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La Bollène-Vésubie - Colombia's Daniel Martinez won stage seven of the Paris-Nice on Saturday, as his compatriot Egan Bernal of Sky emerged with the yellow jersey after a stunning ascent to the summit finish.
Bernal, just 22, leads the overall standings by 45sec from Belgian Quick-Step veteran Philippe Gilbert, after he crossed the summit way ahead of the main peloton which he dropped with a few kilometres remaining.
The stage ended with a steep 15km climb where several Colombian climbers had a field day, smashing the peloton's resistance with Martinez proving strongest on the day after surviving an early escape group.
A third young Colombian, Miguel Angel Lopez, was second with France's Nicolas Edet third and Britain's Vuelta a Espana champion Simon Yates in fourth.
On last season's race Yates went into the final day in the lead but lost it on a descent in dreadful weather, although Bernal holds all the aces.
The leader holds a 45sec lead on Gilbert while his friend and compatriot Nairo Quintana, with whom he made Saturday's ascent, is third at 46sec.
Overnight leader Michal Kwiatkowski looked strong until about 10km into the climb, where he dropped to 1min 03sec in the overall standings.
Sunday's stage is a short 110km loop around Nice that features six tricky climbs, the last of which is just 9km from the line.
Stage 7 results:
1. Daniel Martinez (COL/EF1) 4hrs 55min 49sec, 2. Miguel Angel Lopez (COL/AST) at 06sec, 3. Nicolas Edet (FRA/COF) 20, 4. Simon Yates (GBR/MIT) 20, 5. Jonathan Hivert (FRA/DEN) 55, 6. Giulio Ciccone (ITA/TRE) 2:03, 7. Julien EL Fares (FRA/DMP) 2:03, 8. Sergio Henao (COL/UAE) 2:08, 9. Victor De la Parte (ESP/CCC) 2:13, 10. Alessandro De Marchi (ITA/CCC) 2:15, 11. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/DEC) 2:50, 12. Elie Gesbert (FRA/ARK) 3:04, 13. Nairo Quintana (COL/MOV) 3:43, 14. Egan Bernal (COL/SKY) 3:43, 15. Jack Haig (AUS/MIT) 4:05.
Overall standings:
1. Egan Bernal (COL/SKY) 26hrs 35min 26sec, 2. Philippe Gilbert (BEL/DEC) at 45sec, 3. Nairo Quintana (COL/MOV) 46, 4. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/SKY) 1:03, 5. Jack Haig (AUS/MIT) 1:21, 6. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 1:45, 7. George Bennett (NZL/JUM) 2:20, 8. Ilnur Zakarin (RUS/KAT) 2:52, 9. Rudy Molard (FRA/FDJ) 3:02, 10. Bob Jungels (LUX/DEC) 3:06.
