New Giant-Shimano signing Dries Devenyns tested himself for the upcoming classics when he made a strong attack on the descent in the finale of yesterday's queen stage of Paris-Nice. Although leaving the stage empty-handed, the Belgian was pleased with his attempt on a day where John Degenkolb also scored a bit of points to protect his lead in the points classification.

He said before the race had started that he would go on the attack and today we saw Dries Devenyns stick to his word.

In the closing stages of the tough 221.5km sixth stage of Paris – Nice, Devenyns hit out on the descent following the climb of the Col de Bourigaille with less than 20km to race. He was joined by Damiano Caruso but their lead never grew past 15-seconds and as the road flattened out again the game was up.

On the final climb to the finish, the tough Côte de Fayence, Devenyns faded and couldn’t stick with the climbers as they pulled away on the steep gradients of up to and over 15%. He eventually came across the line in 33rd place, 40 seconds down on the winner.

The stage honours went to Carlos Betancur (AG2R) taking his second win of the race, and in doing so he also takes over the overall race lead.

The race kicked off in attacking style as numerous riders tried to break the elastic but weren’t let go by the chasing peloton. It took over 60km for the day’s break to form and John Degenkolb took advantage of these regroupments to take a few points at the day’s first intermediate sprint, to add to his tally in the green jersey competition.

When the break did eventually establish itself, it was never allowed much room and this kept the pace high both in front and behind. The ten riders out front kept plugging away but inside of 60km to go two riders attacked from the peloton and bridged across to the break before going straight past and taking just two others with them.

Only Sylvain Chavanel (IAM) was left out front on the slopes of the Col de Bourigaille and he was finally reeled in before the descent. This left about 40-50 riders at the front of the race and from there Dries took his chance to hit out.

It was always a tough task as the bunch were in no mood to let anyone get away, and with the tough uphill finish to come a decent advantage was needed.

“It was a good test today and I felt good but it was tough to get away,” said Dries after the finish. “The guys did a great job to protect me and get me to the front for the last climb. The pace there was fast but I was fine holding my position.

“Over the top of the long climb the bunch was still quite big. Nibali attacked on the descent and I countered him, getting away with one other but he wasn’t doing that much work so it was hard to stay away.

“I’m happy with the condition and it has been a good race for us here so far. John got some more points today too which was good. We will see what happens tomorrow.”

Team Giant-Shimano coach at Paris – Nice, Christian Guiberteau said: “The plan was to go for Dries today and he was feeling good and had a strong go at the end. Earlier on John picked up some points at the first intermediate sprint as there was only one rider out front. This was good for his confidence and we will continue to try what we can for the green jersey but it will be tough against Betancur.

“The team rode well together to get Dries into position before the final hill and then it was up to him. He went on the descent, knowing that it was a tough uphill finish and did what he could but the bunch weren’t having it.

“There’s no regrets, we gave it a good go, and it’s good for Dries’s moral to attack like that late on. The team is in a good mood, the moral is up and we will keep challenging until the end.”

You can read our preview of stage 7 here and follow our live coverage at 14.25 CET on CyclingQuotes.com/live.