"The race is far from over" - Remco Evenepoel hints at spectacle for final Paris-Nice day

Remco Evenepoel once again was the major offensive force at Paris-Nice today, attacking Madone d'Utelle, riding into second place but causing Brandon McNulty to be dropped; which opens up the window for his possible overall victory - as well as of those who are near him in the overall classification.

The Belgian team took responsibility in the finale, first trying to split the race in the final descent of the day, then again in the final 15-kilometer long ascent. “The pace was set in the valley towards the last climb, where Louis [Vervaeke] set a fairly high pace from the bottom. Then Ilan [van Wilder] took over and I accelerated four to five kilometers from the finish to see what would happen," Evenepoel said in a post-race interview.

Evenepoel attacked with over 4 kilometers to go but "a few riders responded. Vlasov then attacked and the rest let him go." The stage win was ultimately gone, but the fight for the GC was still to be battled. So Evenepoel attacked once again. "In the last two kilometers I attacked again, after which it was full throttle to the finish. I finished second there, after I started the sprint with 180 meters to go.”

“It was a good day. We still have one more stage to go and the race is far from over," he concluded. Evenepoel sits fourth in the overall classification after today 36 seconds away from race leader Brandon McNulty and only 1 second away from Mattias Skjelmose and the podium. The victory is still within reach, but it will be a difficult day ahead where many things have to go the Belgian's way for that to be a reality.