Australian Storer wins penultimate Paris-Nice stage in the snow / Photo: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT - AFP
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Australian Storer wins penultimate Paris-Nice stage in the snow
Australian rider Michael Storer won the seventh stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race on Saturday, outpacing a pursuing peloton on a steep final climb through the snow.
The 28-year-old from Perth was part of a 12-man breakaway that only splintered in the closing stages of the 109km run from Nice to Auron, where it was snowing at the 1600m altitude finish line.
Storer shook his head in disbelief as the snow fluttered around him at the line of the 'Race to the Sun' which finishes on the Riviera on Sunday.
Benefitting from teammate Julian Alaphilippe's work during the breakaway, Storer then went it alone with 2.5km to go and picked up his eighth career win.
The performance also lifted Storer from 13th to fourth overall with a good shot at the podium on Sunday's final mountain run and fast descent to downtown Nice.
He is also second placed in the 'King of the Mountains' battle due to the 20 points he picked up.
Rain was falling as the 109km seventh stage left Nice's famous Promenade des Anglais with all the talk this week about the dreadful weather.
Some 13 riders pulled out during stage seven, among them Dane Mattias Skjelmose, who had been third, and left the race in an ambulance after hitting a traffic island at full speed.
It was a good day for German Florian Lipowitz, who climbed to second just 37 seconds adrift of race leader and defending champion Matteo Jorgenson.
Former cross-country skier Lipowitz is also on his way ahead in the best young rider standings in the eight-day race.
"I come from winter sports, so cold conditions don't bother me," said the Bora rider.
Another Dane Mads Pedersen retains the green points jersey, two ahead of Tim Merlier but only seven ahead of Jorgenson.
J.M.Gillet--JdB
