Britain’s Geraint Thomas took a huge step toward winning Paris-Nice as he finished second behind Russian Ilnur Zakarin in Saturday’s sixth and penultimate stage.
Thomas took the maillot jaune off Australian Michael Matthews of Orica-GreenEdge in the only uphill finish of the race after 177km from Nice to La Madone d’Utelle, France.
Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Tinkoff was third on the stage a second back, with Australian reigning champion Richie Porte of BMC Racing Team, who was Thomas’ team leader at Team Sky last year, taking fourth seven seconds back.
Thomas now leads by 15 seconds overall from Contador, with Team Katusha rider Zakarin 20 seconds back and Porte another second behind that.
“I’m disappointed not to win the stage, but to gain a little time on Richie and Contador was really good,” Thomas said.
Yesterday’s final hilly 134km stage around Nice gave Thomas’ rivals some chances to snatch victory, but the Welshman would be feeling confident.
“It’s by no means finished. Contador is a pretty good bike rider, and Richie and Zakarin too,” Thomas said. “They won huge races. There’s still a hell of a long way to go.”
Team Sky controlled the pace on the final 15.3km ascension of Saturday’s stage, despite Contador attacking on several occasions.
Porte burst out of the leading group with 1km to go as the victory came down to a fight between the top four.
Thomas was next to have a go, before Zakarin, 26, claimed the sprint finish.
Matthews had been distanced on the penultimate climb about 20km from home.
TIRRENO-ADRIATICO
AP, FOLIGNO, Italy
Stephen Cummings of Britain rode solo to victory at the end of the fourth and longest stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico on Saturday, while Zdenek Stybar retained the overall lead.
The race is to continue today after yesterday’s mountainous stage — a 178kkm ride from Foligno to Monte San Vicino, Italy — was canceled due to snow.
Cummings attacked with 3.5km remaining after being given the all-clear to do so by Team Dimension Data and he opened up a large gap.
He had chased down several attacks in the final 20km to keep his teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen in contention.
Salvatore Puccio of Team Sky edged out Cummings’ teammate Natnael Berhane to finish second on the 222km ride from Montalto di Castro to Foligno, Italy.
Etixx-Quick-Step’s Stybar finished in the peloton, preserving his nine-second advantage over Damiano Caruso of BMC Racing Team.
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