Saturday, March 15th
Stage 7: Nice – Auron – A short, explosive stage from Nice to Auron saw Michael Storer (Tudor) rise to victory at the summit. The Australian climber attacked early in the day and proved to be the strongest in a 15-man breakaway that also featured Julian Alaphilippe, who gave his all to lead his teammate toward the stage win and the 4th position in the general classification. In 2nd place in the overall standings, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) gained 3 seconds on Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), who retains the yellow and white jersey on the eve of the final stage around Nice. Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) is now 3rd (+1’20’’) after Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) crashed out of the race. This is Storer’s 7th professional victory, the 5th on French roads and the 3rd in the UCI World Tour after he took two stages of La Vuelta 21 in similar fashion.
Stage 7
- Michael Storer (Tudor) 2h43’31’’
- Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) +20’’
- Georg Steinhauser (EF Education – EasyPost) +30’’
GC
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma – Lease a Bike) 23h37’42’’
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe) +37’’
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) +1’20’’’
