Paris-Nice 2018: sunshine for the Spanish riders David De La Cruz and Marc Soler in the final stage

Added: sunday 11 March 2018 at 23:13:00

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The sun was definitely missing from the final part of Paris-Nice 2018 in Nice (despite the nickname of the race, the Race to the sun), with this stage of 110 kilometers which took place under the rain. If there were any sunrays, those were for the two Spanish riders who managed to get some good results out of this stage, David De la Cruz (Sky) for the stage win in a duo sprint and Marc Soler (Movistar) who wins the race thanks to the delay of the yellow jersey and the bonus seconds!
The summary of the 8th and final stage of Paris-Nice 2018: Nice > Nice
In this last stage, we had to wait until the climb of the Côte de Levens and the twentieth kilometer to see the first attacks, but this first breakaway didn't really work out. Once the bunch got back together, it fell apart in two parts, with a group of 24 riders ahead.

On top of this first climb, Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) took some additional points for his polka dot jersey of the best climber. After that, little by little a leading trio got away, with Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), Omar Fraile and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana). On top of the Côte de Châteauneuf, Thomas de Gendt thus only took the 2 remaining points, taking the 4th position behind these 3 riders who have a gap of 55 seconds at the moment they lose Fuglsang with a flat tyre.

On the Col de Calaïson the gap of the leading duo is up to 1'20" while De Gendt loses contact with the yellow jersey group. In the next climb, the Côte de Peille, it's Alaphilippe's turn to lose contact with Fraile and he's rapidly caught back by 3 riders who got away from the yellow jersey group, David De la Cruz (Sky), Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) and Marc Soler (Movistar). After a second accelleration by Soler, only De la Cruz manages to hold on and we thus have a chasing duo behind Fraile. On top of the climb they manage to get back on him and there's thus once again a leading trio in the race.

This trio is closely watched out for by the riders of Mitchelton-Scott, the team mates of Simon Yates, the yellow jersey of the race, but they see there's still a gap of 50 seconds on the foot of the Col d'Eze. In the descent of this climb, Omar Fraile gets rid of the two other riders of the breakaway but in the following climb, the last one of the day, the Col des Quatre Chemins, the trio gets back together and in this same climb, Simon Yates loses contact with the chasing group.

At a bit over 10 kilometers from the finish, Soler no longer manages to follow the two other riders of the breakaway and in the end, De la Cruz gets rid of Fraile, but getting closer to Nice, Soler comes back on De la Cruz and just before the final kilometer Fraile comes back to complete the breakaway trio. When the sprint starts, it's between De la Cruz and Fraile because Soler doesn't have the power anymore to battle for this sprint!

In this sprint David De la Cruz wins the stage, while .. Marc Soler gets a consolation which is no less than the final win of the race. Indeed, the yellow jersey group with Simon Yates crosses the finish line of Paris-Nice 2018 with a 37 seconds delay on De la Cruz and thanks to the bonus seconds for the 3rd place in today's stage, Soler thus wins this 76th edition with a 4 seconds gap on Yates!
The final classifications of Paris-Nice 2018 after the eighth stage
The stage classification: Nice > Nice
Here's the top 5 of today's stage:

1/ David De La Cruz (Team Sky) - 2h53'06"
2/ Omar Fraile (Astana Pro Team)
3/ Marc Soler (Movistar Team) - +0'03"
4/ Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) - +0'38"
5/ Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)
The general classification
It's thus at the very last moment that Marc Soler takes the final victory in the 76th edition of Paris-Nice:

1/ Marc Soler (Movistar Team) - 30h22'41"
2/ Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) - +0'04"
3/ Gorka Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) - +0'14"
4/ Ion Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida) - +0'16"
5/ Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal)
Points classification
Not much changes in the points classification which is won by Tim Wellens:

1/ Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) - 37 points
2/ Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) - 31 points
3/ Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) - 28 points
4/ Marc Soler (Movistar Team) - 27 points
5/ Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) - 24 points
King of the mountains classification
With some additional points taken in the two first climbs, Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) keeps his polka dot jersey as the King of the Mountains:

1/ Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) - 69 points
2/ Omar Fraile (Astana Pro Team) - 37 points
3/ Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) - 21 points
4/ Marc Soler (Movistar Team)
5/ David De la Cruz (Team Sky) - 19 points
The video summary of the eighth and final stage of Paris-Nice 2018 - Nice > Nice
by Thomas Vergouwen
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