Godon holds off Girmay to win snow-shortened Paris-Nice stage 7

Dorian Godon (Ineos) won the snow-shortened stage 7 of Paris-Nice, beating Biniam Girmay (NSN) and Cees Bol (Decathlon-CMA CGM) in a bunch finish at Isola-Village.

The planned summit finish at Auron had already been ruled out on Friday night due to the conditions, and on Saturday morning, it was decided to cut the stage to just 47km, with no climbs or descents on the menu.

Instead, the peloton faced a short stage on a rising false flat towards Isola-Village that was always going to end in a bunch sprint.

Godon’s Ineos squad took up the reins at the head of the peloton in the closing kilometres, with Josh Tarling and Sam Watson prominent in teeing up his sprint. The Frenchman hit the front from distance, and he held off Girmay, Bol and Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to claim the win.

Jonas Vingegaard remains in the yellow jersey with a lead of 3:22 over Daniel Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and 5:50 over Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) ahead of Sunday's final stage around Nice. 

After Friday evening’s decision to remove the summit finish at Auron from the route due to the forecast for heavy overnight snow, ASO opted to cut the stage to just 47km on Saturday morning due to heavy rain and perilous conditions on the early classified climbs.

It meant the peloton signed on as normal in Nice before travelling by bus to the new start at Pont Louis Nucera, but there were still lingering doubts about the viability of the stage. On France Télévisions, analyst Marion Rousse reported that 60% of the race had voted in favour of cancelling the stage altogether. 

The race did eventually go ahead, though the peloton ultimately raced for less than 45km as a Nico Denz’s crash in the neutralised zone forced a delay to the official start.

Once the race got underway, Vingegaard’s Visma | Lease a Bike squad hit the front, with Bruno Armirail riding tempo with the peloton – wrapped up against the elements – content to chug along behind.

That détente was eventually broken by Tim Marsman (Alpecin-Premier Tech), who attacked alone and gained a buffer of 30 seconds, but this short stage on a rising false flat towards Isola-Village was always going to finish in a sprint, and the Dutchman was reeled in ahead of the finale.

Nicolas Vinokourov (XDS-Astana) had a brief foray off the front with 7km to go, just as the road climb to a point where there was snow visible on the roadside, but the precipitation had largely abated, and conditions were not as miserable as they might have been.

Not that there weren’t risks, with Vito Braet (Lotto Intermarché) and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) crashing in the finale, though both riders were able to remount and continue.

Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana) came down in another crash with 2km to go that saw the peloton split, though with no effect on the GC as it took place inside the last 3km.

Vingegaard's hold on the yellow jersey looks unbreakable, but the battle for the final podium spot might produce some fireworks on the final day in Nice after this low-key affair.