Tony Gallopin didn’t succeed in defending his yellow jersey in the climb time trial on the Col d’Èze. Richie Porte was too strong. He won the stage and became the overall winner. Tim Wellens set a strong time and secured his tenth place in GC.

BeforeThomas De Gendt could go on the podium to receive the polka dot jersey, he shined one more time. The winner of the KOM classification set the twelfth best time today. Then it was up to Tim Wellens to defend his tenth place in GC. He rode really well and finished as ninth in the stage, securing the tenth place in the overall standings.

The big question was if Tony Gallopin could hold on to the yellow jersey. At the first intermediate point, where Richie Porte set the fastest time, it was already clear that it would be impossible to maintain the lead in the GC. Richie Porte won the stage and is the overall winner of Paris-Nice. In the final GC Kwiatkowski and Spilak are second and third respectively.  Tony Gallopin set the 29th time today and fell back to the sixth place in GC.

“I had a bad day, I knew it immediately after the start. I looked at the wattage and noticed it wasn’t sufficient to set a fast time. This is tough mentally. I was nervous because it was an important day; I had the opportunity to win Paris-Nice. But I don’t think that played a role. The legs just weren’t good enough. It’s difficult to explain, but this is cycling,” Tony Gallopin told the Lotto website.

"It's terrible. But that's just bike racing. One day you can feel so well and the next so bad. It was just an awful day. I knew from the start I was not on a good day. I'm not looking for excuses. There is no excuse. I felt alright in the morning. But I was just unwell. In a bad day. It's the law of sport but it's a terrible disappointment. With the legs I had this week, it was possible. But you're not often in a position like this. I was nervous. It's a blow. But you learn from such blows. I hope it can help me in the future.

“I am sixth overall. If you had told me this in the beginning of the week I would have been satisfied with it. It is indeed a nice result, but after yesterday I hoped for more. Now I am disappointed. Tomorrow or the day after I will probably be able to put this in perspective and look back on a great week. Then I’ll make the switch, because Sunday I’ll ride Milan-Sanremo. That’s always a special race, I love it. It’s an open race, where lots can happen. That is my next appointment before the Ardennes classics.”

With two stage wins, by André Greipel and Tony Gallopin, the sixth place of Gallopin and the tenth place of Tim Wellens in GC, Thomas De Gendt as winner of the polka dot jersey and Tim Wellens second in the young rider classification Lotto Soudal can look back on a more than successful Paris-Nice. Tim Wellens is happy that he could achieve his ambition.

“I’m satisfied with the ninth place in the time trial, especially when you see the names in front and just behind me in the ranking. I came to Paris-Nice with the ambition to finish in top ten and I succeeded. If I had become eleventh I would have been disappointed. I’m positive about the past week. Last year I couldn’t have done what I did know. In yesterday’s situation for example I would have been dropped immediately after my group had been caught by the one with Gallopin. I feel that, compared to this time last year, I have set a big step forward. I’m much stronger than last year in Paris-Nice,” Tim Wellens said.

“It wasn’t planned to join an early breakaway yesterday. When I noticed that they let everyone go, I jumped away. In a stage with lots of ascents and descents and wet roads, it’s better to be in a breakaway. I could save energy, Thomas De Gendt did some of my turns at the front. That was the ideal situation. For a moment I believed we would stay in front with some riders, but soon the peloton started chasing and it was all about surviving as long as possible. I had a puncture after Tony had attacked, just like Thursday on a bad moment. But it didn’t have an influence on my result. To get back I needed to take some risks, because it was wet and I had a wheel from the neutral assistance, but I still finished on the seventh place.”