One day to go Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma) had a relatively smooth first day on stage 6 from Paris to Nice, but is aware that the biggest challenge of the race lies ahead, starting with the summit finish at the Col de Tourini on Saturday.

Snow is in the forecast for the 1607-meter-high pass on stage 7, but it does not look as severe as the forecast earlier in the week. Nevertheless, snow flurries are expected, and temperatures at the summit are likely to be barely above freezing.

Roglic's previous experience in winter sports is not worth repeating, but he admitted in Aubagne on Friday that he would prefer not to deal with snow on the 14.9 km Col de Tourini climb.

The Category 1 climb, which appeared on stage 2 of the 2020 Tour de France, has an average gradient of 7.3%, with the toughest section just under 4km from the summit.

"I like the snow, sure, but not when I'm on the bike. I like doing other things in the snow, but when I'm on the bike I prefer it sunny and warm."

Logrich showed off his straight bat when asked if he was confident he could bring the yellow back to Nice this weekend.

"I'm confident with the training I've been doing. I don't care. I'm just going to do my best. At the end of the day, that's all I can do. If that's how I win, then I will win or be with the best. If not, I won't be disappointed."

Roglic, of course, has experienced the frustration of a year ago when he crashed badly on the final stage and missed out on the overall win, a rarity in a week-long stage race.

That time, Roglic entered the final weekend with a 41-second lead, which he extended further the next day with a victory on the summit of La Colmiane. This time, he heads into the final two stages with a 39-second lead over Simon Yates (Jayco-BikeExchange).

In the finale of Thursday's stage, Roglic was relatively isolated, having to chase a rival's attack alone, but on stage 6, Mathieu Bourgodeau (Total Energies) upset the sprinters with a late attack in Aubagne, He enjoyed a relatively calm day within the peloton.

"It's the start of the season and every day is a hard race here.

"It was windy again today and really uncomfortable. Tomorrow is a big race. Tomorrow is a big climb and I hope I have the legs to do my best."

"It's a big climb and I hope I have the legs to do my best.

Yellow Roglic had no problems, but teammate Wout Van Aert, who gave up the overall lead 24 hours earlier, was frustrated. Van Aert, the Belgian champion, was passed again by Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) just before the finish, leaving him in third place.

"It's clear that my sprinting is a bit less than before," Van Aert told Sporza after the finish.

"I'm at the end of a very long and heavy training block. I noticed that I lacked freshness in the sprints. But I will get that speed back by not pushing too hard, and that will be the case after Paris-Nice."

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Not only did the sprint slow down, but teammate Christophe Laporte also fell off the front of the peloton as he chased Burgundy.

"There was also a miscommunication with Christophe Laporte. He should have been able to hold a good position. When I had to shift gears and use Christophe for the chase, things got a little crazy. I was in a bad position in the last three kilometers and had to waste energy."

Laporte complimented Burgundy's solo run, but blamed the lack of cooperation from the other teams on the run-in.

"I moved for Wout, not for myself. I tried to close the gap in the last 3km, but no one was with me." I tried to close the gap in the last 3km, but nobody was with me.

"[Burgundy] was of course strong, but the peloton was really badly organized. The last 4km were really narrow and had a lot of corners.

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