BIOT, France: Dutch rider Tom-Jelte Slagter of the Garmin team won the seventh and penultimate stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race on Saturday.

Slagter won a sprint finish uphill ahead of world champion Rui Costa of Portugal and yellow jersey holder Carlos Betancur of Colombia.

Britain's Geraint Thomas, second overall at the start from Mougins, lost ground after a fall 5km from the finish line after the 195.5km stage at Biot.

Slagter, 24, also won Wednesday's stage at Belleville.

AG2R La Mondiale rider Betancur leads Costa by 14sec before the tough final stage over 128km, which includes five climbs in Provence before arriving in Nice.

In Rome, Alberto Contador of the Tinkoff team won the fourth stage of the the Tirreno-Adriatico race on Saturday.

Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski holds the overall race lead after the 244km run from Indicatore to Cittareale Selvarotonda.

Sunday's fifth stage will cover 192km between Amatrice and Guardiagrele.