Paris-Nice 2025 Stage 8

March 16, 2025 The last day is a short day but it hits a few of the famous climbs around Nice. At just 119KM, the route has 2,700M of elevation from the Col de la Porte, Côte de Peille, Col d'Èze, and the Col des Quatre Chemins. After the Col des Quatre Chemins, there is only 7.5KM of descending before the riders hit the Promenade des Anglais to cap off a difficult stage and week of racing. Nice was a postcard at the start. The sun was out without a cloud in the sky and the sea was a vibrant cobalt blue. Wind was gusting at around 30KM/HR but no one would be complaining given the weather the riders have endured in previous days. There were numerous attacks from the start with groups going and coming back. With 67KM to go, Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek was off the front of a significantly reduced peloton of around 50 riders. Pedersen only had 20 seconds as he started the descent of the Col de la Porte with Harold Tejada of XDS-Astana in the middle. Off the descent, just passed L'Escarène, Tejada was caught by the Ineos led peloton but Pedersen had extended his gap to 1 minute 15 seconds with 52KM to go. On the lower slopes of the Côte de Peille, Aleksandr Vlasov of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe attacked and was soon joined by Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla. Ineos did not flinch and had O'Connor and Vlasov back in the fold. Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe counter attacked. It shredded the group but the main favorites were all present. Felix Gall of Decathlon AG2R was next to attack, bringing Vlasov with him. The pair caught Pedersen 700M from the top but the Dane hung on and started the descent about 10 seconds ahead of the GC group which was now down to just 13 riders. Magnus Sheffield of Ineos escaped from the favorites group with 35KM to go on the downhill run towards the Col d'Èze. He joined the front group to make four with 26KM remaining. Race leader, Matteo Jorgenson went on the attack from the GC group on the Col d'Èze. Sheffield and Pedersen went over the top together, with Gall and Vlasov a few second behind and Jorgenson at 20 seconds. Jorgenson caught Gall and Vlasov on the descent and when Sheffield and Pedersen started the Col des Quatre Chemins with 12.5KM to go, the Jorgenson group was just 12 seconds behind. The climb was exceptionally steep and Pedersen was dropped early on. Sheffield continued to push and went over the top solo, 19 seconds ahead of Jorgenson and Gall, with Vlasov dropping back to the rest of the GC riders at 1 minute 10 seconds. Gall could not stay with Jorgenson on the descent leaving Jorgenson to descend into Nice alone to take his second Paris-Nice overall GC win in a row. Meanwhile ahead, Sheffield powered to his first World Tour win of his career. There were no changes in the GC podium from the start of the day. Jorgenson took top spot 1 minute 15 seconds ahead of Lipowitz and nearly 2 minutes to Thymen Arensman. With his 35KM attack, Sheffield moved to fourth overall, moving Michael Storer of Tudor Pro Cycling down to fifth.