Paris-Nice 2020 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE]

March 8, 2020

Paris-Nice 2020 – Stage 6 – Sorgues – Apt : 161,5 km

Who is and who isn’t? Ian Brown’s repeated question from the stage of Blackpool’s Empress Ballroom all those years ago during a famous Stone Roses concert has been echoed in the days leading up to the 2020 edition of Paris-Nice. At the time of writing, seven WorldTour teams have confirmed their withdrawal from the Race to the Sun, citing concerns over the risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus Covid-19. The withdrawal of Team Ineos of defending champion Egan Bernal is also a mark of respect to the late Nicolas Portal, who died tragically earlier this week and whose funeral takes place in Auch on Monday. CCC Team, Mitchelton-Scott, Movistar, Astana, UAE Team Emirates and now Jumbo-Visma have pulled out of Paris-Nice – and the since-postponed slate of racing in Italy – strictly as a precaution against Covid-19. Earlier this week, however, the French ministry for sport gave the green light for Paris-Nice to go ahead, albeit with a caveat that local governments along the route retain the right to impose restrictions if the situation develops. As of Friday morning, France had 423 confirmed cases of Covid-19 distributed nationwide, but Emmanuel Macron’s government has for the time being stopped short of declaring a stage 3 epidemic in the country and taking dramatic actions similar to those decreed in Italy that forced the cancellation of all the March races.

While much of the world went into lockdown to limit the spread of the coronavirus covid-19, Paris-Nice continued for another day, with Tiesj Benoot (Team Sunweb) winning the hilly sixth stage to Apt in the south of France.

The Belgian jumped across and then past an earlier attack by teammate Søren Kragh Andersen over the top of the 4.2km Côte d’Auribeau climb with 13km to go and held off the big-name overall contenders with a superb solo performance.

Michael Matthews won the sprint some 22 seconds behind Benoot to give Team Sunweb a one-two on the stage and take the six-second time bonus.

Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) responded to a number of attacks on the late climbs but then crashed into the barriers on the final decent. It was inside the final three kilometres and so he was given the same time as the other riders and so kept the overall race lead.

Benoot moved up to second overall at 18 seconds, with Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling) third at 43 seconds.

“I’m really happy to give a victory to the team now. We did a really good preparation with some really nice team camps. We put a lot of effort into the Classics team. Unfortunately we cannot ride the Classics this year but I’m sure in the future we can still achieve some nice things,” Benoot said reflecting on the impact of the coronavirus on the spring racing season.

“It was a really hard day, full gas from the start. QuickStep immediately started to pull behind the break. I knew that was a good situation for me, I had really good legs, and I like the days where you have to push all day and today was a day like this. I came in a really situation. I went in the counter attack with Nibali and there I felt I still had something left, so I went full with him and then alone when there was 10-15k to the finish.

Schachmann was happy to have survived the day in yellow after his late spill.

“I crashed at 800 metres to go. The race was full on and the guys where going full gas down,” the German explained post-race.

“We didn’t see the descent before and it was really crazy. I had a little gap and I came back fast but I made a mistake. It was crazy.”

