Tadej Pogacar fends off General Classification rivals to take Stage 7 summit victory of Paris-Nice

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) edged out General Classification rivals David Gaudu (Groupama — FDJ) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) to take victory on Stage 7 of Paris-Nice. The Slovenian timed his attacks to perfection as 2022 Tour de France winner Vingegaard struggled to match his efforts atop Col de la Couillole.

Ad Pogacar retains the yellow jersey ahead of the final stage, extending his lead in the process, while also claiming bonus seconds. Paris — Nice'Primed for the Paris-Nice prize' — Pogacar extends lead with stage 7 win9 MINUTES AGO “For sure today was one of the toughest battles for the finish,” he said afterwards.

"[My attack] was a bit early, but I didn't want too many riders in the front, so it would be less stop-start. In the end it went perfectly how I imagined it.

«Tomorrow is another really hard day — I think the hardest of the whole Paris-Nice but the climbs are better for me tomorrow.” After the dramatic cancellation of Stage 6, the unscheduled rest day saw the peloton raring to go from Nice to Col de la Couillole, with a series of early attacks. A number of riders and teams attempting to take control but nothing was able to stick initially as the peloton refused to allow the breakaway to make much headway.

'Who is shoving me?!' – Rochas almost blown off bike in crazy crosswinds Paris-Nice Stage 6 cancelled due to 'exceptionally violent' winds David De La Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan) took the Villars-sur-Var intermediate sprint ahead of Kobe Goossens and Javier Romo (Astana Qazaqstan Team), while on the Cote de Tourrette-du-Chateau, Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny) took maximum points in the Mountains classification. A sickness bug had also wrecked havoc on the peloton with Sam Bennett and green