Paris-Nice

Remco Evenepoel sits just 36 seconds from the yellow jersey with just one day to go at the “Race to The Sun” after cutting his deficit to half on the modified stage seven. Due to the snow, the peloton tackled Madone d’Utelle instead of the much harder Auron climb, but the 24-year-old managed to make up ground thanks to a solid ride and a fantastic team effort on a wet and cold day.

Soudal Quick-Step took control of the peloton some 40 kilometers into the stage, setting a brisk tempo and guiding Evenepoel on the treacherous descents, while eating into the escapees’ advantage. The last of these men was caught on the early slopes of the 15.3km climb, where Remco had Mattia Cattaneo, Louis Vervaeke and Ilan Van Wilder with him, their effort splitting the field and leaving only 15 riders in the lead group.

The Belgian Champion made his first move with four and a half kilometers remaining, prompting a response from the others, before making another move, this time just two kilometers from the finish. In the meantime, Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe) had managed to break away, getting a 20-second gap over the chasers, a margin which proved to be decisive.

Evenepoel put in another solid effort in the group, leading a strong charge behind, and later he even had something left to sprint at the finish, taking second atop Madone d’Utelle, which returned to Paris-Nice after eight years. The result moved Remco up to fourth in the ranking with one stage remaining, keeping alive his hopes of finishing the prestigious French race in the top three overall.

It wasn’t easy with the cold and wet roads we had from the start, but I relied on an amazing team, incredibly committed from the beginning of this short but fast stage.

“They paced in the valley going into the final climb, where Louis set a pretty hard pace from the bottom. Then Ilan took over and I made a move with four or five kilometers to see what would happen. A couple of riders reacted, then Vlasov went and the others let him go. I attacked again inside the final two kilometers to go, and from there it was full gas to the line, where I took second after opening my sprint with 180 meters to go. It was a good day, we have one more stage, and the race is far from being over”, a confident Evenepoel said at the finish.

Photo credit: ©Alex Broadway / Getty Images