Michal Kwiatkowski finalized a 2nd place in the general classification after a top five finish at the final, 9.6km ITT from Nice to Col d'Èze on Sunday. Tony Martin and Kwiatkowski finished 4th and 5th in the time trial that proved to be decisive for the overall. Richie Porte (Team Sky) won the stage and the overall with a 20'23" time.
Simon Spilak (Katusha) was 2nd, and Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) 3rd. Martin and Kwiatkowski both finished 29" down (27.604km/h) to Porte on the uphill time trial, which was also affected by some wet, rainy weather conditions.
Kwiatkowski took home the Best Young Rider award to complement his 2nd place overall placing. Kwiatkowski won the opening prologue, and wore the Yellow jersey for several stages thanks to his victory, as well as a 3rd place finish on Croix de Chaubouret in the 4th stage.
"I had the yellow jersey for a while in this race, and I'm happy about what we did overall," Kwiatkowski said to the Etixx website. "We did what we could with this final uphill time trial. It didn't work out for the victory, but I'm happy with my 2nd place. Richie Porte was the strongest guy in the peloton. He deserved this win and I'm happy to be on the next step below him on the podium.
"I can be happy with finishing second because Richie Porte was the strongest guy. We tried to win Paris-Nice yesterday because we knew that Richie would be too hard to beat on Col d'Eze. But it didn't work out.
“We tried our best yesterday, Etixx - Quick-Step was aiming for the win and we were aggressive, but I didn't have the legs to go with Gallopin. So today I did a good TT, especially considering the hard stage of yesterday. I'm satisfied with my result at the end.
"I learnt a lot this week, I won the prologue, I held the yellow jersey, I won the white. I learnt that I had chances in a one-week race. The most satisfying thing was to see I could stay with the best climbers. That was the most important thing to learn.
"This race gave me a lot of motivation for the next races, and great experience for the one-week stage races. Everything is going in the right direction. Competing on the climbs with the best climbers is something really nice that I discovered about myself and my skills. Every year I'm making little progressions and I hope I can continue in this way. I am also happy with my condition. We will see what I can show in the future. I am looking forward to Milano-Sanremo and then of course the Ardennes Classics."
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