Rui Costa may start to believe in the curse of the rainbow jersey after he took another 2nd place in today's penultimate stage of Paris-Nice. It was his fifth runner-up spot in 2014 so far and the world champion admits that he is now starting to get frustrated.

When he won the world championships, Rui Costa said that he had no reason to believe in the so-called curse of the rainbow jersey that have seen riders fail to perform at their usual level in the year after becoming world champion. After today's stage of Paris-Nice, however, the Portuguese may slowly start to change his mind.

Having already finished 2nd on three stages of the Volta ao Algarve, he finished 2nd for the second consecutive day when Tom-Jelte Slagte (Garmin) beat him in the uphill sprint. Prior to the sprint he had showed his intentions by asking his teammate Przemyslaw Niemiec and Jose Serpa to set a hard tempo on the final lap of the finishing circuit but again he failed to pay back their hard work.

"Today I thought I could win, after four second places this season, but the victory has again eluded me," he said. "The disappointment is great. I am fine, the team works well but for some reason we can't hit the target. I want to transform the disappointment over the lack of success into something positive.

"In the last lap, I asked my teammates to set a steady pace as I had seen that Betancur was not as good as yesterday. I wanted to put him under pressure and try to wear him out. I don't want to leave any stone unturned and I will address the final stage with that attitude."

Costa is also second on GC, 14 seconds behind overall leader Betancur.

You can read our preview of the final stage here. You can follow our live coverage of the stage at 15.15 CET on CyclingQuotes.com/live.