Romain Bardet fights to 7th and moves up on GC at Paris-Nice

After two days for the sprinters and yesterday’s team time trial, today was the first chance for the GC riders come to the fore with a climb-focused final 40 kilometres. However, to reach the climbs they would have to traverse some treacherous open plains and all eyes were on the local wind forecast in the morning. After a nervous opening, a break of seven riders escaped and things seemed to settle into a normal route. Yet, on a few separate occasions the bunch would split before regrouping and in the end the wind didn’t play any outcome on the stage.

Heading towards the climbs in the finale the team worked well together to keep GC finisher Romain Bardet in a good position, bringing him to the front of the bunch for any dangerous moments. Eventually the breakaway was caught and the reduced peloton was together as they hit the final climb. It was a tactical final ascent with several attacks and counter attacks, as riders dropped from the group. Pushing all the way to the finishing, Bardet brought the team home for a fine seventh place on the stage and moves up to sixth on GC as the race passes the halfway mark.

Bardet said: “It was a pretty full day of racing today, proper Paris-Nice style with some crosswinds in the early part of the stage before going onto the climb. We managed to stay together to save some energy and the guys did their best leading me to the climb. There it was full gas from the bottom and a bit more tactical afterwards where I wasn’t super sharp. I need to approach the next days with a bit more confidence to go for a big result because the legs seem to be there.”

Team DSM coach Phil West added: “It was a bit edgy with the crosswind all day and the peloton split a few times but it came back together in the end. We made a big push to be in a good position with Romain going through Vichy, as after that it was narrow and tricky roads so it was important to be in the front there. We managed to get Romain into the final climb in a good position and from there it was all about legs really, although it was tactical in the GC group too. I think Romain did a good final climb and we’ll see what we can do in the coming stages.”