Marc Soler pips Simon Yates to Paris-Nice overall victory

The Movistar rider jumped away from the group of favourites with more than 50 kilometres left in the 110-km mountainous ride around Nice to take third place in the eighth stage won by fellow Spaniard David de la Cruz of Team Sky.

It gave Soler a four-second bonus that helped him move past overnight leader Yates after the Mitchelton-Scott rider was dropped in the last ascent of the day.

Yates made contact with other favourites in the descent into Nice but finished sixth, 38 seconds behind De La Cruz and second placed Omar Fraile of Spain. He was 35 seconds adrift of Soler.

The race victory was a first as a full pro for 24-year-old Soler, who won the Tour de l’Avenir, a mini Tour de France for under-23 riders, in 2015. And speaking in Nice, the Movistar rider said:

Another Spaniard, Gorka Izaguirre, took third place overall. He was 14 seconds off the pace despite crashing in the final descent, while his Bahrain-Merida team mate and brother Jon ended up fourth.