Teammate of Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin at Israel-Premier Tech, the German Pascal Ackermann fought with the Dane Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) in the sprint on Thursday at the fifth stage of Paris-Nice. A few meters from the finish, they saw the Dutchman Olav Kooij from the Visma-Lease a Bike team beat them and sign his second victory of the week.
Pedersen eventually took second, closely followed by Ackermann in third. Both cyclists showed signs of frustration after being overtaken on the left by Kooij. The eventual winner having accelerated in the final moments of this 193.5 kilometer course.
A breakaway of six riders took the lead from the start of the race, only to be caught again with 10 kilometers to go.
Guillaume Boivin was one of those who pulled the peloton in the last kilometers before letting the sprinters express themselves. The Quebecer concluded at 115e rank, at 57 seconds, while Hugo Houle finished 45eat the same time as the winner.
The Australian Luke Plapp of the Jayco AlUla team, who started the stage in yellow on Thursday, retains the leader’s jersey. His lead in the provisional general classification is 13 seconds over the Colombian Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain – Victorious) and 27 seconds over the American Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates). Houle and Boivin respectively occupy the 74e and 89e places.
The sixth step of this 82e Paris-Nice will be contested in the mountains, between Sisteron and La Colle-sur-Loup. Five climbs are planned over 198.2 kilometers.