Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Zdenek Stybar continues to demonstrate good form, finishing 8th on the uphill finish of 195.5km Paris-Nice on Saturday.
Thanks to non-stop attacking and chaos in the peloton due to no teams taking control into the final kilometers, the peloton was reduced in number heading into the finale. Astana tried multiple attacks, including Vincenzo Nibali, but those were neutralized by AG2R - La Mondiale protecting Carlos Betancur in the yellow jersey.
The result was Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) winning another stage. Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) was 2nd, and Betancur 3rd.
Styby is now 26" back from Betancur in the race lead. Costa is 2nd, 14" back.
OPQS looks next to the final, 128km Stage 8. The stage includes five categorized climbs. Col d'Eze (4.3km, 6.7% gradient) is the most renowned, at km 113 of the race. The final kilometer descends into a small climb, and then descends again into a flat finale.
"It was very hard," Stybar said "The beginning of the race was ok, the peloton had everything controlled, so the pace on the climbs wasn't so hard. But in the final it was very hard. It was about surviving all the attacks and to minimize the damage in terms of losing seconds. I lost one second to Rojas, but OK, now I am third. I have to keep it for tomorrow. Now I have to recover because it was really hard, but tomorrow we just have to go for it and try to stay in the top three if we can."