The Slovenian won his second success during this edition, on Saturday, ahead of the Frenchman and Jonas Vingegaard, at the top of the Col de la Couillole.
After his demonstration at the Loge des Gardes on Wednesday, Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Emirates) passed the second blade. The Slovenian won the 7th stage, Saturday March 11, between Nice and the Col de la Couillole, gleaning his second success on this edition of Paris-Nice. He is ahead on the podium of the stage David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), author of an excellent climb and still runner-up overall, and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). With his seventh success this season, “Pogi” increases his overall lead by a few seconds.
Pogacar and Gaudu had isolated themselves 2.5 kilometers from the finish, after dropping Vingegaard who came back to the duo just before the finish. The French Romain Bardet (Team DSM) and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos-Grenadiers) finished 7th and 8th respectively in the stage.
The day after a sixth stage canceled due to weather conditions, this stage, the finish of which was located at the top of the long Couillole rolling pass (15.7 km at 7.1%) was a decisive stage, on the eve of the arrival in Nice. The peloton has long controlled the fifteen fugitives, including the last survivor, Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), was caught nine kilometers from the finish at the instigation of Vingegaard’s teammate, Tobias Foss.
Six French in the top 15 of the stage
After a timid attempt by Chris Harper, it was Tadej Pogacar who went on the attack, leaving the whole group of favorites behind, before leveling off and seeing the Gaudu-Vingegaard duo join him. It was even the Frenchman who allowed himself the luxury of placing a double attack, the second of which unclamped the last winner of the Tour de France. Finally back to the train, the Dane tried to surprise the duo in the sprint, but Pogacar, almost unbeatable on the sprints uphill, settled the group. Overall, the Slovenian leads David Gaudu and Vingegaard respectively by 12 and 58 seconds on the eve of the finish.
In total, there are six French people in the top 15 of the stage: Romain Bardet (7th) and Pavel Sivakov (8th), who managed behind the trio, Pierre Latour (10th), the unfortunate Aurélien Paret-Peintre who fell in the climb (13th) and Clément Berthet (14th). Earlier in the day, the green jersey Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), had given up.