Nicolas Roche has enjoyed another strong ride at Tour du Haut-Var, taking a top six as Nairo Quintana won solo on Col d'Eze.
Quintana (Arkéa Samsic) went clear alone on the final climb from a long way out to win, as he did last Saturday on Mont Ventoux Chalet Reynard at Tour de La Provence.
Today when Quintana attacked Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) went after him but the Frenchman couldn't hold the flying Colombian when he pressed again in a bid to get rid of Pinot.
As Quintana rode up the climb to the finish to win by 40 seconds, Pinot went back to what remained of the peloton, which was down to just 22 riders on the finish line.
Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) was in that group and was 5th in the sprint to the line for 6th place on the stage; a very solid result for him.
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Roche also finished in the climbers' group yesterday when three escapees hung on out front on the uphill finish to take the top three places; the 16-rider select group finishing just six seconds down on stage 1 winner Anthony Perez (Cofidis).
Quintana was in the group yesterday with Roche and combined with today's result the Colombian climber now leads overall by 38 seconds from Michael Storer (Team Sunweb), who was 3rd yesterday and stole a few valuable seconds on the main favourites.
Simon Clarke (EF Pro Cycling), who led home Roche's 22-man group today for 2nd place on the stage, is now 3rd overall at 40 seconds.
There is then another 14 riders on the same time, all 40 seconds down on Quintana, including Roche, Pinot, Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Fausto Masnada (CCC Team) and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) among others.
Roche is 12th overall ahead of tomorrow's final stage; 136km from La Londe to Le Mont Faron with two late short sharp climbs before the final 6km ascent to the finish.
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