Olav Kooij (Visma –Lease a Bike) won the opening stage of Paris-Nice in a tight final sprint against runner-up Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
Pedersen hit out first in the final 200 metres of the uphill finish in Les Mureaux, but Kooij had the strength to get back. Kooij came off Pedersen’s wheel with 75 metres to go and won by half a wheel.
Groupama-FDJ’s in-form sprinter Laurence Pithie looked to be gaining on the pair in the run to the line, but had to settle for third.
It was a tricky final 20 kilometres, with attacks flying from General Classification favourites Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers). However, the sprinters’ teams brought back the moves to set up the bunch kick.
“We knew it would be hard, but we definitely wanted to go for it,” Kooij said at the finish about the stiff uphill finish.
“I was in good position, and thanks to the guys. I had to suffer by way up the climbs, and then we knew we’d be fighting for the win. In the end, it was a really hard sprint. I’m happy to take a win.”
Having won two stages in last year’s Paris-Nice, Kooij finished second to Pedersen on stage 2 and knew the opening day could come down to a rematch.
“We knew this finish really suits him [Pedersen] and he’s been going really good this season. Last year we also had some good battles in the sprint here, and I was happy to win.
“I think tomorrow should be another sprint so it will be nice to race in the [leader’s] jersey. We’ll keep going and do the best we can.”
How it unfolded
The first battle between the ‘big four’ of 2024 commenced on stage 1 of Paris-Nice as Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) took to the start line of the eight-day race.
The first day, on paper, wasn’t to suit the two riders taking aim at the Tour de France’s yellow jersey in July. It was more of an aim for the punchy sprinters at the race, of which there were several.
The stage rolled out of Les Mureaux on a typically cold, early spring morning. The peloton was happy to let Jonas Rutsch, Stefan Bissegger (both EF Education-EasyPost) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies) hop off the front on the Côte de Bazemont, the first categorised climb of the day. The Frenchman Burgaudeau took the first mountain points of the race.
Lidl-Trek, through Tim Declercq, took control of the peloton as they sought to guide Mads Pedersen to the finish. They let the lead drift out to three minutes over the first hour…
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