On the last stage of Paris-Nice, the peloton took to the start line in Nice under sunshine instead of the expected rain. Three kilometers before the summit of the Côte de Peilles, Evenepoel launched the decisive attack of the stage. He was quickly followed by Vlasov and Jorgensen, with the trio reaching the summit of the climb together. On the approach to the intermediate sprint at the Col d'Éze, the trio extended their lead to 1:30 minutes, but on the final climb Evenepoel and Jorgensen were able to shake Aleks off. The BORA-hansgrohe rider was unable to keep up with the pace on the final climb and finished the stage in third place.
After BORA-hansgrohe initially fell somewhat short of expectations, the team was able to conclude the eight-day race on a positive note. On the penultimate stage, the team showed its fighting spirit, with Aleksandr Vlasov sensing his chance just 5km before the finish and attacking on the final climb. With no one able to follow, he secured his first win of the season.
Primož Roglič, who made his debut for the German team in this race, suffered a time loss of around 50 seconds after a somewhat disappointing team time trial at the start of the race week. However, the Slovenian continued to fight his way forward in the general classification on the following stages and finished in tenth place overall. Teammate Aleksandr Vlasov finished the race to the sun in fifth place overall after particularly impressive performances on the last two stages.
Stage result:
01 R. Evenepoel 2:50:03
02 M. Jorgenson +0:00
03 A. Vlasov +0:50
GC result:
01 M. Jorgenson 27:50:23
02 R. Evenepoel +0:30
03 B. McNulty +1:47
05 A. Vlasov +2:57
10 P. Roglič +5:33
From the Finish Line
“I managed to make it to the front of the race with Evenepoel and Jorgensen and we built up quite a good lead, but I just didn’t have the legs today to go with them to the finish line. It was a tough day in the saddle for sure. Overall, we came here with Primož as our GC leader and we really did our best together with him this past week, although we weren’t able to quite achieve the top result we wanted to. However, I’m pleased with my form here, having taken a stage win and given it another good go again today.” – Aleksandr Vlasov
“This was my first race with a new team, with new teammates and a new structure. When you join a new environment, you have to get used to each other and learn how to best work together. I think we did that pretty well this week, and it’s a good base to progress from. We’ll continue with the processes that we’ve started here in the team, and build the path back to the very top level. There are of course always things we can work on and we’re for sure going to target that to improve for the next races.” – Primož Roglič
“We expected that most of the GC action would happen on the final stage. Until the key moment of the race, we had both Aleks and Primoz in the front group. When Evenepoel and Jorgensen attacked, Aleks was eventually able to bridge across, and we had Primož as a backup plan behind. But in the end, he didn’t have the best of days. We tried to make it onto the podium from the leading trio with Aleks, but he was suffering quite a bit with the weather conditions. Ultimately, he took a strong third place and confirmed his good form following his win yesterday. In terms of the race overall, the result is not of course what we were aiming for, but we go home with a fifth place in the GC from Aleks, as well as a stage win. There’s a lot of learning to be done within the team for the future, and we’ll work together with Primož to make improvements, but we’re sure we’re on the right path.” – Patxi Vila, Sports Director