Thomas De Gendt succeeds at the seventh stage of the Paris-Nice while Bradley Wiggins continued his dominance at the leader’s jersey
Thomas De Gendt of Team Vacansoleil-DCM sailed across the finish-line while overcoming his main rivals during the seventh stage of the Paris-Nice 2012.
He received the honours in the fastest time of 5 hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds and was truly unstoppable during the seventh stage of the race.
The 25-year-old was overwhelmed with the victory and thanked his team for its support during the race.
He briefed, “Taaramae was an ideal ally. On the Col de Vence he tried to drop me, but I felt so much stronger than him, at the moment, everyone on the team is in good form. It was a nice stage and a nice finish”.
The second best cyclist of the race was Rein Taaramae of Team Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne, who was as much as 6 minutes and 18 seconds behind Thomas.
John Degenkolb, Greg Henderson and Thor Hushovd secured the third, fourth and fifth positions during the race.
The Belgian started his professional pursuit with Team Unibet-Davo in 2006 and joined Team Davo for 2007-08 seasons.
He accepted an offer from Team Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator in 2009. He penned a deal with Team Vacansoleil-DCM after spending a time of two years with the Belgian side.
Thomas had a terrific last season and grabbed stages at the Tour de Suisse, Paris-Nice and Circuit de Lorraine.
He also achieved the second overall position at the Circuit de Lorraine to fold a perfect year for the team.
Thomas has picked up his first victory of the 2012 season and is looking to fill his pockets during the final stage of the Paris-Nice.
He occupied the top spot during the four mountain stages of the race while Rein Taaramae, John Degenkolb and Gaetan Bille were the best three young riders on the day.
Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky Procycling has strengthened his grip at the overall classifications.
He is now leading the category with an edge of 6 seconds over Lieuwe Westra and 18 seconds over Alejandro Valverde.
Wiggins is now eyeing the 9.6 kilometre final stage of the race and is a hot favourite to occupy the top podium spot at the final general classifications.
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