Rested Paris-Nice riders enter queen stage with all to play for

After severe winds cancelled Stage 6 of Paris-Nice, the race resumes tonight with the first of two mountain courses that could see challengers mount an assault on the yellow jersey.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates pictured at the start of stage 6 of the 81st edition of the Paris-Nice eight days cycling race, 197,4km from Tourves to La Colle-sur-Loup, France, Friday 10 March 2023. The stage is shortened because of strong winds in the region. BELGA PHOTO DAVID PINTENS (Photo by DAVID PINTENS / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP) (Photo by DAVID PINTENS/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images) Source: Getty / DAVID PINTENS/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images

After a thrilling start to the race, the peloton lined up at the start of Stage 6 in Tourves ready for a testing hilly day, but wild weather had other ideas.

Organisers made the decision to cancel the stage due to extreme winds being a danger to rider safety, giving the peloton an unexpected but surely welcomed rest day.

It means all will have more punch and power in the legs heading into the race's queen stage, a 143-kilometre journey which features two category 1 climbs.

The prospect of big climbs with an uphill finish will be an inviting one for race leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) who broke the race open in the Stage 4 finale to La Loge des Gardes.

It was there where the Slovenian took bragging rights over last year's Tour de France rival Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and now leads the latter by 46 seconds heading into tonight's stage.

With a day's rest and his Jumbo-Visma team behind him, Vingegaard will look to turn up the heat and close the gap on Pogacar in tonight's stage. The first part of the course he is likely to do that will be the Cote Tourette-du-Château.

At 17.8 kilometres long with an average gradient of 4.6%, it's not the steepest climb but a part of the stage where riders can distance themselves with the right opportunity.

Jumbo-Visma may replicate their strategy from last year's Tour de France, where they isolated and repeatedly attacked Pogacar to sap his energy and allow Vingegaard to surge in the finale.

The profile for Stage 7 of the 2023 Paris-Nice from Nice to the Col de la Couillole.

Even if gaps form on this climb, the flat sections after the descent will bring strong headwinds which could see riders close the distance or a breakaway carve out a significant lead if allowed to get away.

It's likely the peloton will try to conserve their energy as much as possible so they can go full gas when the stage reaches its crescendo on the Col de la Couillole.

Slightly shorter than the previous climb at 15.7 kilometres, but significantly steeper with an average gradient of 7.1%, this is where only the strong will survive to the finish.

If Pogacar can produce another effort like that of Stage 4 where he cracked Vingegaard and the rest of the field, the Paris-Nice title is his to lose.

But if the other race hopefuls and their teams can plan and execute, we could see a shakeup in the general classification and a tantalising all-or-nothing situation for the final stage on Sunday night (AEDT).

Paris-Nice resumes tonight with Stage 7, a 143-kilometre medium mountains course from Nice to an uphill finish on the Col de la Couillole. Watch the action live on SBS and SBS On Demand from 11:05pm (AEDT).