Michael Storer thanked new Tudor Pro Cycling teammate Julian Alaphilippe for aiding him in victory on stage 7 of Paris-Nice, calling the Frenchman’s help “super motivating” during a grim day in the saddle.
Australian Storer scored the seventh win of his career at the summit finish of Auron on stage 7, triumphing from the breakaway at the end of a 109km stage that had been abridged due to poor weather at high altitude.
He had made the first break of 12 riders up the road during the early kilometres of the stage, and then found Alaphilippe with him for the ride when the former World Champion bridged across with several other strong riders.
Despite the presence of Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) in the group, Storer proved the strongest on the closing 7.3km, 7.2% climb to win the day.
“It’s really great to win again. It was very cold, but I had a really good day,” Storer said after the stage.
“It doesn’t happen often that a two-time World Champion rides for you,” he said, referring to Alaphilippe. “That was super motivating. My other teammates helped me all week too.”
Storer is racing his second year at the Swiss ProTeam, an ambitious squad which made its Grand Tour debut at last year’s Giro d’Italia. Alaphilippe signed over the winter along with other major names, Marc Hirschi and Marco Haller, as the team aims for a Tour de France wildcard.
It had been the plan during the stage for Alaphilippe to go solo into the break, Storer explained, but things came out differently during the early kilometres of the stage.
“The plan was for only Julian to go,” he said. “I just rode on feeling. I just followed my teammate Marco Haller.
“That wasn’t the intention, but we were at the front. Then we got into a really nice group. Then Julian crossed. That was perfect. He’s unique. He feels the race.
“I think he knew we had a good chance from that group. Julian knew we were going to make it. He was the most important rider for the team today. I’m happy I was good enough to finish it off.”
Along with the victory, Tudor’s fourth of the season and first at WorldTour level, the stage result sees Storer – who finished a minute ahead of the GC group – leap nine spots into fourth overall.
He now lies 2:25 down on race leader Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) heading into Sunday’s concluding stage 8, the traditional short but tough race in the hills around Nice.
“That’s a nice bonus, but the stage win is the most important,” Storer concluded, not giving anything away about his plans for the finale.
