Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) has claimed the final stage of Paris-Nice after getting the better of the seemingly invincible Jumbo Visma duo of Primož Roglič and Wout van Aert. However, Roglič just about held off a last stage collapse and won the overall title, with Van Aert largely rescuing him today when Yates took the fight to him.
Yates, who went into the stage 2nd overall, attacked on the final climb of the race - Col d'Èze on the outskirts of Nice - on the last day of action in the 'Race to the Sun'. It looked for a short time as if Yates would not only ride away to stage victory but also gain the 40 seconds he needed on Roglič to take the overall victory.
When he initially attacked on the climb, after Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsic) had made several efforts, Roglič was unable to respond to Yates and Van Aert was in danger of being distanced.
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Roglič initially let Quintana ride on the front after Yates before Van Aert gathered himself a little bit and was able to begin riding again - the Belgian champion having already ridden on the front for about 50km before the last climb.
The Jumbo Visma duo then dropped Quintana on the climb, with Van Aert doing his best to tow Roglič and control the gap to Yates, who was flying up the climb.
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While Yates at one point got 28 seconds over the two chasers, that was as big as the gap got. Roglič and Van Aert managed to shave off a few seconds before they crested the climb and they continued to close the gap further on the descent and on the flat run-in to the finish.
However, while it looked like Roglič and Van Aert would catch Yates and take the stage win from him, the British rider hung on by nine seconds to take a brilliant victory; Van Aert 2nd and Roglič 3rd. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) won the sprint from the chasing group for 4th place almost two minutes back.
The result meant Roglič ran out the overall winner by 29 seconds, with Daniel Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers) finishing 3rd overall a 2:37. The Ineos Grenadiers challenge to take yellow on the final day was ruined when Martinez punctured before the final climb and was forced into a long chase, in the chasing group with team mate Adam Yates.
Irish riders Sam Bennett and Ryan Mullen were both withdrawn from the race on today's final stage by their Bora-hansgrohe team, which you can read about by following this link.
