Thomas De Gendt in the polka dot jersey,joined a breakaway in Paris-Nice again today. He picked up twenty-five points and now has a total of sixty-one points. That’s forty more than the second man in the KOM classification. In the final De Gendt was so strong that he left his four companions behind and it looked like he was on his way to a coup. The peloton was close and the slightly uphill last hectometres of the 192 kilometres long stage made it impossible to survive. With only four hundred metres to go it was over for De Gendt and the Italian Davide Cimolai won the stage.

“Of course you’re disappointed when you’re so close to the victory," he said. "It’s a pity, but we can’t change anything. The plan was to take points on the first climb if possible. I easily escaped the peloton at a moment when lots of riders got dropped. I picked up the points and normally it was the plan that I would wait for the bunch. But I asked the sports directors if I could stay in front because I felt I had really good legs and there were four strong riders with me. There was a good cooperation between us and I could take the maximum of the points on every climb. Then I aimed for the stage win. I came close.

"I went for the points in the first climb and I didn't really expect to be in a break. I was surprised it went that far because we never had much more than three minutes but when I saw in the finale that there was still a little bit of of gap I went. I was just 200 metres short. 

"The jersey is not entirely won yet, there are still 51 points to collect tomorrow. We'll see what my closest rivals will do.  With forty points lead on the second rider in the KOM classification it looks good, but it’s not sure yet. Tomorrow there are 51 points to gain, so all is still possible. We’ll have to wait for the first two climbs to see if someone will become a danger. If Gilbert or Sørensen attacks, I’ll have to follow, because they are my main opponents. If at least three riders take off, who don’t have any points yet, then I win the jersey.

"Paris-Nice was my first goal of the season and I was aiming at a stage win. I'm sorry I missed it by so little. Yet I have extremely good legs, I trained really hard in the winter and it obviously pays off."