Sawt Falasteen - Triumphant Pedersen finds cold comfort on shivering 'Race to the Sun'

Winning from a long-range breakaway, Denmark's Lidl-Trek team leader Pedersen has a history of cold weather wins, including at the soggy 2019 world championships in northern England.

"It reminds me of the race in 2019, at the end of September, which was even worse and with the same outcome, a victory for me," said Pedersen.

The gritty Dane was one of the few to race on Friday without a zipped-up wind breaker to counter the downpours which followed snow and hail earlier in the week.

The testing, wintry conditions are a long way off the event's fabled tagline of the "Race to the Sun" which concludes on the French Riviera.

"Today, it was five degrees, rain all day, it's hard to be a cyclist in these conditions, especially when the stage is 200km long," Pedersen added.

"But in the end, it was a great day."

Pedersen's win puts him on the radar for the upcoming Milan-San Remo and April's Paris-Roubaix, both arduous one-day races which are far longer.

"For me, Paris-Nice is a race that allows me to refine my form with a view to the classics," said Pedersen, who is here to also help Mattias Skjelmose, now third in the overall standings.

Strong gusts in the final 60km created conditions for an echelon -- where riders position themselves at slight angles to counter crosswinds -- with Jorgenson and most of his Visma team breaking away with Pedersen in tow.

A twelve-man break then ensued over the final 58km which outpaced a discouraged, shivering peloton all the way to the line.

Jorgenson leads Germany's Bora rider Florian Lipowitz and Denmark's Skjelmose by 40 and 59 seconds respectively in the overall standings.

Jorgenson's teammate Jonas Vingegaard was not in action Friday after the two-time Tour de France winner withdrew on medical advice after injuring his hand in a fall on Thursday.

Saturday's penultimate stage sees the riders tackle a mountainous 109.5km route from Nice to Auron.

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST