The riders rolled out of Le Broc this morning for the queen stage of this year’s Paris-Nice, with it’s summit finish atop La Colmiane. With a category-two climb from the flag drop, it was an incredibly fast start to the stage with Jai Hindley initially infiltrating a large group that had a small gap over the peloton but it was soon back together. Eventually the elastic snapped and a break of 13 went clear. With all Team DSM riders in the bunch, attention switched to saving energy and regrouping for the finale.
With 40 kilometres to go, stage two winner Cees Bol brought the team forward to the front of the bunch. The team then helped to set tempo, helping bring the gap to the breakaway down to just over one minute. The bunch continued to slowly whittle down as they took on the La Colmiane climb, with Tiesj Benoot and Jai Hindley riding strongly towards the front after being well positioned on the foot slopes by the team.
As the finish drew nearer, an infernal pace was set at the front before Benoot tried an attack but he was quickly closed down by race leader Roglic. The attacks and strong pace continued, as the riders fought all-out until the line, with Benoot and Hindley digging deep. Both rode a good finale, with Benoot crossing the line in sixth place with Hindley not too far behind in tenth place. Today’s results see Benoot consolidate his top ten on GC, moving up to fifth place in the overall standings with tomorrow’s short 93 kilometre stage to go.
Pos. | Rider | Team | Time | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ROGLIČ Primož | Team Jumbo-Visma | 3:09:18 | 60 |
2 | MÄDER Gino | Bahrain - Victorious | 0:02 | 25 |
3 | SCHACHMANN Maximilian | BORA - hansgrohe | 0:05 | 10 |
6 | BENOOT Tiesj | Team DSM | 0:10 | - |
10 | HINDLEY Jai | Team DSM | 0:27 | - |
91 | EEKHOFF Nils | Team DSM | 19:46 | - |
100 | SÜTTERLIN Jasha | Team DSM | ,, | - |
101 | PEDERSEN Casper | Team DSM | ,, | - |
118 | BOL Cees | Team DSM | 21:10 | - |