Team Sky suffered a bad day at the Paris-Nice race on Friday as Dutchman Wout Poels crashed out during the sixth stage won by Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ).
Poels, who was second overall with a decent chance to give Sky their sixth title in seven years, fell off his bike seven kilometers from the finish in the hilly 198-km ride from Sisteron to Vence, and suffered a possible shoulder injury.
From a reduced peloton, Molard attacked 1.2 km from the line and with his rivals playing mind games behind, crossed the line first to claim his second professional victory.
Overall leader Luis Leon Sachez (Astana) had a quiet day in the saddle as his Astana team controlled the race and he now leads Julian Alaphilippeby 22 seconds and Marc Soler by 26.
Saturday’s seventh stage takes the peloton over 175km from Nice to Valdeblore La Colmiane and ends with a 16.3km ascent at an average gradient of 6.2 percent.
Paris-Nice 2018 – stage 6 results (Sisteron – Vence):
| 1 | Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) | 4:40:05 |
| 2 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | +02” |
| 3 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 4 | Luis León Sanchez (Astana) | ,, |
| 5 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 6 | Dylan Teuns (BMC) | ,, |
| 7 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 8 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 9 | Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 10 | Sergio Henao (Team Sky) | ,, |
General classification after stage 6:
| 1 | Luis León Sanchez (Astana) | 22:25:33 |
| 2 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | +22” |
| 3 | Marc Soler (Movistar) | +26” |
| 4 | Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) | +34” |
| 5 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | +35” |
| 6 | Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) | +42” |
| 7 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +45” |
| 8 | Sergio Henao (Team Sky) | +46” |
| 9 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | +48” |
| 10 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +54” |
