Sunday 16 March 2014 at 20h38

The last stage of Paris-Nice 2014, the 72th edition of the Race to the sun, was a short stage starting and finishing in Nice, but it wasn't an easy stage however since it contained no less than 5 difficulties in 128 kilometers.

A big breakaway group with 17 riders animated the race but in the end, the stage ended in a sprint anyway, sprint among 22 riders of the first peloton which was won by the French Champion, Arthur Vichot (FDJ.fr).

The summary of the 8th stage of Paris-Nice 2014: Nice > Nice

At 1.35PM at kilometer 0 of this last stage of Paris-Nice 2014, 151 riders went off for 128 kilometers in the hilly backland of Nice.

Since John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) only had a 2 points gap on Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) in the points classification, it was not surprising to see the Dutch team of the German rider take controle of the peloton while approaching the first intermediate sprint intermédiaire in Plan-du-Var and since he took 3 points in this intermediate sprint, John Degenkolb was almost sure to win this classification.

Only at kilometer 24, today's breakaway was formed, with no less than 17 riders. In this group we found Xabier Zandio (Team Sky), Steele Von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp), Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team), Jérôme Pineau (IAM Cycling), Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEDGE), Elia Favili (Lampre-Merida), Francesco Gavazzi (Astana), Moreno Hofland (Belkin), Matthew Busche and Danilo Hondo (Trek Factory Racing), Jérôme Cousin (Europcar), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha), Jérôme Coppel, Michel Koch and Marco Marcato (Cannondale) and Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne-Séché Environnement).

On top of the first climb of the day, the Côte de Duranus, Francesco Gavazzi took the points, ahead of Xabier Zandio and Marco Marcato and the gap of the breakaway was close to one minute at that time.

In the climb to the Côte de Châteauneuf, Jérôme Pineau tries to get away from this breakaway but before they arrive on top, the group of 17 again got together and Danilo Hondo took the points, ahead of Coppel and Favilli. In the descent, the rider of the IAM team got ahead of the race again however, this time accompanied by Zandio, Keukeleire and Favilli (photo).

When they go on to the next climb, the Col de Calaïson, they however got company from the other riders of the leading group again, except for Moreno Hofland, thus forming a leading group with 16 riders. Jérôme Pineau arrived first on top of this climb and in the climb towards the Côte de Peille the leading group again fell apart, first with only Coppel and Busche in the lead, rapidly joined by Cousin and Van Avermaet and a bit later also by Zandio, and they thus formed a 5 rider strong breakaway.
Lieuwe Westra and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Simon Spilak (Katusha) and Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) try to bridge the gap with the breakaway but even though they manage to do so before they arrive on top, the whole group was finally taken back in the descent. On the top Gavazzi took the points, ahead of Nibali and Spilak.

The whole bunch back together thus continued the descent before Jérôme Cousin (Europcar), Yury Trofimov (Katusha) and Luis Angel Maté Mardones (Cofidis) got away from the peloton and from this trio, Trofimov finally continued alone while the two other riders were taken back by the peloton in the circuit around Eze.

At the foot of the climb towards the Col d'Eze, Trofimov still had a 25 seconds lead on this peloton. His adventure came to an end in this climb however and everyone came back together before they arrived at the top of the climb. The points on this climb were for Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing), who arrived ahead of Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and the World Champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida). Simon Spilak then goes off to win the sprint in Eze and was joined Fränk Schleck, with who he continued the descent towards the finish. When they started the last kilometer they still had a 3 seconds gap on the yellow jersey group but this group finally managed to get back on them before the finish.

In the end, the stage victory was thus decided in a sprint, among 22 riders, and the French Champion, Arthur Vichot (FDJ.fr), won it!

The photos of the 8th and last stage of Paris-Nice 2014

You can discover a selection of 46 photos of this last stage of Paris-Nice 2014 in the corresponding photo category:

>> The photos of the last stage of Paris-Nice 2014 starting and finishing in Nice

The final classifications of Paris-Nice 2014

There were only a few changes in the final classifications of Paris-Nice 2014 after this last stage, with the final victory for Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale).

The stage classification for the stage 8/ Nice > Nice

Here's the top 10 of this last stage:

1/ Arthur Vichot (FDJ.fr) - 3h06'56"
2/ José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team)
3/ Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar)
4/ Damiano Caruso (Cannondale)
5/ Wilco Kelderman (Belkin Pro Cycling Team)
6/ Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing)
7/ Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp)
8/ Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale)
9/ George Bennett (Cannondale)
10/ Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne-Séché Environnement)

General classification

In the general classification of Paris-Nice 2014, Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) was the final winner. Arthur Vichot (FDJ.fr) managed to climb on the podium thanks to his stage victory and the corresponding 10 bonus seconds. Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), the unlucky World Champion in this Paris-Nice (he crashed in the final of today's stage, after having taken two second places in the past days), ended at the second place of the race.

1/ Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) - 35h11'45"
2/ Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) - +0'14"
3/ Arthur Vichot (FDJ.fr) - +0'20"
4/ José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team) - +0'21"
5/ Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) - +0'25"

Points classification

In the points classification, John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) keeps the lead, thanks to the points he took in the first intermediate sprint and the German rider thus goes home with the green jersey.

1/ John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) - 44 points
2/ Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) - 42 points
3/ José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team) - 40 points
4/ Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) - 34 points
5/ Arthur Vichot (FDJ.fr) - 33 points

King of the Mountains classification

Even though Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Belisol) didn't take any points for the King of the Mountains classificaiton today, the Dutch rider didn't see his leader position in this classification put at risk and he thus goes home with the polka dot jersey of Paris-Nice 2014:

1/ Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Belisol) - 44 points
2/ Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling) - 25 points
3/ Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) - 20 points
4/ Francesco Gavazzi (Astana Pro Team) - 19 points
5/ Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) - 16 points

Young riders classification

By winning the race, Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) of course also became the best young rider since with his 24 years he could still pretend to win the white jersey of this classification.

1/ Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) - 35h11'45"
2/ Sébastien Reichenbach (IAM Cycling) - +0'46"
3/ Wilco Kelderman (Belkin Pro Cycling Team) - +1'05"
4/ Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) - +1'37"
5/ Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) - +2'05"

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Paris-Nice 2014 | Paris-Nice

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