Paris-Nice had been one of the few races to elude Jonas Vingegaard throughout his career, and when he finally claimed it, he did so in emphatic fashion. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider made it perfectly clear he was back to form even though he skipped starting his season at the UAE Tour after a training crash and illness.
The one-week stage race has not always been kind to the Vingegaard. In 2023, on debut, he finished third behind Tadej Pogačar and David Gaudu but last year when he was in prime position he crashed heavily, suffering a serious concussion.
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Vingegaard took over the yellow leader’s jersey on stage 4 in atrocious weather while avoiding crashes, and claimed his second victory the following day. He attackedsolo with 20 kilometres to go, increasing her lead over the last few climbs to finish more than two minutes clear of the closest chaser. Then, on the always frantic final day of racing, as the sun came out, Vingegaard went on the attack again, pulling away with only one rider, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), able to stick with him as they sped towards the finish line to sprint it out for the stage victory taken by Martinez.
“Today was also a very hard day, full gas from the start, also, and very hard racing. We tried to control it, and the team did amazing, controlling it today; they were very strong. And of course, I hoped that I could win the stage as well. But Lenny was very strong and very fast in the sprint, so he deserves it,” Vingegaard told reporters at the finish, including CyclingProNet.
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