Paris-Nice 2014 - Stage 7
Paris-Nice neared its conclusion yesterday with its penultimate stage, which was a tricky 195.5 kilometre race from Mougins to Biot. Carlos Betancur went into the stage as race leader, meaning his AG2R La Mondiale team would have to do the bulk of the work chasing down any moves that went away. A large break did go away, meaning the stage would have to be relatively well controlled.
Laurent Didier (Trek Factory Racing) was the first to attack, and was soon joined by Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Sylwester Szmyd (Movistar), Albert Timmer (Giant-Shimano), Florian Guillou (Bretagne-Seche Environnement) and Pim Ligthart of Lotto-Belisol, who took maximum mountain points at all the checks, meaning he surpassed Sylvain Chavanel as the leader in the competition.
When their lead reached around four and a half minutes another group of chasers attempted to bridge the gap, including Brice Feillu. Feillu wasn't very far off the overall classification, so AG2R La Mondiale started reeling in the move. Feillu and Westra both tried going it alone, but they and the rest of the break were swept up with fourty kilometres to go.
More moves tried to go away near the end of the stage, most including Sylvain Chavanel, who had already lost his King of the Mountains jersey out on the road. AG2R La Mondiale still had things under control however, and they brought the race back together for the final uphill run into the finish. Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) was the first to attack on the run in, but he was confidently chased down.
Tom-Jelte Slagter countered Kelderman well, and came off his shoulder to win in front of world champion Rui Costa, who has had a frustrating week of podium places without winning. Race leader Carlos Betancur was third across the line on the same time, so held on to his race lead going into the final stage. All that Betancur has to do to win Paris-Nice is finish with the front group on stage eight, and he will have pulled off the biggest win of his career to date.