The routes of the last two stages of the Paris-Nice cycling race have been reconfigured to finish outside Nice to avoid a local Covid lockdown, the city mayor Christian Estrosi announced on Friday.

The race, which traditionally finishes on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, will end on Sunday instead around 40 kilometres north in the town of Levens which is outside the regional quarantine zone.

It will start from the Plan du Var, about 30 kilometres north of Nice, and will take the form of a quasi-loop.

Organising company ASO has yet to publish the technical details.

Saturday's stage seven, which was due to set off from Nice, will now start from Le Broc and will end as planned in Valdeblore La Colmiane.

The area is under its third weekend lockdown following what the Alpes-Maritime regional authority described as "the continuing very worrying" health situation and "extremely high" pressure on the resources of local hospitals.