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Nice - Young Spaniard Marc Soler snatched victory at Paris-Nice from Briton Simon Yates with a daring breakaway on Sunday's soaked final stage.
Soler finished the stage around Nice in third behind breakaway companions and compatriots David de la Cruz and Omar Fraile.
Yates came home sixth in a group some 35 seconds behind Soler meaning the Spaniard snatched overall victory by just four seconds.
Soler had started the day 37 sec behind Yates in sixth overall but took bonus seconds in an intermediate sprint and as he rolled over the finish line three seconds behind De la Cruz and Fraile.
Soler didn't have the legs to contest the sprint finish, with Sky's De la Cruz overhauling Fraile at the death.
Fraile had launched a solo breakaway with 47 km left of the mountainous 110 km stage riden in driving rain.
Soler and De la Cruz took off after him and 5km later they linked up to form a three-man breakaway group with three of the six categorised climbs of the day still to come.
They increased their lead to 1min 30sec at one stage. Yates had few team-mates left to help him and the disorganised chase group broke up under pressure of attacks by Spanish brothers Ion and Gorka Izagirre, who had started the day in second and third at 11sec and 12sec behind Yates.
But they crashed with just 5 km remaining allowing Yates's group to catch them.
Gorka Izagirre took bonus points in the first intermediate sprint of the day to jump above his brother to finish third overall at 14sec.
Results and overall standings after the 8th and final stage of the Paris-Nice a 110km ride starting and finishing in Nice on Sunday:
1. David de la Cruz (ESP/Sky) 2hr 53min 06sec, 2. Omar Fraile (ESP/AST) same time, 3. Marc Soler (ESP/MOV) at 3sec, 4. Patrick Konrad (AUT/BOR) 38, 5. Tim Wellens (BEL/LOT) s.t., 6. Simon Yates (GBR/MIT) s.t., 7. Dylan Teuns (BEL/BMC) s.t., 8. Richard Carapaz (EQU/MOV) s.t., 9. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/BAH) s.t., 10. Ion Izagirre (ESP/BAH) s.t.
Final overall standings:
1. Marc Soler (ESP/MOV) 30hr 22min 41sec, 2. Simon Yates (GBR/MIT) at 4sec, 3. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/BAH) 14, 4. Ion Izagirre (ESP/BAH) 16, 5. Tim Wellens (BEL/LOT) 16, 6. Dylan Teuns (BEL/BMC) 32, 7. Patrick Konrad (AUT/BOR) 44, 8. Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA/ALM) 1:54, 9. David de la Cruz (ESP/SKY) 2:15
