Long touted as the natural successor to Miguel Indurain and Alberto Contador, Marc Soler (Movistar), winner of the 2015 Tour de L'Avenir, snatched a dramatic overall win in Paris-Nice, wrecking Simon Yates' best-laid plans with an attack a la Contador on the rain soaked roads of the Cote d'Azur. Soler is the first rider since Contador in 2007 to win both the yellow and the best young rider jerseys in the 'Race to the Sun.'
Soler's overall win, by a mere four seconds, after he finished third behind back-to-back Nice stage winner, David De La Cruz (Team Sky) and fellow Spaniard Omar Fraile (Astana), further boosts Movistar's all-star stage racing firepower, with the 24-year-old demonstrating he has now every right to be taken as seriously as Mikel Landa, Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde.
Soler is always quick to play down the comparisons with Indurain and Contador, which inevitably followed his spectacular overall victory.
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"I've heard it a few times," he said afterwards, "but I'm not at their level yet. I'm still learning."
But he admitted that he had Contador in his mind when he launched his attack on Yates' 37 seconds overnight lead on the Cote de Peille.
"I was trying to replay a little of what Contador did in Paris-Nice," he said. "I was a big fan of his and I wanted to ride in his style. I thought that maybe the stage win was possible, but I was thinking more of the podium than of taking the jersey."
How It Unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2018/stage-8/results
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