The dust, or rather the dirt, has settled on the 84th Paris-Nice and the first indications of the form of those who chose France over Tirreno-Adriatico are in.
Before even leaving Achères on the outskirts of the French capital to start stage 1, Jonas Vingegaard was the main favourite to win the Race to the Sun, and that he finished the week as the overall victor is no real surprise. However, his performance was probably more dominant than he could have imagined.
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At 29, the Dane has experienced all the situations and obstacles that a bike race can throw at you, hence the clothing modifications of stage 4 and the killer attacks at just the right times that saw him more than four minutes ahead of Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in second place. The only faux pas was underestimating Lenny Martinez’s (Bahrain Victorious) sprinting capabilities on the last stage but in the grand scheme of things, Vingegaard and Visma had to have been very happy with the results.
The contest might have been closer if Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) hadn’t crashed out on the fateful fourth stage to Uchon, but looking at how Vingegaard dispatched the Red Bull guys after they had ridden all day and then produced an even bigger blow the following day showed that it wasn’t just about staying focused and warm. Instincts, experience and recovery all combined to stamp his authority on his rivals.
This was Vingegaard in good form – that was evident – but worryingly for those going to the Giro d’Italia, I’d say there’s a margin of improvement to come. The inner strength is there and with his next outing being at the Volta a Catalunya, the plan will be for hopefully better temperatures to add the final touches to his form.
The clues behind that thinking are related to Lenny Martinez. He was the only one who really reacted to Vingegaard’s attacks, coming close to making it onto the race leader’s wheel on stage 5 and then being able to follow…
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