Stefan Denifl «I’ll take stock in Nice»

The IAM Cycling jersey has never been far from the front of the action at the Paris-Nice.  Although Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin-Sharp) took the biggest prize for the day by winning the seventh stage in the Race to the Sun, all the riders on the IAM Cycling team were doing their best to defend and improve upon their 4th place in the team standings, not to mention help Stefan Denifl, in 8th, and Sébastien Reichenbach, in 13th overall, defend their positions.

Though Sylvain Chavanel ceded his polka dot jersey as the leader in the climbing classification, Sébastien Reichenbach made up for that by knocking hard at the door for the best young rider.  Carlos Betancur has managed to defend his race lead on the eve of the final stage for Paris-Nice, which will conclude Sunday with the traditionally thrilling finish on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

In a wild stage, both Mathias Frank and Sylvain Chavanel went on the attack to try their chances, but without any clear success.  Stefan Denifl remains the team’s best placed rider, matching the best in the race pedal stroke by pedal stroke and finishing the stage in 7th place with the same time as the winner.  The affable Austrian reiterated the fact that he is very pleased with his form.

“We are all tired.  And even if the final stage is only 128 kilometers long, there will be plenty of climbing in the hinterlands behind Nice.  I’m not shooting for the moon.  All the guys will be focused on helping me.  I’m in really good company, so I just hope my legs play along as well as I would like.  The victory will come to the one who has that little something extra.  Everything is still possible.  Although I was aiming for a top-10 coming into this race, I’ll take stock once we past the finish line in Nice.”