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.
Finally, this year, he managed to conquer the Race to the Sun though sun and warmth were far and few between as cold, rain, and snow battered the peloton throughout, at one point forcing organisers to slash a stage to just 47 kilometres.
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.
The 29-year-old Visma-Lease a Bike rider said that the two hardest stages were his solo victory on stage 4 to Uchon, and the final day of racing on stage 8, where he came second.
“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.
Vingegaard not only became the first Danish rider to win Paris-Nice, but he did so in historic fashion. His winning margin of 4:23 over runner-up Dani Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is the largest since 1939, when Maurice Archambaud triumphed by 9:33.
Though Martinez did crash on the final stage and was forced into a frantic chase to limit his losses, Vingegaard had already built a lead of more than three minutes before the race's final day.
“For me, Paris-Nice is one of the biggest races in the world,” Vingegaard added. “It has been the one that I just couldn't get right. Finally, I get it right now so that's something that makes me extremely happy and proud.”
A relaxed Vingegaard calmly stated that his “shape is pretty decent. It's not at its very best, it’s at least at a very, very high level, and way better than it was last year at this moment.
“So I think I'm in a good place at the moment and to also build after [Volta a] Catalunya, towards the Giro [d’Italia] and the Tour [de France].”
Although Vingegaard denied that his aggressive racing this week was a statement to his rivals, it was hard not to read it as one.
“No,” replied Vingagaard in his yellow jersey interview when asked if his results were a message to Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) that he was back and ready.
“I think for me, it's just about racing, trying to win the races that I'm doing and this was my first race of the year. And, I'm just extremely happy with how everything went here.”
