Australian Michael Storer won the Nice/Auron stage, the penultimate stage of Paris-Nice 2025. The Tudor rider distanced Swiss rider Mauro Schmid of Team Jayco AlUla by 20" and German Georg Steinhauser of EF by 30", securing his seventh career victory and the fourth seasonal win for the Swiss team.

THE STAGE - Like yesterday, a large group of attackers animated the race from the start in Nice. After several attacks and counter-attacks, around fifteen riders gained an advantage: Kelland O'Brien, Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla); Julian Alaphilippe, Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team); Alexandre Delettre, Jordan Jegat (Team TotalEnergies); Stefan Küng, Johan Jacobs (Groupama – FDJ); Neilson Powless, Georg Steinhauser (EF Education – EasyPost); Clément Izquierdo (Cofidis); Iván Romeo (Movistar Team); Fred Wright (Bahrain – Victorious); Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers).

The fifteen attackers reached Isola, where the Intermediate Sprint (won by Storer) was located, with a 2'40" advantage over the peloton. At the start of the final climb, where Alaphilippe and Jacobs lost contact, the gap between the breakaway and the peloton was 1'55".

On the climb's slopes, other cyclists lost contact from the breakaway group and 2.5 kilometers from the finish, Australian Michael Storer managed to break Mauro Schmid's resistance, who had been with him until that point. Meanwhile, from the group of overall contenders, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain – Victorious) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) escaped.

A crash 51 km from the finish forced Mattias Skjelmose to retire. The Danish Lidl Trek rider, third in the general classification, hit a road divider, falling and hitting his side and shoulder on the wet asphalt; after being assisted, he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. Other athletes retired during the stage, including Anthony Turgis, Jefferson Cepeda, and Alexander Kristoff.

Before the final stage tomorrow with start and finish in Nice, the Course au Soleil sees Matteo Jorgenson leading with 37" over Florian Lipowitz, 1'20" over Thymen Arensman, and 2'25" over Michael Storer, who thanks to today's victory jumps nine positions and now occupies fourth place in the general classification.

STORER'S WORDS: "What a beautiful day! It doesn't happen every day to have a two-time world champion like Alaphilippe working for you. Julian and all my teammates have helped me all week and today things went as we planned. The breakaway went away and we were at the front, I was really happy to be leading with those attackers. As I said, Alaphilippe was convinced it would be a good opportunity for me. Julian was really important for the team and for me today, and I'm happy to have materialized the efforts by winning."

STAGE RESULTS.

1 STORER Michael Tudor Pro Cycling Team 02:43:31

2 SCHMID Mauro Team Jayco AlUla 00:20

3 STEINHAUSER Georg EF Education - EasyPost 00:30

4 ROMEO Iván Movistar Team 00:45

5 JEGAT Jordan Team TotalEnergies 00:50

6 GALL Felix Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 00:57

7 MARTINEZ Lenny Bahrain - Victorious 01:04

8 LIPOWITZ Florian Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 01:11

9 CHAMPOUSSIN Clément XDS Astana Team 01:14

10 PEDERSEN Mads Lidl - Trek ,,

11 SHEFFIELD Magnus INEOS Grenadiers ,,

12 JORGENSON Matteo Team Visma | Lease a Bike ,,

13 ARENSMAN Thymen INEOS Grenadiers ,,

14 MCNULTY Brandon UAE Team Emirates - XRG ,,

15 ALMEIDA João UAE Team Emirates - XRG ,,

16 CASTRILLO Pablo Movistar Team 01:17

17 TARLING Joshua INEOS Grenadiers ,,

18 PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 01:26

19 TEJADA Harold XDS Astana Team ,,

20 ARMIRAIL Bruno Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 01:34

21 VERGALLITO Luca Alpecin - Deceuninck 01:40

22 VAN WILDER Ilan Soudal Quick-Step 01:47

23 FOSS Tobias INEOS Grenadiers 01:55

24 GARCÍA PIERNA Raúl Arkéa - B&B Hotels 01:58

25 KÜNG Stefan Groupama - FDJ 02:07