2021 Paris-Nice Stage 7 Results & Recap
Stage 7 of the 2021 Paris-Nice is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Roglic relentless on La Colmaine\nBy Clara Beard
Some may argue that race leader Primoz Roglic didn't need to take a third victory today on La Colmaine, but the Jumbo Visma captain disagreed. Roglic had the legs, the opportunity, and the motivation to send an avalanche of hurt down on his GC rivals in the final metres of today's abbreviated 119.5km stage, accelerating to catch and pass a frustrated Gino Mader (Bahrain-Victorious), who was just seconds away from taking his first professional career victory.
"I told myself why not?" Roglic said after the stage. "There was a possibility and I took it. It was hard all day, especially at the beginning. Short but sweet as they say. In the end, it was really tight but luckily I managed to come first on the finish line. It’s not really over. There is still another race and another challenge, a short stage again. It will be super hard and we need to focus again and do our job. It’s really not easy but luckily the boys are doing very well. It’s fun to race here."
Roglic's move is knocked down the door of almost certain victory, his first at Paris Nice, despite what he said in post-race interviews. He's extended his lead over Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) to 52 seconds. The best young rider, Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) is third, 1:11 adrift.
It was a fast and furious start to the stage, which saw thirteen riders on the Cote de Gilette, a group of Neilson Powless (EF-Nippo), Andrey Amador and Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Julien Bernard and Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), David de la Cruz (UAE), Sam Bennett and Mattia Cataneo (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Dylan Teuns and Gino Mader (Bahrain). Polka-dot jersey wearer Perez was on the hunt to cement his lead in the KOM competition, at which he was successful.
"I wanted to go for the first KOM, I joined the fight, and then once in the front I didn’t want to let them go so I went for the others," Perez said. "I didn’t actually want to go to the front but Julien Bernard was up there, if he had not been I wouldn’t have done it. That’s the way it went. Guillaume Martin finished 7th today, we’re doing nice things with the team. Tomorrow my job will be to look after Guillaume for the GC and after Christophe Laporte for the sprint."
On the final climb, the breakaway started to dissipate as the peloton drew nearer in anticipation of the finish. Elissonde was the last rider standing and was joined by Mader who bridged across from the main bunch. The French climber didn't have the legs to follow the German as the end drew near, and for a moment, it looked like the Bahrain rider could upset the GC favorites. However, it was all over for everyone when Roglic clicked into high gear, with only Maximilian Schachmann (Bora - Hansgrohe) able to hang on his wheel briefly before Roglic rocketed to his third victory of the race.
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