UAE Team Emirates were once again victorious on the second summit arrival at Paris-Nice, taking their second win of the week through Tadej Pogačar.
After a day of forced rest caused by the strong wind, the UAE Team Emirates’ captain conquered stage 7 of the French race, 142.9 km from Nice to the Col de la Couillole, beating his direct rivals for the general classification, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).
On the final climb, the peloton bridged the gap from the main breakaway of the day (18 riders) and then the battle between the main favourites of the race began: Vingegaard attacked for first at -5.7 km, causing the prompt reply by Pogačar who led the race for a couple of kilometers with 7 seconds on the chasing duo Gaudu-Vingegaard.
The Slovenian rider was reached by the two opponents and Gaudu tried a couple of attacks, but the three entered all together in the final 500 metres. Vingegaard launched the sprint and Pogačar succeeded in obtaining his 7th seasonal victory (13 success of the year for the Emirati team).
The Slovenian increased his general classification lead by 12 seconds on Gaudu and 58 seconds on Vingegaard. The UAE Team Emirates’ captain also wears the green jersey of the points classification and the white jersey of the ‘young riders’ classification.
Meanwhile, Joao Almeida continued his consistent high-level performances with 3rd place on stage 6 of Tirreno-Adriatico from Osimo Stazione to Osimo (193km).
The wind subsided slightly after Saturday’s stage but the racing was intense with the uphill kick to the line proving decisive. Joao Almeida stuck with the other race favourites in the heavily reduced group, finishing a bike length behind race leader and stage winner Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma).
Almeida now moves up to 2nd overall at just 18’’ being Roglic ahead of the last stage starting and finishing in San Benedetto del Tronto (145km).
Pogačar strikes again at Paris-Nice as Almeida battles to podium at Tirreno-Adriatico.#WamNews https://t.co/paOsruUI3z
— WAM English (@WAMNEWS_ENG) March 12, 2023
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