As it happened: Late solo attack denies sprinters to win stage 6 of Paris-Nice

The Colombian hangs on, to take the win solo!

Tejada is loking good to hang on though. It’s going to be close…

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The GC guys are in the chase group, as are fast finishers like Coquard, Trentin, Vacek and Pithie.

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There are at least 20 riders in the chase.

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The chase group behind him is still large, and getting larger as more return to it.

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Tejada has a gap of a few seconds, with just 3km left to ride.

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The two riders left from the day’s break were caught as those attacks were happening, meaning Tejada now leads the race.

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Harold Tejada has counter-attacked over the top.

Vingegaard is on his wheel.

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Lamperti is clinging on at the back, with just 1km left to ride. He might stay in contention if he can just hang on.

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And now Lamperti in the green jersey is struggling!

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Potential stage winners are being dropped one by one. Alpecin’s Jensen Plowright is the latest to go.

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The pace is now being set by Visma-Lease a Bike, specifically Victor Campanaerts.

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Ineos’ sprinter Watson is also being dropped.

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Girmay is dropped! That could be it for his hopes of winning today.

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Two Visma riders are behind Lidl’s Kamna. Could Vingegaard try an attack on this climb?

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Kluckers has been caught by the peloton, which is being led by Lidl-Trek again.

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Tarling and Arrieta have dropped Kluckers.

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Visma take over at the front of the peloton, as some of the splits that opened up ar undone.

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The leaders start the final climb, with an advantage of just 30 seconds.

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Biniam Girmay is another sprinter present, and hasn’t been caught out on the splits.

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Lidl’s pace approaching the climb is so high that gaps are opening in the peloton on the flat.

Lidl-Trek’s pace is putting an end to the hopes of the break. As they’re about to start the climb, their lead is down to less than 40 seconds.

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A lot of sprinters are still in the peloton, including stage one winner Luke Lamperti.

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They will begin the climb in just a few minutes.

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The break still has a lead of about one minute. They’re digging in deep to give themslves a chance of the stage win.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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That leaves just one more climb to ride up – the category three Côte de Saignon, which rises for 4km at 5%, before a rapid descent to the finish in Apt.

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The leading trio has reached the top of this unclassified climb, swallowing up the bonus seconds available at the sprint.

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Lidl presumably are riding for Vacek, who is quick in a sprint and can get over climbs like these.

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Lidl-Trek are leading the peloton, with Danish national champion Søren Kragh Andersen. The Dane is clearly not too tired despite attacking earlier.

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The riders are climbing again, up an uncharacterized ascent. There’s an intermediate sprint at the top.

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Tejada has had a flat tyre.

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Andersen and Cras have just been brought back by the peloton.

With two climbs and 20km left to ride, the break leads the peloton by 1:17.

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The three remaining riders out front are doing a great descent. They’ve extended their lead to the two chasers to one minute, and 1:15 to the peloton. Could they yet have a chance of making it to the finish?

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The peloton is being led by a line of three Cofidis riders. They must be feeling very confident in Bryan Coquard’s chances in a sprint finish.

The leaders have reached the less steep part of the descent, leading Andersen and Cras by 42 seconds and the peloton by 1:28.

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Andersen has caught Cras.

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The peloton on the climb.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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There were no more attacks after Andersen’s on the climb, though the pace increased in anticipation of the descent, among those looking to get the best position.

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Cras has lost contact with the other three leaders on the descent.

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Andersen reaches the top 30 seconds later, and the peloton about 55 seconds later.

Arrieta leads the break over the climb. Once again there is no contest for the points, with Kluckers, Tarling and Cras following him in that order.

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Andersen after his attack.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Andersen is 20 seconds ahead of the peloton, but still a distant minute behind the leaders.

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Andersen is riding for Lidl-Trek, who are desperate to rescue something from this race after the unfortunate abandonment of Juan Ayuso.

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Andersen took advantage of the slow pace in the peloton, on a shallow stretch of this climb.

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There’s been an attack in the peloton, by Søren Kragh Andersen.

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The Col de l’Aire dei Masco is a long climb, lasting over 7km, but its gradients averaging about 4% aren’t really enough to cause much damage.

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The breakaway quartet, who continue to lead the race.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The pace in the peloton is steady as they ascend, with no team yet to take control.

The riders have begun the climb, the gap between the peloton and leaders having come down to 1:22.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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TotalEnergies and Bahrain-Victorious are also rivalling Cofidis, Visma and Red Bull for the prime position at the front as the peloton approaches the foot of the Col de l’Aire dei Masco.

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There’s now no single team controlling the peloton, though the likes of Cofidis, Visma-Lease a Bike and Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe are up towards the front.

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Benjamin Thomas has at last finished his shift. There was an increase in pace in the peloton ahead of a corner, causing him to drop back.

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It’s still hard to know what way this stage is going to go. While it appears likely the break will be caught, what kind of riders will attack on the final two climbs? And will they be brought back for a reduced sprint finish? The parcours is finely balanced so that things look very unpredictable.

Thomas might be beginning to get tired. Still he does all the work leading the peloton, but the gap is beginning to grow again, up to 1:45.

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A reminder that you can follow today’s Tirreno-Adriatico with us too, which is coming to a close now.

1:25 is the gap, as the riders continue along the slightly uphill roads that carry on until the foot of the penultimate climb, the Col de l’Aire dei Masco, coming up in about 20km.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The work of Cofidis continues to eat into the break’s lead. They’re now only about 1:25 behind.

