A resolute display puts the 36-year-old Belgian less than a minute behind the yellow jersey.
A brisk pace on the opening hour of the Paris-Nice queen stage meant that a breakaway formed only on the lower slopes of Côte de Gourdon, and when the elastic was finally snapped, Deceuninck – Quick-Step was represented by Tim Declercq and Philippe Gilbert. The duo were part of a huge 39-man group which nudged out their advantage to six minutes on the roads to Col du Turini, the race’s only mountain top finish.
Averaging 7.3% over 14.9 kilometers, Col du Turini was making its debut at the “Race to the Sun”, after having previously featured three times on the Tour de France, in 1948, 1950 and 1973, but it’s better known by sports lovers as being a regular fixture on the World Rally Championship, part of a 31km-long night stage of the iconic Monte Carlo Rally.
Both Tim and Philippe traded turns at the front during this energy-consuming stage 7, as the break worked well together, ensuring the front group would start Turini with a nice advantage over the thinned-out bunch. Even as the breakaway began losing more and more members, Gilbert continued to do the bulk of the work, sensing he had a fair chance of moving into the yellow jersey.
Dropped following a series of attacks launched by the two Colombian riders present in the move, the Belgian soldiered on and impressed with his exceptionally strong ride, finishing just outside the top 10. Unfortunately, despite this valiant effort, he didn’t become the first Belgian in eight years to top the Paris-Nice general classification, missing out on the prestigious garment due to a brace of attacks launched from the pack which narrowed down his advantage on the stage won by Daniel Martinez (EF Education First).
At the finish, Philippe brushed off the disappointment and saw the glass half full after a performance from which he could draw a lot of confidence as he prepares to go into the Classics: “The plan was to infiltrate in the break and we managed that. We rode smart and Tim was of great support on the first part of the last climb; afterwards, I rode my own tempo, because I knew it would have been impossible against the pure climbers. I also knew the ascent pretty well and this helped a lot. It’s for the first time in my life that I am on the overall podium of Paris-Nice, which is a bit of a strange feeling, but nevertheless, it makes me happy, especially as I heard in the radio that also Bob did a good stage and remained in the top 10. We’re even more motivated for the last stage and curious to see what it will bring.”
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
