Paris-Nice leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) amply reaffirmed his GC domination of this year’s race with a second solo uphill victory in as many stages, leaving the Danish star in total control of his GC rivals with three days left to go.
In marked contrast to his pathway to Wednesday’s triumph, captured in brutally difficult conditions by attacking close to the line at Uchon, 24 hours later, the Dane went from much greater distance, striking hard at 20 kilometres to go in the sunshine, well before any of his rivals had even begun to think about attacking.
Powering away on the hardest ascent of the stage, the brutally steep Cat.1 Côte de Saint-Jean-Muzols, Vingegaard increased his advantage to nearly a minute on the last classified climb, the longer but easier Côte de Saint-Barthélemy-le-Plain, with the gap on a demoralised and reduced group of chasers continuing to rise all the way to the finish.
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Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) remains second overall, Tobias Steinhauser (EF Education-Easy Post) is in third, but with Vingegaard’s amply increased advantage, the fight for overall victory in the 2026 Paris-Nice is now all but officially over – and Vingegaard has proved beyond doubt he is looking in exceptional shape for his even bigger challenges, like the Giro d’Italia, later this season.
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