Cycling: Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) is the name of the winner of the sixth stage of Paris-Nice 2018. The 28-year-old Frenchman took his chance in the extremely difficult finish and crossed the line first in front of the 10-strong group of favorites. In second and third place are Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), who, thanks to a few bonus seconds, made up some ground on overall leader Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), who finished fourth.
The sixth stage from Paris-Nice kept what the profile promised beforehand. It was an extremely tough race day for probably all the riders in the peloton and the extremely steep final climb pushed some riders to their limits and beyond. In the end, the lead had thinned out to 10 riders, including the top-placed drivers in the overall standings; only Wout Poels (Team Sky) was missing. This had come down in the sometimes extremely fast descent on a wet road almost 20km before the finish. He stayed lying on the asphalt for what seemed like an eternity, but seemed to be conscious. No further details on the state of health are known at this time.
After Simon Yates was able to tear a gap with a lot of risk on this descent, he was quickly caught on the steep final climb, the Côte de la Colle sur Loup (1,8km / 10%). Here the favorites were stalking each other for the overall standings and no one was willing to take the full risk. Rudy Molard, who had “cheated” himself among the top drivers, seized this opportunity and attacked a few hundred meters before the finish line. The pursuers looked at each other briefly, but since Molard does not play a major role in the overall standings, it was decided to let the Frenchman go, thus driving to his second professional win ever. At the finish, he put his hands in front of his face and one or the other tear of joy surely flowed.
Not much changed in the overall standings. Tim Wellens got six bonus seconds in second and Julian Alaphilippe in third. The Quick-Step pro is now 22 seconds behind Luis Leon Sanchez, who successfully defended the yellow card.