Tadej Pogacar fends off General Classification rivals to take Stage 7 summit victory of Paris-Nice

Updated 11/03/2023 at 21:01 GMT

Tadej Pogacar extended his General Classification advantage over David Gaudu (Groupama - FDJ) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) after claiming victory on stage 7 of Paris-Nice atop Col de la Couillole. The Slovenian holds on to the yellow jersey ahead of the final stage which takes place on Sunday. Stream the 2023 cycling season live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.com.

Paris-Nice Stage 7 highlights - Pogacar demonstrates class again to stretch lead with win

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) edged out General Classification rivals David Gaudu (Groupama - FDJ) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) to take victory on Stage 7 of Paris-Nice.

The Slovenian timed his attacks to perfection as 2022 Tour de France winner Vingegaard struggled to match his efforts atop Col de la Couillole.

Pogacar retains the yellow jersey ahead of the final stage, extending his lead in the process, while also claiming bonus seconds.

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“For sure today was one of the toughest battles for the finish,” he said afterwards. "[My attack] was a bit early, but I didn't want too many riders in the front, so it would be less stop-start. In the end it went perfectly how I imagined it.

"Tomorrow is another really hard day - I think the hardest of the whole Paris-Nice but the climbs are better for me tomorrow.”

After the dramatic cancellation of Stage 6, the unscheduled rest day saw the peloton raring to go from Nice to Col de la Couillole, with a series of early attacks.

A number of riders and teams attempting to take control but nothing was able to stick initially as the peloton refused to allow the breakaway to make much headway.

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David De La Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan) took the Villars-sur-Var intermediate sprint ahead of Kobe Goossens and Javier Romo (Astana Qazaqstan Team), while on the Cote de Tourrette-du-Chateau, Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny) took maximum points in the Mountains classification.

A sickness bug had also wrecked havoc on the peloton with Sam Bennett and green jersey Mads Pedersen among the non-starters on the day.

A 17-man break formed in the final 40km which was whittled down to five consisting of Goosens, Romo, Nils Politt (Bora–Hansgrohe), Eenkhoorn and Jeremy Cabot (TotalEnergies).

Goossens took the lead when he dropped Romo but was caught in the final 10kms as Pogacar, Gaudu, and Vingegaard battled for supremacy with less than 3km to go.

The Jumbo-Visma man didn't have the legs to deal with the attacking efforts of his two rivals, however, and saw a four-second gap open up as they went into the final kilometre.

Vingegaard made one last lunge which merely goaded Pogacar to power across the line as Gaudu finished second, two seconds off.

The race concludes on Sunday.

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Stream the 2023 cycling season live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.com

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