'Today was the revenge...' – Harold Tejada slips the bunch for solo victory on lumpy stage 6 of Paris-Nice
Jonas Vingegaard finishes just behind, retains his overall lead
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Harold Tejada slipped the bunch in the last few kilometres of a lumpy stage six on Paris-Nice to pull off a hard-fought solo victory in Apt.
It marked the XDS Astana rider's first WorldTour win and a hard-fought one at that, with Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) leading in a large chasing group just seconds behind.
"It's my first victory in a WorldTour race and I'm loving it," Tejada, 28, said afterwards. "I've been very patient and I'm really happy to do it.
Article continues below"I didn't have much luck on the day with the wind, but that's cycling. Today was the revenge," he said, referring to the weather-battered fourth stage where he got caught behind the front split.
"We came here looking for a podium overall, but I lost a lot of time in the TTT. But we have a couple of stages now with Max [Kanter, stage two winner] and me, and we'll hopefully go for another."
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) retained the overall lead after finishing just behind in the bunch, while Tejada replaced Oscar Onley (Ineos Grenadiers) in 10th overall, marking the only difference in the GC top-10 from yesterday, after Onley withdrew due to illness.
The 179km stage from Barbentane to Apt in southern France was marked by a day-long break comprising four riders: Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates) Arthur Kluckers (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Steff Cras (Soudal Quick-Step).
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Cras was dropped in the later stages but the remaining trio survived until the top of the last of three small climbs in the final part of the stage, with just five kilometres to the finish.
A hard attack by Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) over the top served to string out the bunch and separate a large front group, from which Tejada made his move.
Result
Paris-Nice, stage 6: Barbentane > Apt (179km)
1. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS Astana, 179km in 3:54:38
2. Dorian Godon (Fra) Ineos Grenadiers, +6s
3. Lewis Askey (Gbr) NSN Cycling
4. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
5. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
6. Laurence Pithie (Nzl) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
7. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Ineos Grenadiers
8. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step
9. Alexandr Vlasov (Rus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
10. Alex Baudin (Fra) EF Education-EasyPost, all at same time
General Classification after stage six
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 21:16:50
2. Dani Martínez (Col) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:22
3. Georg Steinhauser (Ger) EF Education-EasyPost, +5:50
4. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Ineos Grenadiers, +6:09
5. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +7:37
6. Marc Soler (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +8:15
7. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Cofidis, +9:02
8. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +10:06
9. Alex Baudin (Fra) EF Education-EasyPost, +10:16
10. Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), +11:27
After cutting his teeth on local and national newspapers, James began at Cycling Weekly as a sub-editor in 2000 when the current office was literally all fields.
Eventually becoming chief sub-editor, in 2016 he switched to the job of full-time writer, and covers news, racing and features.
He has worked at a variety of races, from the Classics to the Giro d'Italia – and this year will be his seventh Tour de France.
A lifelong cyclist and cycling fan, James's racing days (and most of his fitness) are now behind him. But he still rides regularly, both on the road and on the gravelly stuff.
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