It was a good day for Lotto Belisol in yesterday's penultimate stage of Paris-Nice. Pim Ligthart took the mountains jersey off the shoulders of local hero Sylvain Chavanel (IAM) while Tony Gallopin finished 6th in the uphill sprint to move himself into 12th on GC.

In the penultimate stage of Paris-Nice the peloton rode from Mougins to Biot Sophia Antipolis, over a distance of 195,5 kilometers. Nine riders, among them Pim Ligthart, immediately attacked. The Lotto Belisol rider was joined by Lieuwe Westra, Laurent Didier, Sylvester Szmyd, Albert Timmer, Florian Guillou, Matthias Frank, Brice Feillu and Cyril Lemoine. Ligthart was best positioned in the mountain classification and decided to focus on the polka dot jersey. Along the route he picked up all mountain points and now he is the new leader in the mountain classification.

At 40 kilometers from the finish the escapees were caught by the group of favourites with Tim Wellens, Jelle Vanendert, Tony Gallopin and Maxime Monfort.

Monfort and Wellens tried to get away in the final, but without any success. In the sprint Tom Jelte Slagter took his second stage win, followed by Rui Costa and Betancur. With only one day left a place in top ten is still possible for Gallopin or Monfort. Also in the team classification Lotto Belisol is doing well with a second place.

"If the mountain points were a goal before the start? No, not really," Ligthart said. "We just had to see we had someone of the team in the breakaway. I was well positioned in the front and decided to try, just like yesterday. And it worked out. Sometimes you just have to be lucky and pick out the good moment to attack. We could have been reeled in and then all could start again.

"Of the leaders I was the best placed in the mountain classification. I could pick up points on every climb. I'm the leader in that classification now but tomorrow there are many points to win. We'll have to be attentive to see who takes off in the start. I expect that on the Col d'Eze, the last climb of the day, the GC riders will reach the top first and that should be an advantage for me."

You can read our preview of the final stage here. You can follow our live coverage of the stage at 15.15 CET on CyclingQuotes.com/live.