Harold Tejada steals a march as XDS Astana double up at Paris-Nice

Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) captured the biggest victory of his career after launching a late attack on stage 6 of Paris-Nice in Apt.

The Colombian had suffered a mechanical with 18.5km remaining, but was quickly brought back to the peloton by his XDS Astana teammates. 

When Lenny Martinez attacked at the crest of the Côte de Saignon with around 5km remaining, Tejada bided his time before countering with a move of his own, and nobody responded. 

Tejada’s move caught out the opposition, and the Colombian soloed to victory six seconds ahead of French champion Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) and Lewis Askey (NSN)

It marks the second victory of Tejada’s professional career after the Colombian won on home soil on stage 2 of the Tour Colombia back in 2024. It is also XDS Astana’s second win of this year’s Paris-Nice after Max Kanter sprinted to victory on stage 2 in Montargis. 

Jonas Vingegaard remains on track to win Paris-Nice after the race leader finished inside the pack, with his advantage being 3:22 over Daniel Felipe Martínez. Tejada’s performance moves him into 10th in the GC at 11:27 behind the Dane.

Earlier in the stage, a four man breakaway formed featuring Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Steff Cras (Soudal Quick-Step), Arthur Kluckers (Tudor) and Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers).

With 40km to go as the breakaway reached the second category Col de l’Aire Dei Masco, the advantage the quartet held over the peloton was around 1:20. Danish champion Søren Kragh Andersen sprang out of the peloton on the climb with 37km remaining.

Cras found himself distanced from the front group on the descent, and he was caught by Kragh Andersen. Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) suffered a mechanical, but the Colombian was brought back to the pack after good work from his teammates. 

With 10km remaining, the front trio still had 30 seconds of a gap as a split briefly appeared in the peloton. Lidl-Trek led the chase in the peloton onto the final climb, the second category Côte de Saignon, with just under 9km remaining. Biniam Girmay was dropped with 6.4km remaining as Tarling and Arrieta left Kluckers behind.

Lenny Martinez attacked with 5km remaining, with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) quickly responding. Tejada launched a counter-attack over the crest of the climb and quickly built an advantage as Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) initially led the chase before Cofidis took over under the flamme rouge, but it was too late. 

The Colombian surged his way up the final rise to the finish line and had enough time to think of his winning celebration. French champion Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) was the quickest from the bunch behind.