Paris-Nice 2022 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE]

March 11, 2022

Paris-Nice 2022 – Stage 6 – Courthézon – Aubagne : 213,6 km

Before the globalisation of the cycling calendar, Paris-Nice marked the beginning of a new cycling season and the start of a long. As it usually falls in early March, the race also marks a symbolic shift from winter to spring. This seasonal transition is what characterises the week-long stage race and why many nickname it ‘The Race to the Sun’. Since its first edition in 1933, Paris-Nice has been regarded as one of the most prestigious stage races on the annual cycling calendar. In fact, outside of the Tour it’s probably the biggest multi-day race in France and one of the events that home riders spend their whole careers trying to win. The format and flavour of the race has chopped and changed over its 89-year history, but for the most part it has followed a tried and tested formula of seven road stages and one – often decisive – individual time trial. Wind-battered stages through France’s central hinterland characterise the first half of the race and give the Classics specialists and hardy rouleurs a chance to shine. The mountains then start to rear their heads as the race skirts Provence and heads ever closer to the finish in Nice. It’s then on the final stage, in the capital of the French Riviera, where the race routinely draws to a dramatic close.

Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) defied the odds to win stage 6 of Paris-Nice with a late attack, fending off the sprinters after a breathless finale in Aubagne.

Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) took the sprint for second ahead of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), but the fast men fell just short of overhauling Burgaudeau, who married strength and savvy with his winning move.

The Frenchman attacked on the uphill intermediate sprint in Lascours with a shade under 9km remaining and he persisted in his effort over the other side, steadying himself after he almost slid out on a corner.

Burgaudeau was facing a slight headwind on the flat run-in that followed, but he succeeded in stretching his lead out to 20 seconds over the peloton with 3.5km to go. That gap was reduced significantly by the time the 23-year-old passed beneath the flamme rouge, with Trek-Segafredo and Jumbo-Visma’s Christophe Laporte giving chase, but Burgaudeau showed remarkable resilience to stay clear.

The final obstacle was the slight rise in the finishing straight, but Burgaudeau kept his gear turning over to hang on for the first victory of his professional career, while Pedersen outsprinted Van Aert, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) and Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) for second place.

An exhausted Burgaudeau lay down on the roadside past the finishing line, but he was wearing a broad smile as he did so. The youngster had impressed throughout the week in his work on behalf of Pierre Latour, and he seized his own opportunity with his determined attack in Aubagne at the end of a stage that had long seemed destined to finish in a reduced bunch sprint.

“The legs were really good like they had been since the start of the season, but cycling isn’t just about the physical, you have to have the confidence and be sure in your head,” Burgaudeau said. “That’s what I was lacking in the last weeks and a lot of times in the past, but today I told myself to go and not look back. I was à bloc in the final kilometre and the one thing I told myself was not to look over the my shoulder before the finish.”

In the overall standings, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) finished safely in the peloton to retain the yellow jersey with a lead of 39 seconds over Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) and 41 over Latour ahead of Saturday’s key summit finish on the Col de Turini, where the temperatures are expected to be scarcely above freezing.

“It’s the beginning of the season and every day here is hard racing,” Roglič said. “It was again today windy and super uncomfortable. At the end, it’s one [day] less. Tomorrow is a big one, with a big climb. Hopefully I have the legs to go with the best ones.”

How it unfolded
At the start in Courthézon, Roglič intimated that Paris-Nice’s longest stage would not be the site of a skirmish in the general classification, and so it proved. After being left isolated in the finale the previous afternoon, Roglič had yellow and black jerseys around him all day long, and not even the uphill intermediate sprint in the finale could entice the overall contenders onto the offensive.

At first glance, it appeared a stage for the baroudeurs, and a group of six riders – Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Yevgeniy Federov (Astana-Qazaqstan), Victor Koretzky (B&B Hotels-KTM), Johan Jacobs (Movistar) and Sébastien Grignard (Lotto Soudal) – duly forged clear ahead of the opening ascent, the Col de Murs.

