
Amazing Gilbert rides onto Paris-Nice podium

A brisk pace on the opening hour of the Paris-Nice queen stage meant that a breakaway formed only on the lower slopes of Côte de Gourdon, and when the elastic was finally snapped, Deceuninck – Quick-Step was represented by Tim Declercq and Philippe Gilbert. The duo were part of a huge 39-man group which nudged out their advantage to six minutes on the roads to Col du Turini, the race’s only mountain top finish.
Averaging 7.3% over 14.9 kilometers, Col du Turini was making its debut at the “Race to the Sun”, after having previously featured three times on the Tour de France, in 1948, 1950 and 1973, but it’s better known by sports lovers as being a regular fixture on the World Rally Championship, part of a 31km-long night stage of the iconic Monte Carlo Rally.
Both Tim and Philippe traded turns at the front during this energy-consuming stage 7, as the break worked well together, ensuring the front group would start Turini with a nice advantage over the thinned-out bunch. Even as the breakaway began losing more and more members, Gilbert continued to do the bulk of the work, sensing he had a fair chance of moving into the yellow jersey.
Dropped following a series of attacks launched by the two Colombian riders present in the move, the Belgian soldiered on and impressed with his exceptionally strong ride, finishing just outside the top 10. Unfortunately, despite this valiant effort, he didn’t become the first Belgian in eight years to top the Paris-Nice general classification, missing out on the prestigious garment due to a brace of attacks launched from the pack which narrowed down his advantage on the stage won by Daniel Martinez (EF Education First).
At the finish, Philippe brushed off the disappointment and saw the glass half full after a performance from which he could draw a lot of confidence as he prepares to go into the Classics: “The plan was to infiltrate in the break and we managed that. We rode smart and Tim was of great support on the first part of the last climb; afterwards, I rode my own tempo, because I knew it would have been impossible against the pure climbers. I also knew the ascent pretty well and this helped a lot. It’s for the first time in my life that I am on the overall podium of Paris-Nice, which is a bit of a strange feeling, but nevertheless, it makes me happy, especially as I heard in the radio that also Bob did a good stage and remained in the top 10. We’re even more motivated for the last stage and curious to see what it will bring.”
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
Race details
1 |
Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda EF Education First |
4:55:49 |
2 |
Miguel Ángel López Moreno Astana Pro Team |
0:06 |
3 |
Nicolas Edet Cofidis, Solutions Crédits |
0:20 |
4 |
Simon Yates Mitchelton-Scott |
,, |
5 |
Jonathan Hivert Direct Energie |
0:55 |
6 |
Giulio Ciccone Trek - Segafredo |
2:03 |
7 |
Julien El Fares Delko Marseille Provence |
,, |
8 |
Sergio Henao Montoya UAE-Team Emirates |
2:08 |
9 |
Víctor de la Parte González CCC Team |
2:13 |
10 |
Alessandro De Marchi CCC Team |
2:15 |
11 |
Philippe Gilbert
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
2:50 |
26 |
Bob Jungels
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
6:07 |
36 |
Tim Declercq
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
8:03 |
75 |
Fabio Sabatini
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
24:12 |
111 |
Florian Sénéchal
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
31:17 |
125 |
Iljo Keisse
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
,, |
1 |
Egan Bernal Gómez Team Sky |
26:35:26 |
2 |
Philippe Gilbert
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
0:45 |
3 |
Nairo Quintana Rojas Movistar Team |
0:46 |
4 |
Michał Kwiatkowski Team Sky |
1:03 |
5 |
Jack Haig Mitchelton-Scott |
1:21 |
6 |
Romain Bardet AG2R La Mondiale |
1:45 |
7 |
George Bennett Team Jumbo-Visma |
2:20 |
8 |
Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha Alpecin |
2:52 |
9 |
Rudy Molard Groupama - FDJ |
3:02 |
10 |
Bob Jungels
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
3:06 |
62 |
Tim Declercq
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
36:43 |
99 |
Florian Sénéchal
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
55:38 |
109 |
Fabio Sabatini
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
58:35 |
126 |
Iljo Keisse
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
1:13:20 |
1 |
Michał Kwiatkowski Team Sky |
33 pt |
2 |
Matteo Trentin Mitchelton-Scott |
24 pt |
3 |
Simon Yates Mitchelton-Scott |
22 pt |
4 |
Arnaud Démare Groupama - FDJ |
22 pt |
5 |
Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda EF Education First |
21 pt |
6 |
Luis León Sánchez Gil Astana Pro Team |
20 pt |
7 |
Magnus Cort Nielsen Astana Pro Team |
18 pt |
8 |
Philippe Gilbert
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
16 pt |
9 |
Thomas De Gendt Lotto Soudal |
16 pt |
10 |
Giulio Ciccone Trek - Segafredo |
14 pt |
30 |
Florian Sénéchal
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
4 pt |
49 |
Tim Declercq
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
-2 pt |
50 |
Bob Jungels
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
-3 pt |
1 |
Egan Bernal Gómez Team Sky |
26:35:26 |
2 |
Valentin Madouas Groupama - FDJ |
4:07 |
3 |
Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda EF Education First |
9:35 |
4 |
Giulio Ciccone Trek - Segafredo |
14:07 |
5 |
Miguel Ángel López Moreno Astana Pro Team |
15:35 |
6 |
Tao Geoghegan Hart Team Sky |
25:04 |
7 |
Scott Davies Team Dimension Data |
25:36 |
8 |
Nils Politt Team Katusha Alpecin |
25:46 |
9 |
Élie Gesbert Team Arkéa Samsic |
29:27 |
10 |
Iván Ramiro Sosa Cuervo Team Sky |
29:42 |
1 |
Thomas De Gendt Lotto Soudal |
64 pt |
2 |
Alessandro De Marchi CCC Team |
43 pt |
3 |
Damien Gaudin Direct Energie |
21 pt |
4 |
Daniel Felipe Martínez Poveda EF Education First |
14 pt |
5 |
Giulio Ciccone Trek - Segafredo |
12 pt |
6 |
Miguel Ángel López Moreno Astana Pro Team |
11 pt |
7 |
Jack Bauer Mitchelton-Scott |
10 pt |
8 |
Simon Yates Mitchelton-Scott |
10 pt |
9 |
Eduard-Michael Grosu Delko Marseille Provence |
9 pt |
10 |
Élie Gesbert Team Arkéa Samsic |
8 pt |
20 |
Florian Sénéchal
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
4 pt |
32 |
Philippe Gilbert
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
1 pt |
37 |
Bob Jungels
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
-1 pt |
38 |
Tim Declercq
Deceuninck - Quick Step |
-1 pt |
1 | Team Sky | 79:51:44 |
2 | Astana Pro Team | 6:05 |
3 | AG2R La Mondiale | 6:18 |
4 | Bahrain Merida | 13:11 |
5 | Mitchelton-Scott | 13:13 |
6 | Movistar Team | 18:15 |
7 | Trek - Segafredo | 22:48 |
8 | Deceuninck - Quick Step | 23:17 |
9 | Direct Energie | 27:42 |
10 | Groupama - FDJ | 32:56 |