Results :
1 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Team Sunweb 3:57:02
2 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:22
3 Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Pro Cycling
4 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-Quickstep
5 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
9 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
11 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
12 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
13 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:00:43
14 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
15 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling
16 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert
17 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:53
18 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:01:01
19 Michael Hundahl (Den) NTT Pro Cycling
20 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
21 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
22 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:02:48
23 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) NTT Pro Cycling 0:03:18
24 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
25 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
26 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-Quickstep
27 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
28 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Nippo Delko Provence
29 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
30 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
31 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
32 John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:05:54
33 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
34 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
35 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
36 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
37 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis 0:08:23
38 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
39 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:08:25
40 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis 0:11:01
41 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep
42 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Pro Cycling
43 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
44 Michael Gogl (Aut) NTT Pro Cycling
45 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
46 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:11:45
47 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:12:16
48 Julien Vermote (Bel) Cofidis
49 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
50 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert
51 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
52 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic
53 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
54 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:14:20
55 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:17:08
56 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
57 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
58 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Total Direct Energie 0:20:19
59 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
60 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep
61 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
62 Ben O’Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling
63 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:20:58
64 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Total Direct Energie
65 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
66 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
67 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis
68 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
69 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb
70 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
71 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
72 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
73 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence
74 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic
75 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
76 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
77 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Pro Cycling
78 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence
79 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
80 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
81 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
82 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
83 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation
84 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis
85 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
86 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
87 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling
88 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
89 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:21:06
90 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie
91 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling
92 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:22:42
93 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence 0:26:39
94 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
95 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
96 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Circus-Wanty Gobert
97 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic
98 José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence
DNF Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNS Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNS Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
DNS Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
DNS Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain McLaren
DNS Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
DNS Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
DNS Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
DNS Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain McLaren
DNS Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
DNS Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
DNS Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
DNF Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb
DNF Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie
DNF Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
DNS Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
DNF Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
DNS Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Start-Up Nation
DNF Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Israel Start-Up Nation
DNF Tom Devriendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert
DNF Cyril Gautier (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
DNF Kevin Reza (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept

General Classification after Stage 6 :
1 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 22:46:24
2 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:00:36
3 Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:01
4 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:10
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:18
7 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:29
8 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:30
9 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling 0:01:52
10 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:04
11 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:02:36
12 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:38
13 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:49
14 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:03:24
15 Nils Politt (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:04:01
16 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:24
17 Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:04:59
18 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:06:02
19 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:06:16
20 John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:07:50
21 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:15
22 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:08:36
23 Michael Hundahl (Den) NTT Pro Cycling 0:08:52
24 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:10:35
25 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) NTT Pro Cycling 0:11:08
26 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:11:21
27 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:12:12
28 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:12:45
29 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:12:55
30 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis 0:13:32
31 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:14:16
32 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:14:38
33 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:15:27
34 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:16:32
35 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:16:43
36 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:17:31
37 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:18:22
38 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
39 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:18:38
40 Winner Anacona (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:18:57
41 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Nippo Delko Provence 0:19:15
42 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:20:31
43 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:12
44 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis 0:24:32
45 Julien Vermote (Bel) Cofidis 0:24:35
46 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:25:09
47 Romain Combaud (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:25:17
48 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence 0:25:33
49 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:25:46
50 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:25:59
51 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:26:18
52 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Pro Cycling 0:26:45
53 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:27:04
54 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:27:07
55 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:27:20
56 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:27:29
57 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling 0:27:30
58 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:28:14
59 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis 0:29:11
60 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:29:19
61 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:29:55
62 Dayer Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:30:01
63 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis 0:30:57
64 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Nippo Delko Provence 0:31:55
65 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling 0:33:05
66 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:33:18
67 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:33:23
68 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:34:31
69 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:37:21
70 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Pro Cycling 0:38:06
71 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
72 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling 0:38:07
73 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Nippo Delko Provence 0:38:12
74 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:38:35
75 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Total Direct Energie 0:38:38
76 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:39:02
77 Michael Gogl (Aut) NTT Pro Cycling 0:40:13
78 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:41:05
79 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:42:07
80 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:42:18
81 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Total Direct Energie 0:42:54
82 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
83 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:43:09
84 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:43:11
85 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:43:16
86 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale 0:44:35
87 Nico Denz (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:45:08
88 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:45:56
89 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:46:17
90 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept 0:47:02
91 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Circus-Wanty Gobert 0:52:44
92 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:53:59
93 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:54:58
94 Ben O’Connor (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling 0:55:19
95 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:56:08
96 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:56:32
97 José Gonçalves (Por) Nippo Delko Provence 1:01:46
98 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 1:02:03