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Still it’s a lone Cofidis rider who leads the race, with a mass of Visma-Lease a Bike behind him.

The peloton managed to reduce their deficit to the leaders on that climb, to 1:40. They still appear to have matters in control.

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Casper Pedersen didn’t manage to make it into the break today, meaning he doesn’t have the chance to take over again from Jonas Vingegaard at the top of that classification. These are what they look like now:

1 Jonas Vingegaard 26 points

2 Casper Pedersen 18 points

3 Mathis Le Berre 14 points

Arrieta leads the break over the top of the climb ahead of Kluckers and Tarling, with the peloton about 1:40 back.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Simon Dehairs of Alpecin-Premier Tech has abandoned the race, becomming the 32nd to do so since the start of the race last weekend.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The breakaway riders have begun tackling the 4.1% slopes of the 2.5km Côte de Bonnieux.

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Pinarello Q36.5’s Fabio Christen has become the latest rider to abandon the race.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Josh Tarling is clearly the most powerful man on the flat in this break, as one of the world’s best time trialists. He might struggle more in relation to superior climbers Arrieta and Cras, now that the terrain is changing.

The peloton have kept the break at about two minutes, as they approach the foot of the climb.

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The peloton, being pulled along by Cofidis.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The route is about to get harder and hillier, starting with the category three Côte de Bonnieux, which they are currently riding up an unclassified hill to the foot of.

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Jonas Vingegaard in the peloton, who received great praise from his teammate Victor Campanaerts for the way he rode for victor yesterday.

The race has settled into a pattern now, with the gap between the peloton and the leading quartet being held at 1:50.

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The four riders leading the race.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The break’s lead is at 1:50. Although it is a strong group, four riders isn’t an especially big number. It will require a big effort from them to stay clear to the finish.

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Now the break has formed, it’s a good time to reflect on one of the fall-outs from yesterday. Following criticism earlier in the season from UAE Team Emirates – XRG’s João Almeida that accused Visma-Lease a Bike riders of being too quick to pull out of races, stage winner Jonas Vingegaard made some barbed comments pointing out Almeida’s absence from this race. There’s often tension between these two teams, and it seems another feud is brewing.

1:40 for the leaders now. It doesn’t seem like anyone else will be taking their place at the front of the race any time soon.

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We can probably start referring to these four leaders as the day’s break now. They’re lead has grown to 1:30, and things appear to have calmed down in the peloton.

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They won’t be taking on any of them today, but the riders can see mountains on the horizon, that awaits them come the final weekend of stages.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Now it’s Cofidis who are pacing at the front of the peloton. Like NSN, they also have a sprinter who could potentially survive the climbs, in Bryan Coquard. Is there a feeling among teams in the peloton that this stage could be decided by a reduced bunch sprint?

2026-03-13T13:04:10.237Z

Ewen Costiou had been trying to bridge over to the leaders by himself, but that was a tall order, and he’s been swallowed up by the peloton.

The quartet lead the peloton by 40 seconds.

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There were nine riders between the peloton and the four leaders but they’ve now been brought back.

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The four riders leading the race.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Oscar Onley is today’s biggest addition to the list of abandons. Here’s moe on his departure.

These four rider are showing some promise. They have a lead of 30 seconds.

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A group of four is the latest to try their luck, with Josh Tarling, Igor Arrieta, Arthur Kluckers and Steff Cras present.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Niklas Märkl of Picnic PostNL has abandoned the race.

The attacks continue to come, but still no break has formed. The road will be pretty much flat for the upcoming 50km too, so there’s no obvious point for a selection to be made.

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It’s another action-packed day of cycling, with stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico also taking place. Be sure to follow along with our Live coverage of that race too.

In what has been another hectic start, no attacks have managed to stick yet.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The climb has put pad to Bissegger and Gringnard’s hopes – they’ve both been caught.

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The riders are on the first climb of the day, the Côte de Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

Still the fireworks continue in the peloton with more counter-attacks but Bissegger and Grignard remain out front for now, with a lead of about 15 seconds.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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More riders are trying to join them.

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Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Sébastien Grignard (Lotto Intermarché) are the latest couple of riders to get a small lead.

No break has formed yet, with just under 10m ridden.

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That sextet has been brought back.

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The peloton at the start a little earlier.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Six attackers have come together and got a small gap over the peloton.

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Actually, it turns out that Onley has abandoned due to an illness, rather than lingering injuries from that crash. The Scot can’t catch a break right now.

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Four riders who finished yesterday have not made it to the start today – Oscar Onley, Iván Romeo, Julien Bernard and Rick Pluimers.

Onley had been looking so good until his crash on stage three, and even yesterday had the legs to help his teammate Kévin Vauquelin on the final climb, but that crash must be taking too much of a toll.

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Given the increased likelihood of a break surviving today, and remembering how long it raged for yesterday, we can anticipate another intense, drawn-out battle as riders try to get into the day’s break.

And they’re off!

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Race leader Jonas Vingegaard waiting at the unofficial start.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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It’s a warm, dry day here in France, and spirits appeared to be high among the Uno-X Mobility riders, pictured here messing around with a anana this morning.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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The riders are on the move and making their way to kilometre 0.

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For a reminder of how Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike triumphed yesterday, have a read of our report from yesterday.