Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsic) won the seventh stage alone, 166.5 km between Nice and the top of the Colmiane, and the German Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) successfully defended the leader's yellow jersey in Paris-Nice , certifying his second victory in a stage race. Quintana attacked three kilometers from the top and took the stage with a 46-second advantage over Belgian Tiesj Benoot and 56 over French Thibaut Pinot, Colombian Sergio Higuita and Italian Vincenzo Nibali. Schachmann arrived two seconds later, fifth.

Schachmann, who had only won the 2016 Tour de Alsace, took the final victory with an 18-second advantage over Nenoot and 59 seconds over Higuita. He succeeds in the history of Paris-Nice to the Colombian Egan Bernal , absent this year, and returns the title to Germany nine years after the victory of Tony Martin .

The seventh stage, in theory penultimate, became the final day after the annulment, due to the coronavirus epidemic, of the eighth and last, around Nice, although in any case, with four scoring ports and a high end, it was called to decide the race. Among the criticisms of those who called for its cancellation due to the epidemic, the test had an early and strange end, with no guest cars or public on the last ramps or on arrival.

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who started 2:04 minutes behind the leader, revolutionized the peloton as soon as the first climbs appeared and formed a breakaway together with Aurelien Paret-Peintre (AG2R La Mondiale), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Alberto Bettiol (EF Pro Cycling) and Nicolas Edet (both Cofidis).

70 km from the finish, the escape had a three-minute margin over the chasing group of the leader Maximilian Schachmann. For many kilometers Alaphilipe was the virtual leader of the race, but the Bora team worked hard in the peloton to reduce the gap and their leader was again leader 25 km from the end.

Nairo's collaboration

At the foot of the last port -16 km of ascent-, the escapees had an income of 1:20 over the leader's group. The Bora had found the collaboration of the Arkea of ​​Nairo Quintana to bridge differences.

On the first ramp, Belgian leak expert Thomas De Gendt attacked, staying first with Alaphilipe and shortly thereafter only leading, with a 1:07 lead 14 km from the top. Vincenzo Nibali , who was sixth overall, 1:18 behind the leader, put his team, Trek Segafredo, and particularly Richie Porte to work in the last ten kilometers, and Nairo Quintana jumped with a big plate at 4 km.

The Arkea boss quickly hunted De Gendt and left without opposition in search of stage victory. He was far behind in the general standings (twelfth, at 2:38) and Schachmann, despite the final attack of the second classified, the Belgian Tiesj Benoot, defended the yellow until the end.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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