Simon Yates started the final weekend of Paris-Nice with a summit finish on the Col de Tourini on Saturday to challenge overall leader Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma).

The British rider attacked on this climb, but was unable to close the Slovenian's lead. Instead, he was outpaced by Roglic, who sprinted for the 15km climb, by 39 to 47 seconds.

After the finish, the leader of BikeExchange-Jayco said of Roglic, who is trying to decide his victory Sunday after a disastrous finish a year ago, "It was on another level in Turini."

"There's not much you can do. When he's in second gear, he's not breathing and the other players are panting like they're on their deathbeds."

"It's hard to do something different. I tried a few cocky moves to see what I could do, but it just didn't happen."

Yates eventually finished third behind Roglic and Dani Martinez, leaving the Ineos Grenadiers rider 13 seconds back in third place overall.

Rather than looking to Logrich, Yates could be on the defensive against the Colombian climber in Sunday's 115km thrill ride in the hills around Nice. The race has seen dramatic developments on the final day in recent years.

"It's been a tough race day after day, and I think it's taking its toll on the peloton," said the team leader. We have another hard day ahead of us tomorrow. 'Tomorrow is a really good race and it's the only fun day of the year that I can really get into it.

"Martinez was really good and he's not that far behind me, so I think he'll set up tomorrow. He won't be able to overtake Primoz and win, so he might be a little bit defensive."

Always willing to go on the attack, Yates will no doubt try something more in the six sectional mountains on Sunday.

"I don't think it's bad," he said. It could have been better, it could have been worse. It was what I thought it would be."