Paris-Nice 2024: Vlasov solo winner, Evenepoel back within striking distance ahead of final stage

As he was no longer a threat to the leaders in the overall standings, Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) seized the opportunity. About four kilometres before the end of the 7th stage between Nice and the Bad weather shortening The Russian attacked on the new day's finish, La Madone d'Utelle, and was not chased down. After 104 kilometres, he saved a small cushion for his first victory in almost two years at the finish of the mountain top finish.

Eight seconds behind Vlasov, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) led a small group to the finish ahead of Vlasov's captain Primoz Roglic, which also included the previous day's winner Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) in the white jersey. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), wearer of the yellow jersey, lost touch in the finale, but was still able to maintain a four-second lead over Jorgenson in the overall standings.

Battle for the overall standings open again

Generally speaking, everything has moved closer together in the classification ahead of the difficult final stage, with Evenepoel now 36 seconds behind in fourth place, he once again has every chance of overall victory. That's not the case for Roglic. Although he has finally made it into the top 10, he is almost a minute and a half behind McNulty.

At least Bora was able to celebrate the stage win through Vlasov. "Because I no longer played a role in the overall classification, nobody chased me. The plan was actually for me to be with Primoz in the finale and maybe go on a few attacks. But then I got a clear run and found the right moment," said Vlasov in the winner's interview.

The last winner of the Madone d'Utelle was also a Russian eight years earlier. Ilnur Zakarin won stage 6 of Paris-Nice in 2016. "I had known about it. Seems like a good mountain for us," said Vlasov, who otherwise didn't have too much fun on the road when he was travelling on parts of his training routes. "I was really freezing on the last few kilometres. It was very cold, even though I was dressed quite warmly."

The weather is expected to improve again for the finale on Sunday, and a further shortening of a stage was initially not an issue after the end of the race. There were also no changes to the other classification jerseys. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) continues to wear the green sprinter's jersey, Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) leads the mountains classification.

Paris-Nice 2024 - Results: The top 10 of stage 7

1. Alexander Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) 2:44:03
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:08
3. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:08
4. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +0:08
5. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:08
6. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:13
7. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +0:27
8. Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:31
9. Aurelien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon - AG2R La Mondiale) +0:36
10. Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:40

The current standings in the overall standings

1. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) 25:00:28
2. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:04
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +0:35
4. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:36
5. Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:47
6. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:21
7. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:42
8. Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:43
9. Aurelien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon - AG2R La Mondiale) +1:53
10. Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2:05

>> Results of Paris-Nice 2024 at a glance

>> Paris-Nice 2024: This is the route

>> Cold starters Roglic and Evenepoel - these are the favourites for Paris-Nice 2024

How the 7th stage of Paris-Nice 2024 went

Continuous rain and six degrees - these were the conditions for stage 7 of Paris-Nice, which was shortened to 104 kilometres. The day's programme was - like the final day - nevertheless not sprinter-friendly and therefore Pascal Ackermann and Rick Zabel (both Israel-Premier Tech), Arnaud Demare (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla) and Gerben Thijssen (Intermarche-Wanty) decided not to start. Later in the stage, Rigoberto Uran (EF Education EasyPost), Pierre Latour, Anthony Turgis (both TotalEnergies) and Timo Roosen from the dsm-firmenich PostNL team also dropped out.

This left the Dutch team with only two riders, but they put themselves in the limelight again throughout the day. Martijn Tusveld went on the offensive shortly after the start with Johan Jacobs (Movistar) and Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), while dsm man Gijs Leemreize followed the leading trio with Brent Van Moer (Lotto-Dstny) and Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies).

One by one, however, everyone was brought back, with the last remaining rider being the Swiss rider Jacobs. He made it to the foot of the final climb up to the Madone d'Utelle. 14 kilometres before the finish, he also had to abandon the race.

Everything calm until the intermediate sprint

A few kilometres earlier, when the terrain was still almost flat, the peloton split into several parts. Even though Felix Gall (Decathlon - AG2R La Mondiale) was not at the front at first, the Austrian, like all the other contenders for the top places in the overall classification, was back in the lead group at the decisive moment when the pace picked up on the climb.

Evenepoel's Soudal team initially took over the pace work on the final climb, with Ineos Grenadiers also joining in shortly before the intermediate sprint. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) took six bonus seconds at the final 7.5 kilometres before the end in Utelle, four went to Ilan Van Wilder, who took two more away from his captain Evenepoel.

Nobody reacts to Vlasov's attack

Up to that point, however, the race remained cautious, there were no attacks and the pace was moderate. 4.3 kilometres before the finish, Evenepoel stepped up the pace. Initially, only Jorgenson and McNulty were able to go with him, but everyone behind him was able to catch up again. Then it became too much for Gall and Bernal also had to fight. Shortly afterwards, Vlasov went clear and was able to pull out a small cushion. As nobody followed, the small lead should last until the finish.

Behind them, Evenepoel picked up the pace again 1.7 kilometres before the finish. The group continued to shrink, only Roglic, Jorgenson and Buitrago were able to keep up, Skjelmose fought his way back a few metres later. McNulty was no longer able to close the gap. However, because there was disagreement at the front, the American almost fought his way back to the front. But when Evenepoel set off on the final sprint and the group followed, the yellow jersey's legs opened up after all, whereupon the defence of his overall lead turned into a seconds thriller, but ultimately ended positively for him.