Yesterday’s fifth place finisher Simon Yates jumped up the general classification today to second place on the fifth hilly stage of Paris-Nice, after race leader Wout van Aert dropped out of contention early on.
Yates tested the legs with an attack on the final climb, but no moves got away, with the day’s early breakaway staying away to the finish line.
The 29-year-old now heads into tomorrow’s medium mountain stage in second place overall, 39 seconds down on the new new race leader Primoz Roglic, with a hard and hilly weekend still to come.
Simon Yates – 2nd Overall
“It was still quite a big group of GC guys left there in the final, the last little climb there wasn’t really selective at all and it was a massive headwind so it was hard to do anything.
Jumbo-Visma actually controlled the race really well, they set a high tempo so that nobody could attack early, so they did a good job.
We still have to get through tomorrow so we will see when we get to Saturday’s stage and then you never know about the final lap around Nice on Sunday.”
Matt White – Head Sport Director
“What we saw today was what seemed an invincible Jumbo-Visma, now has some chinks in their armer. Roglic was left alone in the final 20km, I think he will be able to handle tomorrow on his own, but Sunday is going to be tough. It is a short and intense mountain stage, and we know very well because we lost Paris-Nice on the last stage a few years ago. There’s still a lot to play for and there’s still a lot of guys in contention.”
2022 Paris-Nice Results after stage 5:
1. Brandom McNulty 4:53:30
20. Simon Yates +5:43
General Classification after stage 5:
1. Primoz Roglic 16:50:28
2. Simon Yates +0:39
3. Pierre Latour +0:41
Photo: Getty Images
