André Greipel (Lotto Fix ALL) sprinted to victory today on the fifth stage of Paris-Nice from Quincié-en-Beaujolais to Bourg-de-Péage, beating Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and Dylan Groenwegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) in a bunch finish.

At a distance of 199.5 kilometres, it was the longest stage of this edition and it was also the last chance for the sprinters this week.

Not long after the start, six riders – Axel Domont (Ag2R), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo), Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie), Federico Zurlo (UAE) and Remy di Gregorio (Delko-Marseille) – got away from the bunch and they gained a maximum lead of more than seven minutes.

Calmejane and Zurlo were first to be dropped and the gap had gone down under two minutes with 40 km to go. The remaining four leaders were then reeled in with 12 kilometres left, which set the race up for a bunch sprint.

The riders faced a strong headwind at the finish and Greipel timed his sprint to perfection to overtake stage 1 winner Demare and Dutch champion Groenewegen. France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step) retained his yellow jersey and his 33-seconds lead over compatriot Tony Gallopin ahead of three gruelling hilly stages at the weekend

André Greipel:
“It was the big goal to win a stage here at Paris-Nice against some of the best sprinters in the world. Arnaud Démare is riding very impressive at the moment. I’m glad I could beat him. Of course I was very disappointed on Tuesday when I only got seventh. I made a mistake and I was really angry at myself. We wanted to do better today and so we did. The last seven kilometres we had to fight against a strong headwind, so it was not easy to stay in front. Luckily, with the support from the team, I managed to get in a really good position for the sprint. The finish was slightly uphill and suited me well. I am very happy with this victory. The next days I’ll do my best to support Tony Gallopin where I can. Saturday will be a fight man against man and he is really good, I think he can win this Paris-Nice.”


Summary – Stage 5 (Quincié-en-Beaujolais… by tourdefrance

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