Tinkoff-Saxo’s Michael Valgren showed guts in today’s mountain stage at Paris-Nice. The young Danish Champion finished sixth in Nice after clinging on as the last man from the big breakaway of the day. Carried out in cold, rainy conditions, the stage will be remembered as a flat-out day of racing.

Michael Valgren was the last of more than twenty riders including four from Tinkoff-Saxo to get caught on today’s stage. He did so just before the last climb of the day, when the shattered group of favorites caught up to him. In spite, Valgren hung on and took sixth place on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice behind stage winner Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal).

“I’m happy with my performance today. Of course it would have been better if we had closed the gap on the descent, then a top three on the stage would have been possible. But I felt strong during the stage, and I think that the bad weather was in my favor, as I’m normally good when it’s cold and raining. We tried our best today with four guys in the breakaway, however we rode to win but overall I feel good about my efforts”, says Michael Valgren after crossing the line.

Tinkoff-Saxo had Michael Valgren, Roberto Kiserlovski, Sergio Paulinho and Matti Breschel in the big breakaway on stage 6, which spanned 181,5km from Vence to Nice. As the breakaway tackled the six categorized climbs, the group started thinning out. On the penultimate climb, Valgren kept the pressure high and ultimately attacked solo on the downhill section towards the last ascent of the day.

Just before the start of the last climb, Valgren was caught by the front group of favorites led by the yellow jersey of Michael Kwiatkowski, with several GC contenders caught further back including Richie Porte, who ultimately bridged the gap.

“There were several parts, where I could really feel my legs, but I kept up the pressure and I was able to stay with the group of Porte and Kwiatkowski after they caught me. We tried to catch the first chasing group with Valls, Fuglsang, Costa and Spilak, but it was hard to bridge gap on the fast descent down to Nice. In the sprint for the secondary positions, I launched my sprint early with 250meters to go and I was able to keep them behind me”, Valgren adds.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s sports director Sean Yates noted that the team had been aiming for the stage win, but that he saw positive highlights during the grueling stage.

“Chris Anker did a good job, also Matti Breschel, who worked hard during the first part of the stage and of course Valgren, who haven’t really shown his true level so far in Paris-Nice until today, where it was quite obvious that he is a very strong and robust rider. It’s a shame for us that the favorites started fighting behind and wanted to join in on the fun up front, otherwise he would have been the strongest in my opinion”, concludes Sean Yates.