Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) won stage one of the 2024 Paris-Nice from a very close sprint against Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), in what had been a complicated final couple of kilometres with a late rise.
Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) came across for third.
Pedersen had been on the front and in the wind for a long time but looked like he might hold everyone off, that was until Kooij came alongside and just managed to pip him to the line.
In the GC battle, it was mostly a stalemate, although Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) did take some bonus seconds while Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) did not. Those four seconds might prove decisive, they might prove irrelevant – but we can only hope that's decided by a week of exciting racing.
How it happened
Every stage race needs a breakaway, even if some are no longer so keen to oblige as the favourites come to the front earlier and earlier, but stage one's riders-out-front were Mathieu Burgaudeau from TotalEnergies, along with the EF Education-EasyPost pairing of Stefan Bissegger and Jonas Rutsch.
Rutsch and Burgaudeau went big for the KOM classification, sprinting hard from a long way out for the second set of points. Rutsch just clinched it.
The gap tumbled and with 49km to go the three-man break had 49 seconds.
All the talk before and during the stage was about 'Roglic vs Evenepoel', and although they may well end up finishing in the top two places overall, there are other riders here and a whole week of racing to look forward to.
Bissegger was the first to drop off the breakaway, likely having seen the peloton coming up on the group. Rutsch and Burgaudeau rode along looking at each other, but slowed too much to hold the peloton at bay for a clear two-up sprint for the next set of points.
Unlike the normal way things go when breakaway riders are caught, they did not get spat straight out the back but instead stayed near the front of the group. Burgaudeau even got some assistance from a teammate riding up, although the helper tended to go along side rather than in front. So probably not much help after all.
With around 160 metres to go to the KOM line, the Rutsch and Burgaudeau pairing kicked away from the peloton and the former got the points. He now leads that classification.
With the breakaway caught there was something of a lull in proceedings, although the pace stayed pretty high, and teams grouped together to protect their key riders.
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) got away from his rivals to get the maximum bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint, but Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) followed then went to the front to try and force a move. Only Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) got on terms with them.
Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) was not in the move and at the back of the peloton some sprinters were seeing their chance of a stage win disappear.
The lead trio never managed more than a six-second gap – it looked a lot like the other two didn't want to work with Evenepoel – and so the remainder of the peloton got back to them.
Roglic got back near the front, perhaps to show his rivals he was there, perhaps to avoid missing the next move in the same way.
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) could not match the pace and was one of the riders dropped off the back of the peloton.
Evenepoel attacked and strung out the group over the top of the next KOM line. Roglic chased and got back on the wheel, before Bernal brought a group across and took a turn on the front.
In one long line, what was left of the front group came back together, but looking back down a long road many other groups were spread and chasing to get back to the front.
Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) tried his luck solo with 10km to go. He got his head down and rode, while behind rival teams looked at each other a bit – although the pace didn't drop with the indecision.
With a maximum gap of 18 seconds, Turgis gave it a good go but the teams behind were not going to have their pocket picked by a solo rider on a stage that was due to be won by a punchy sprinter or classics-style rider.
Turgis was still, just about, clear at the 2km to go marker but was caught very soon after. A good training ride for the Frenchman.
Around a big roundabout the teams started to jockey for position, with some bumping of shoulders.
Twists and turns in the final kilometre as the leadout trains did their best to deliver their fastmen.
Stage one Paris-Nice 2024: Results
1. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma-Lease a bike in 03-36-28
2. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek
3. Laurence Pithie (NZA) Groupama FDJ
4. Nils Eekhof (Ned) dsm firmenich Post NL
5. Madis Mikhels (Est) Intermarché–Wanty
6. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco-AIUla
7. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek
9. Sandy Dujardin (Fre) TotalEnergies
10. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin Deceuninck all at same time
General classification after stage one
1. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma-Lease a bike in 03-36-28
2. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek
3. Matteo Jorgenson (Usa) Visma-Lease a Bike at 4s
4. Laurence Pithie (Nza) Groupama FDJ
5. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step at 6s
6. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers at 8s
7. Nils Eekhof (Ned) dsm firmenich Post NL
8. Madis Mihkels (Est) Intermarché–Wanty
9. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco-AIUla
10. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling at 10s
