With every day of racing a bonus in light of all the coronavirus-induced cancellations, the Paris-Nice peloton held nothing back on stage 6 from Sorgues to Apt, with Belgian Tiesj Benoot timing his move the best to take his first win in Sunweb colours.
Race leader Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) marked every move and, thanks to help from teammate Felix Großschartner he made the elite selection over the category 2 Côte de Auribeau with 13km to go.
But disaster struck on the final descent when the German misjudged a right turn and crashed into the barriers. As he remounted his gears jammed, resulting in further delays. Luckily, the crash happened in the final 3km and Schachmann was awarded the same time as second-placed Michael Matthews (Sunweb) since he was with that group when he fell.
Unluckily, Benoot has clawed his way up to second overall at 36 seconds, with EF Pro Cycling's Sergio Higuita at 1:01. With the 16.3km long category 1 Valdeblore la Colmaine to close out the 2020 edition on Saturday, Schachmann's lead is anything but certain to hold.
