With a course suiting puncheurs, Arthur Vichot was a natural choice as FDJ leader for Paris-Nice and the French champion hasn't disappointed the managers. After his second consecutive fifth place, he now sits in sixth on GC and is very proud of his performance in one of the biggest races in the world.

Arthur Vichot has been a prominent presence in this year's Paris-Nice. Clearly among the best climbers in the race, he has been at the forefront from the start of the race and with one stage to go, he finds himself in 6th on GC.

Yesterday he took his second 5th place in a row when he mixed it up in the sprint in the uphill finale of the penultimate stage. While proud of his performance, the French champion regrets that the stage win has so far eluded him.

"I won't hide that I really thought about the stage win in the end. Unfortunately, it eluded me. I was up against riders that were stronger than me and took 5th. Certainly, I felt good but it was a really tense finale, intense, with two big climbs that made the legs heavy.

"I feel like I am getting gloser to the win but we are at Paris-Nice and nothing is easy. There are so many good riders that it takes a lot of things to come together to take that victory. From this day, I especially rememeber the great team performance. For them, I had to stay up there on GC which I did and so I am satisfied.

"Obviously, it would mean a lot to me to finish in the top 5. It is the first time I find myself as team leader in a WorldTour stage race but I will keep my feet on the ground. If I keep this 6th place, I leave the race very proud. But I know that nothing is guaranteed, I will have to defend it to the end. And tomorrow, I will try to do the best in the sprint and maybe finally take the win."

The team's second GC rider, Arnold Jeannesson, was involved in the same crash as Geraint Thomas and so lost 40 seconds.

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.