Visma | Lease a Bike control 47-kilometer-shortened Paris-Nice stage as Godon wins in the snow

The finish in Auron was already a familiar story. Paris-Nice also headed to the ski resort last year, when Michael Storer won in freezing conditions. That stage was shortened as well, but this time the organisers had already decided on Friday that a summit finish would be a step too far. Heavy snowfall was expected, so the finish was moved to Isola, at the foot of the original final climb.

But the riders cannot have been too pleased when they checked the forecast again on Saturday morning. The weather only got worse. After further discussions, the original mountain stage was cut back once more, this time to a mini-stage of just 47 kilometers. There were no classified climbs left, although the road gradually dragged uphill all the way to Isola.

That suddenly made it look like a day for the stronger sprinters, although the race lost a significant number of riders even before the start. No fewer than twelve riders failed to take the start: Tim van Dijke, Nikias Arndt, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Max Kanter, Petr Kelemen, Timo Roosen, Marijn van den Berg, Sven Erik Bystrøm, Aimé De Gendt, Frederik Frison, Anthony Turgis and Milan Menten all climbed off before the stage began.

As soon as the flag dropped, Visma | Lease a Bike immediately took control. That allowed the Dutch team to keep leader Jonas Vingegaard out of trouble on the wet French roads, although it also looked as though the whole peloton was willing to accept that this was the safest way to get through the stage. Only Tim Marsman of Alpecin-Premier Tech was interested in trying an attack.

The Dutchman was caught inside the final ten kilometers, right when all the teams with ambitions began moving up. The sprinters suddenly sensed an extra opportunity, and teams such as NSN, EF Education-EasyPost — with green jersey wearer Luke Lamperti — and INEOS Grenadiers, racing for French champion Dorian Godon, all appeared at the front of the bunch.

Vito Braet, Lotto-Intermarché’s fast finisher, lost contact after a crash with three kilometers to go. By then, snow was visible on both sides of the road — clear proof that moving the finish had been the only sensible decision. Unfortunately, there was another crash with two kilometers remaining, with Friday’s stage winner Harold Tejada among those involved.

Joshua Tarling led into the final kilometer, after which the stage win was decided in a sprint between the stronger fast men left in this year’s Paris-Nice. Godon finished off his team’s work perfectly, beating, among others, Cees Bol of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and Laurence Pithie of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.