00:00After the sun and smiles of Harold Tejada on stage 6, the last thing anyone expected for stage 7 was
00:06this.
00:07The heavens opened on Nice with the famous Promenade des Anglais more like a swimming pool than a beachside walk
00:12along the Mediterranean.
00:14That wreaked havoc with the race organisers' well-laid plans, and as they scrambled to safely shorten the stage, the
00:20riders were in the dark.
00:23When we opened the curtains, I think we all knew that the stage wasn't going to happen as planned.
00:27There's still a lot of talking going on, there are lots of hypotheses, we're not sure what's going to happen,
00:33but we had the team presentation just now, and now we're going to get back on the bus and see
00:37what the plan is for the day.
00:39In the Pyrenees, you sometimes get weather like this, so for me it's okay, but this isn't training, we're in
00:44a peloton with 150 guys.
00:47So, it's quite dangerous, and I don't think we should wait for the first crash before reacting.
00:54As the talks continued, so did the rain.
00:57The peloton was talking too, and the riders had their own thoughts on what should happen.
01:05We want to race, but the problem is the state of the roads, especially the first part with the descent
01:10at Carros.
01:12We've been told that it's not possible to race on it, there's gravel on the road.
01:16I did it two years ago in the rain, and it was already on the very limit.
01:20There are certain riders who don't want to race because there's snow right now, five or six kilometres from the
01:25finish.
01:26There's snow on the road.
01:26I don't know if they're going to clear it before we get there.
01:30It's a bit chaotic, but I think we'll race, and if we get going, we'll want to race.
01:38In the end, it's the race director who has the final say.
01:43It's true that the forecast was for difficult conditions with a lot of rain, and that's the case this morning.
01:49We've been out to look at the course and seen that on certain downhill sections, there was mud and gravel
01:54washed onto the road.
01:55So we've decided to cancel the first part of the stage, and we'll put the start at 47 kilometres from
02:00the finish.
02:02We're going to race over the last 47 kilometres, which will be on a good road, a wide road, with
02:07a long, gradual uphill section and a descent.
02:10So it's a shortened stage, but a very safe one.
02:13For the moment, there's still snow at the finish.
02:15It's snowed late morning, but it's brightening up, and we should be able to finish in very good conditions.
02:26So what did that all mean for the riders?
02:28No start in Nice, and the day's initial climbs were gone too.
02:33Instead, it was a bus ride to the new start at Le Broc, 73 kilometres into the original route.
02:38Snow had already meant organisers had had to bring the finish line down from Oron to Isle-le-Village.
02:45All that left the peloton of 110 riders with a short, sharp stage.
02:51The official start has been given. Paris-Nice is underway.
02:57With no King of the Mountains or sprint points on offer, the pace was unsurprisingly leisurely as the peloton finally
03:03got underway.
03:04The team's looking happy to settle for a bunch sprint on the climb to the finish at Isle-le-Village.
03:11With Jonas Wiengergaard comfortably at the top of the general standings, his Wiesma-Lisebike team dictated the tempo.
03:18On what had been expected to be a stage when the two-time Tour de France winner's lead could be
03:23challenged.
03:26Finally, one man did decide to give the day some spice, though.
03:31Tim Marsman of the Alpacine Premier Tech team breaking clear on his own with 33 kilometres to go.
03:50The Dutch rider stretched his lead to more than 30 seconds as the peloton gave him freedom to roam.
03:55It didn't last, though, and he was eventually gobbled up after 25 kilometres out on his own.
03:59That heralded the start of the teams jostling for position to get their sprinter in the right place, with the
04:05finish line fast approaching.
04:06But Nikolai Vinukurov had other ideas.
04:09The ex-DS Astana rider surprised everyone as he shot clear of the bunch with 5k to go.
04:14The element of surprise didn't last long, though, as he was soon caught and the threat of crashes loomed as
04:20the tempo increased.
04:23As there's a crash on the left-hand side, three riders caught up.
04:27Michel Hessman, Jefferson Cepeda, that's Vito Breit.
04:31A little further down the road, Tejada was unseated, too.
04:35Then the drama was at the front, with the Flamme Rouge in sight.
04:41Under the Flamme Rouge, under the kite, 1,000 metres to remain as they make their way towards Isla.
04:47Just clicking over the one-hour marker, and this is going to be a sprint fight as Little Trek start
04:52to move themselves forward with Matthias Watzek.
04:55And he's being piloted forward by the Danish champion Soren Kruij-Andersen.
05:00Janice geared it up towards the front, as is Brian Cocker on the far right side in that red jersey.
05:04Fabian Vandenboscher, he moves off and he pulls off as Luke Lamperty doesn't have a wheel to follow currently in
05:12that green jersey.
05:13And he's trying to find a lead-out train to follow.
05:15Case Ball still there for Decathlon CMA CGM in that black jersey, the turquoise helmet, 300 metres to go.
05:22Now Samuel Watson starts to open up the tap.
05:25Gordon right on the wheel, Ball on the right-hand side.
05:28Moving forward is Luis Aula as the sprint starts to open up.
05:32Case Ball down the centre of the road.
05:33Gordon unleashes his power, but he's being challenged by Binyam Guamai.
05:37Dorian Gordon comes to the line, and Dorian Gordon is a French winner on the penultimate stage of Paris-Nice.
05:49Gordon was frustrated not to have won stage six when he took second behind Tejada,
05:53but 24 hours later, the French champion claiming his first win for Ineos Grenadiers, the team he joined last summer.
05:59It's his third World Tour triumph, rewarding the constant progress he's shown during the week.
06:08I needed some time to adapt to changing team, and I improved, and we improved as the race has gone
06:13on.
06:14This is probably our line-up for the Tour de France.
06:16We improved in communication, in our understanding of each other, and yesterday we saw that.
06:21Kevin sacrificed himself again for me today, all the team's at 200%, and tomorrow it'll be the same.
06:28I'll be 300% behind Kevin for him to get a podium finish.
06:37So, Gordon taking the win, the first by a French rider on this year's Paris-Nice.
06:42He fended off the challenge of double Tour de France green jersey, Binyam Girmay, stage one winner Luc Lamperti, coming
06:49in fifth.
06:51No change in the GC, crashes late in the stage slowed Jonas Wiengergaard, but no time lost as they all
06:57happened within the final 3K.
06:59He still has that very comfortable lead over Danny Martinez.
07:05There is a change in the green jersey, though.
07:07His points for the stage win take Godin into the lead ahead of Lamperti, with Laurence Pithy, fourth on the
07:13day, moving into third.
07:17With no points available on stage seven, there's no change in the King of the Mountains ranking.
07:22Wiengergaard maintains his eight-point lead over fellow Dane Kasper Pedersen, with just one stage left.
07:28Georg Steinhauser remains the race's leading young rider.
07:31He's 19 seconds ahead of Kevin Vauclund, the same 19 seconds that separates the pair in the battle for third
07:37place overall.
07:38So just one day to go, but who knows what the capricious weather has in store for the riders on
07:43the final stage around Nice.
