Denmark's Mads Pedersen won Friday's sixth stage of the Paris-Nice road cycling race, while American Matteo Jorgenson retained the leader's yellow jersey.

Winning from a long-range breakaway, Denmark's Lidl-Trek team leader Pedersen has a history of cold-weather victories, including at the soggy 2019 world championships in northern England.

Mads Pedersen Thrives In Brutal Conditions

"It reminds me of the race in 2019, at the end of September, which was even worse and with the same outcome, a victory for me," said Pedersen.

The gritty Dane was one of the few to race on Friday without a zipped-up windbreaker to counter the downpours, which followed snow and hail earlier in the week.

The testing, wintry conditions were a far cry from the event's fabled tagline, the "Race to the Sun," which concludes on the French Riviera.

"Today, it was five degrees, rain all day, it's hard to be a cyclist in these conditions, especially when the stage is 200km long," Pedersen added.

"But in the end, it was a great day."

Matteo Jorgenson Strengthens Overall Lead

Pedersen's win puts him on the radar for the upcoming Milan-San Remo and April's Paris-Roubaix, both arduous one-day races that are much longer.

"For me, Paris-Nice is a race that allows me to refine my form with a view to the classics," said Pedersen, who is also supporting Mattias Skjelmose, now third in the overall standings.

Strong gusts in the final 60km created conditions for an echelon—where riders position themselves at slight angles to counter crosswinds—with Jorgenson and most of his Visma team breaking away with Pedersen in tow.

A 12-man break then ensued over the final 58km, outpacing a discouraged, shivering peloton all the way to the finish line.

Jorgenson leads Germany's Bora rider Florian Lipowitz and Denmark's Skjelmose by 40 and 59 seconds, respectively, in the overall standings.

Jorgenson's teammate Jonas Vingegaard was not in action Friday after the two-time Tour de France winner withdrew on medical advice following a hand injury sustained in a fall on Thursday.

Saturday's penultimate stage sees the riders tackle a mountainous 109.5km route from Nice to Auron.