Marc Soler wins Paris-Nice as David de la Cruz wins final stage

David de la Cruz (Team Sky) won the last stage as Movistar's Marc Soler was third enough for him to win the race by just four seconds ahead of Simon Yates

The eighth and final stage of the French race was 110 kilometres around Nice with four punishing climbs, two second category and two of the first category. A breakaway of twenty riders was established, but after each sucessive climb only Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) and Omar Fraile (Astana) remained.

With 60 kms to go Alaphilippe was dropped. With 40 kms to go Marc Soler (Movistar) and David de la Cruz (Sky) joined Omar Fraile out front. With 20 kilometres to go, Fraile attacked, closely followed by de la Cruz  and Soler .

Behind, several attacks by riders including Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) and Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) managed to leave Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) behind, with the risk of losing the lead of the General Classification.

In front, de la Cruz  and Soler caught Fraile, with 11 kilometres to go De la Cruz attacked and got a gap. Behind them, a small group that included Dylan Teuns (BMC), Wellens and the Izagirre brothers set a good pace and increased the gap on Yates who was visibily struggling to stay in contention.

On the final descent, rain and slippery roads caused both of the Izagirre brothers to crash, they were caught by the chasing Yates' group. Meanwhile, Wellens and Teuns rode away chasing the three leaders.

After the final descent, De la Cruz and Fraile fought for the sprint with De la Cruz taking the win ahead of Fraile and Soler.

Behind Yates tried desperately to finish within 31 seconds but it wasn't enough.

The stage time bonuses were enough to give Soler the overall victory of the race and Yates had to settle for second only four seconds behind the Spaniard. Gorka Izagirre completed the podium of the French race.

Marc Soler said, “I can't believe it yet. All my team-mates worked hard for me all week, and happily we were able to finish this off for them in such a great way. I wasn't expecting to take this one, especially after the time I lost on Saturday's finish. However, we reset our minds, planned a good strategy with our team-mates and sports directors, choosing to launch a long-range attack. We thought there would be a big breakaway like in last year's final stage, but it didn't happen. Fraile was already ahead and I jumped into the third-to-last climb - the point where I had planned to move - to leave the bunch behind. De la Cruz and Ion joined me there, we David and myself opened a gap - and it was just full-gas until the finish."

"I hadn't won a WorldTour event before, and it's a big dream come true for me. Joining such big names on the palmarès of this prestigious race is amazing. Now we must go step by step - it's not like you must change things after such a win, you must remain calm and keep things coming to you. The most important thing now is to keep on progressing and doing things right. I feel a little bit stronger with every year passing. I've got used to the pace of pro cycling and I just think about working hard to continue improving. My next race will be the home one for me, the Volta a Catalunya, where I'll be supporting Alejandro and Nairo."

Highlight: 2018 Paris-Nice Stage 8

2018 Paris-Nice Stage 8 Top 10

1 David De La Cruz (Spa) Team Sky 2:53:06 
2 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team   
3 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:03 
4 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:38 
5 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal   
6 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott   
7 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team   
8 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team   
9 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida   
10 Ion Izzagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida  

2018 Paris-Nice Final Overall GC Top 10

1 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 30:22:41 
2 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:04 
3 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:14 
4 Ion Izzagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:16 
5 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal   
6 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:32 
7 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:44 
8 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:54 
9 David De La Cruz (Spa) Team Sky 0:02:15 
10 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:35