lost Jonas Vingegaard due to his withdrawal after a crash the day before, tried to make up for it by allowing Matteo Jorgenson to further widen the gap over several favorites. Only Florian Lipowitz and Mattias Skjelmose, second and fifth in the general classification, respectively, managed to hold on.
When tallying up the results, Joao Almeida, Brandon McNulty (third last year), Clément Champoussin, and Lenny Martinez were the big losers of the day, with a loss of between 2 and 8 minutes in the general standings.
Mads Pedersen assumes the role of the day’s favorite
Among the day’s favorites, only the indefatigable Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek) was present at the front. All the sprinters like Tim Merlier, winner of the first two stages, as well as Arnaud Démare, Emilien Jeannière, Alexander Kristoff, and many others were caught out.
Remaining in contention for the victory in this small group of 17 riders were the Frenchman Axel Zingle (Visma Lise a Bike) and the British rider Samuel Watson (Ineos Grandiers). Two riders capable of performing well in sprints like the one at Étang de Berre. Although Maximilian Schachmann attempted a solo kilometer, the three contenders for victory fiercely contested the sprint. Unsurprisingly, it was indeed the strongest who prevailed, Mads Pedersen, ahead of Joshua Tarling, Samuel Watson, and Axel Zingle.
In the green jersey standings, it’s the Dane who takes the green jersey from Tim Merlier this evening. As for the general classification, Matteo Jorgenson remains the solid leader of the race, ahead of Florian Lipowitz with a 40-second gap, followed by Mattias Skjelmose a little under a minute behind.
Tomorrow, the race will set off from Nice for a shortened stage of about thirty kilometers due to poor weather forecasts in the Belvédère and Colmiane areas. However, the finish will still be judged in Auron after 109 km of racing.