A headwind for much of the day, allied to the determination of Trek-Segafredo, Cofidis and Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert to tee up a bunch sprint, however, meant that the escapees were never granted much more than four minutes, and their gap began to come down rapidly ahead of the Col d’Espigoulier with 40km to go.

By then, Madouas had buttressed his king of the mountains advantage by leading over the Col de Murs, Col de Sambuc, Col des Portes and Col de Pas de la Couelle, but he was quickly dropped from the break when Jacobs and Koretzky accelerated at the base of the 10km-long Espigoulier.

Matthew Holmes (Lotto Soudal) attacked from the reduced peloton and bridged across to Jacobs and Koretzky midway up the climb, and that trio still led over the summit, though their advantage had shrunk to just 10 seconds thanks to the diligent pace-setting of Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo).

The break was caught with 27km to go and shortly afterwards, Søren Kragh Andersen (DSM) channelled Frédéric Vichot with a white knuckle descent, though the Dane was swept up as the road flattened out. The GC men opted not to contest the uphill intermediate sprint in Lascours on the run-in, and when Burgaudeau jumped away there, it looked like a cameo and nothing more. Instead, the Vendée native would finish as the day’s leading man.

“At the start I had to protect Pierrot [Latour], especially on the descent of the Espigoulier, but I felt really good all day, and I really wanted to have a go on the final climb,” Burgaudeau said. “I played my hand and it worked.”

Results :
1 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) TotalEnergies 5:33:06
2 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
3 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma
4 Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
5 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
6 Luka Mezgec (Slo) BikeExchange-Jayco
7 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa) Movistar Team
8 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
9 Florian Senechal (Fra) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
10 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-KTM
11 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) TotalEnergies
12 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
13 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team DSM
14 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
15 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Fred Wright (GBr) Bahrain Victorious
17 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroen Team
18 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team
19 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team DSM
20 Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies
21 Franck Bonnamour (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM
22 Fabien Doubey (Fra) TotalEnergies
23 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Cofidis
24 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma
25 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan Team
26 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
27 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
28 David de la Cruz (Spa) Astana Qazaqstan Team
29 Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkea-Samsic
30 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
31 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe
32 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
33 Tobias Bayer (Aut) Alpecin-Fenix
34 Hugo Houle (Can) Israel-Premier Tech
35 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious
36 Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
37 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
38 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
39 Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
40 Simon Yates (GBr) BikeExchange-Jayco
41 Connor Swift (GBr) Arkea-Samsic
42 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) TotalEnergies
43 Damien Touze (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
44 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
45 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Jumbo-Visma
46 João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates
47 Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Team DSM
48 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal
49 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team
50 Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates
51 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
52 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team
53 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
54 Johan Jacobs (Swi) Movistar Team
55 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
56 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers
57 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
58 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:22
59 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:07
60 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Arkea-Samsic 0:01:44
61 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:19
62 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team
63 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
64 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
65 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal
66 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
67 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM
68 Victor Koretzky (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM
69 Silvan Dillier (Swi) Alpecin-Fenix
70 Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates
71 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
72 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Movistar Team 0:03:55
73 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma 0:04:50
74 Finn Fisher-Black (NZl) UAE Team Emirates 0:05:33
75 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:05:58
76 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
77 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost
78 Cees Bol (Ned) Team DSM
79 Michael Storer (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
80 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
81 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:07:44
82 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Astana Qazaqstan Team 0:09:00
83 Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM 0:09:26
84 Matis Louvel (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
85 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM
86 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
87 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
88 Senne Leysen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:11:36
89 Luke Rowe (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
90 Owain Doull (GBr) EF Education-EasyPost
91 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
92 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 0:13:43
93 Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:15:23
94 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
95 Nico Denz (Ger) Team DSM
96 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Cofidis
97 Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
98 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
99 Kévin Geniets (Lux) Groupama-FDJ
100 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
101 Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers
102 Campbell Stewart (NZl) BikeExchange-Jayco
103 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
104 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
105 Sébastien Grignard (Bel) Lotto Soudal
106 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
107 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
108 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
109 Simon Carr (GBr) EF Education-EasyPost 0:16:51
110 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:21:00
DNF Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis
DNS Simon Geschke (Ger) Cofidis
DNS Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
DNF Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
DNS Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
DNS Luke Durbridge (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
DNF Aimé De Gendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNS Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNS Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Jordi Warlop (Bel) B&B Hotels-KTM

