Jan Tratnik (Bahrain McLaren) almost pulled off the rare feat of sticking the breakaway to the line Thursday at Paris-Nice, but the Slovenian came up just short in La Cote-Saint-Andre, where Niccolo Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie) led the bunch in to steal victory from the lone survivor of the day's four-rider move.
Having spent most of the 227km stage off the front with Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo) and Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), Tratnik found himself at the pointy end of the race alone after ridding himself of the other three. He looked poised to take one from the sprinters, but it wasn't to be.
The bunch kept its eyes on the prize and came charging up at the last moment, Bonifazio springing past Tratnik with just 60 metres remaining and then holding off Iván García Cortina (Bahrain McLaren) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) for the win in a nail-biting finale.
