The final stage and for once theres not all to play for as Jonas Vingegaard leads by over three minutes. But the stage win and the other podium places are available and all on a new route with a novel finish.Stage 7 Review: a win for Dorian Godon in an abbreviated stage. Snowfall saw the finish moved to Isola village and then heavy rain saw the start moved too and the stage was reduced to 47km. It happened despite several teams voting no to race.Visma-LAB helped keep a lid on things all stage and in the finale Ineos supplied a good lead out and Godon got his second stage win with Ineos after the team time trial. He also collected the points jersey.Godon said on TV that the Ineos team at Paris-Nice is their Tour de France team. In July theres an extra rider and the addition is likely to be Thymen Arensman; while one rider this week will probably be swapped out to make room for Filippo Ganna.The Route: 2,780m of vertical gain in 145km. The first 80km are the same in previous years with the ride up the Var valley, the Col de la Porte and then the descent to LEscarne. But instead of heading east for the climb to Peille this time its west for some new roads.The Col de Chteauneuf comes next, 6.6% says the profile but its a twisty backroad that rewards attacks as its easy to get out of sight. Right at the start theres a long 14% section to reward an attack.The hardest climb comes last, Linguador in the road book or Death Road to some locals, fortunately on account of its asphyxiating slopes rather than anything worse. Its a narrow road with an irregular slope.Theres also the surprise climb of the intermediate sprint with 7km to go, the route turns off the valley floor to take a twisty side road that climbs for over a kilometre at 4-5%.The Finish: flat but with a sweeping bend thats almost a U-turn with 350m to go, its wide and is based off a roundabout but means the finish isnt in sight until late.The Contenders: Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-LAB) can win but has to attack on a climb and go solo. Easier said than done but his show showed it can work earlier in the week. Its just harder to pull off on this stage.Kvin Vauquelin (Ineos) has two goals today, the stage and finding 19 seconds on Georg Steinhauser in order to get on the podium. Both goals can be combined.Lenny Martinez (Bahrain) might prefer an uphill finish but hes actually quick in a small group. The same for Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quickstep)UAE have Marc Soler and Igor Arrieta, the former is 8th overall and so has less space. Movistars Jefferson Cepeda is an outside pick. Likewise Tudors Mathys Rondel.Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana) would be a pick but had a hard crash yesterday which left him with a bruised leg so its not clear if hell start today.Vauquelin, VingegaardL Martinez, Paret-Peintre, ArrietaWeather: sunshine but cool, 13C and windy at times.TV: the finish is for 4.30pm CET.Postcard from NiceParis-Nice finishes in Nice today. There have been finishes on the Quai des Etats-Unis and the Promenade des Anglais and today has a new finish outside the Allianz Riviera stadium which sits on the edge of the city. Todays finish is because of local elections in France today and to ease access to voting stations.However 28 of the 84 editions of the race, one third, havent actually finished in Nice. From 1969 to 1995 the race always finished on the Col dEze which technically isnt Nice. The race has also finished there in 2012 and 2013. The Coronavirus obliged the race to halt a day early at the La Colmiane ski resort in 2020, while in 2021 the eighth and final stage finished in Levens in the hills behind Nice by design because of the pandemic too.In 1959 the race finished in Rome. It was an 11 day race and after reaching Nice at the end of the seventh stage the best riders were invited to race on to Rome. The event had three general classifications, one to Nice, one from Nice to Rome and then an overall of these for Paris to Rome. This extended edition was won by Jean Graczyk. However the riders and the UCI found it too long and the experience was not repeated.The post Paris-Nice Stage 8 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.