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PARIS-NICE / Stage 6
Nicolas Edet, the king of the mountains !
Cofidis showed all its collective strength this Friday during the first mountain stage. Having escaped with Anthony Pérez, Nicolas Edet took on the polka-dot jersey. Well protected by his team-mates, Guillaume Martin finished 8th of the stage with the favourites.
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Sunshine, steep roads, lush green landscapes and bucolic villages... This 6th stage of Paris-Nice, between Sorgues and Apt, offered a luminous postcard, making you forget for an afternoon the strange atmosphere in the whole country At Cofidis, we wanted to take advantage of this first mountain stage to make a name for ourselves. And the riders didn't take long to show it.
"Nico" and "Antho", an offensive attitude
At km 26, Nicolas Edet gets out of the pack and takes the lead on the first difficulty of the day. Then, it was Anthony Pérez who joined a new group of breakaways before being joined by the tireless Nicolas Edet. The rider from Sarthe took the lead on five of the six difficulties of the stage. With 48 km to go, he escaped with Romain Bardet before being caught again in the 15 final kilometers.
Behind him, Guillaume Martin, well protected by Damien Touzé and Julien Vermote for a long part of the stage, then took his responsibilities. He finished alongside the best riders in 8th place of the stage and moved into the "top 20" overall (19th, 6 min 16 sec). As for Nicolas Edet, he had the honours of the podium as he took the polka-dot jersey of best climber.
Edet, a sparkling form
A distinction that salutes the constancy of Nicolas Edet, 3rd at the Col du Turini in Paris-Nice last year and best climber of the Vuelta in 2003. The Sarthois, who concluded last season by wearing the leader's jersey for one day at the Vuelta, had shown his good intentions from the beginning of the year by finishing 5th in the Tour des Alpes Maritimes and 5th in the Faune-Ardèche Classic. Tomorrow, the team will do its best to defend Nicolas Edet's polka-dot jersey at the end of the last stage of this Paris-Nice.
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Nicolas Edet: "From the beginning, it was a big fight. We absolutely wanted to put someone in the breakaway to aim for a stage victory. We had a very good race with Anthony (Pérez) in the breakaway and Guillaume (Martin, 8th) who benefited from a great collective effort. The polka-dot jersey wasn't an objective at the start of the stage but it became one as the race went on. We really enjoyed ourselves up front, we rode a 'nice bike'! »
Guillaume Martin: " It was certainly the most beautiful stage of this Paris-Nice. We saw Cofidis on every floor, it must have been pleasant to watch and it was even more pleasant to be part of it. Anthony (Pérez) and Nico (Edet) did a superb stage. Julien (Vermote) and Damien (Touzé) protected me well so that I could be with the best in the final. It's really nice, for a few hours, to leave this heavy atmosphere, not to think about the virus. We're here to bike, we all like to put on a bib and run and we're going to do our best to make the most of it tomorrow".
Jean-Luc Jonrond, sporting director: "It's a great stage for us. There was a great team race from kilometer zero between the polka dot jersey of Nicolas (Edet), the breakaway with Anthony (Pérez) and the good result of Guillaume Martin. This bodes well for tomorrow when we will try to make Cofidis' colours shine once again during the queen stage of this Paris-Nice. »
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THE STAGE
8th - Guillaume Martin, at 22''
37th - Damien Touzé, at 8'23''.
40th - Nicolas Edet, at 11'01
48th - Julien Vermote, at 12'16
54th - Anthony Pérez, at 14'20''.
67th - Cyril Lemoine, at 20'58''
84th - Piet Allegaert, '
THE GENERAL
19th - Guillaume Martin at 6'16
30th - Damien Touzé, at 13'32
44th - Cyril Lemoine at 24'32
45th - Julien Vermote at 24'35
59th - Nicolas Edet at 29'11
63rd - Piet Allegaert, at 30'57
66th - Anthony Pérez, at 23'18''.
BEST CLIMBER
1st - Nicolas Edet, 29 pts
5th - Anthony Pérez, 9 pts
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| Nice - Valdeblore La Colmiane (166,5 km)
Jean-Luc JONROND : "It will be important, given the context, to live this last stage to the full, to give it all and to enjoy it. We're going to fight to defend Nico (Edet)'s jersey and allow Guillaume (Martin) to aim for stage victory."
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