General Classification after Stage 6 :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 22:23:34
2 Simon Yates (GBr) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:00:39
3 Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:00:41
4 Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:56
5 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:59
6 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:11
7 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team DSM 0:01:26
8 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:35
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Arkea-Samsic 0:01:45
10 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Cofidis 0:02:01
11 Hugo Houle (Can) Israel-Premier Tech 0:02:03
12 David de la Cruz (Spa) Astana Qazaqstan Team
13 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:02:24
14 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team 0:02:25
15 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:40
16 Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 0:02:56
17 Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Team DSM 0:02:58
18 João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:08
19 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:03:15
20 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers 0:05:05
21 Franck Bonnamour (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM 0:05:17
22 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:07:02
23 Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates 0:07:51
24 Fabien Doubey (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:08:17
25 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:38
26 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroen Team 0:08:56
27 Fred Wright (GBr) Bahrain Victorious 0:08:57
28 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:09:23
29 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious 0:09:33
30 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:09:54
31 Damien Touze (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:10:00
32 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:11:04
33 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan Team 0:11:14
34 Silvan Dillier (Swi) Alpecin-Fenix 0:11:16
35 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Arkea-Samsic 0:11:24
36 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:11:43
37 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:13:11
38 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:13:16
39 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis 0:13:26
40 Florian Senechal (Fra) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 0:13:32
41 Johan Jacobs (Swi) Movistar Team 0:13:50
42 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:15:02
43 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Movistar Team 0:15:14
44 Georg Zimmermann (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:15:19
45 Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:15:28
46 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team DSM 0:15:46
47 Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spa) Movistar Team 0:15:53
48 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:15:55
49 Connor Swift (GBr) Arkea-Samsic 0:16:21
50 Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:16:57
51 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team 0:17:17
52 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:17:19
53 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 0:18:25
54 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Jumbo-Visma 0:18:55
55 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:20:05
56 Luka Mezgec (Slo) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:20:43
57 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:20:46
58 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-KTM 0:22:03
59 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:22:05
60 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:22:12
61 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:22:38
62 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:22:39
63 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Arkea-Samsic 0:23:30
64 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:24:47
65 Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:25:16
66 Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team 0:26:09
67 Owain Doull (GBr) EF Education-EasyPost 0:26:23
68 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:28:24
69 Victor Koretzky (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM 0:29:28
70 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM 0:29:30
71 Tobias Bayer (Aut) Alpecin-Fenix 0:32:40
72 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost 0:32:54
73 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers 0:33:02
74 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM 0:33:13
75 Finn Fisher-Black (NZl) UAE Team Emirates 0:34:12
76 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) TotalEnergies 0:35:24
77 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:35:50
78 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma 0:35:53
79 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:36:03
80 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:36:37
81 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:37:05
82 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:37:18
83 Sébastien Grignard (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:37:41
84 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:38:34
85 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:38:36
86 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 0:38:57
87 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:42:17
88 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Arkea-Samsic 0:42:26
89 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Astana Qazaqstan Team 0:42:29
90 Kévin Geniets (Lux) Groupama-FDJ 0:42:38
91 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:42:48
92 Michael Storer (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 0:43:25
93 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:43:50
94 Cees Bol (Ned) Team DSM 0:45:12
95 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Cofidis 0:45:30
96 Simon Carr (GBr) EF Education-EasyPost 0:46:38
97 Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels-KTM 0:46:54
98 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain Victorious 0:48:17
99 Matis Louvel (Fra) Arkea-Samsic 0:48:26
100 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:49:52
101 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 0:50:34
102 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:50:41
103 Luke Rowe (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:51:27
104 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:53:09
105 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) TotalEnergies 0:55:47
106 Senne Leysen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:58:45
107 Nico Denz (Ger) Team DSM 0:59:32
108 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 1:00:03
109 Campbell Stewart (NZl) BikeExchange-Jayco 1:01:41
110 Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers 1:01:54