The final stage of Paris-Nice was barely 109.3 kilometers long, but fireworks were still expected among the favorites. Brandon McNulty entered the final day as the leader, but his lead over Matteo Jorgenson was only 4 seconds. Remco Evenepoel was fourth in the rankings, 36 seconds behind McNulty and barely 1 second behind the third in Mattias Skjelmose. So everything was still possible, but Evenepoel himself indicated in advance that he would focus on the stage victory rather than on the classification and that he did not want to take matters into his own hands this time.
It was another compatriot who immediately caught the spotlight. Victor Campenaerts went on an adventure together with Johan Jacobs and Laurence Pithie, but the latter had to leave on the Côte de Levens. A little later it also went too fast for Jacobs and Campenaerts ended up alone at the head of the race, with a lead of one and a half minutes on the peloton.
There was also no rest in the peloton and a group of counter-attackers was created, including our compatriot Laurens De Plus. He brought with him Quentin Pacher, Bruno Armirail, Ion Izagirre, Pello Bilbao, Ewen Costiou, Harry Sweeny, Samuele Battistella, Christian Scaroni, Ruben Guerreiro and Will Barta. The counterattack did not last long, because just before halfway through the race they were overtaken by the peloton. At that moment there was no longer any Santiago Buitrago in that peloton: Wednesday’s stage winner had crashed and had to give up.
Evenepoel starts early
At the top of the third climb of the day, Campenaerts’ lead had already shrunk to 10 seconds. Under the impetus of Mads Pedersen – in the position of Skjelmose – Campenaerts was overtaken at the foot of the Côte de Peille. And just as one Belgian was overtaken, the other went: Evenepoel, who had said he wanted to race a little more cautiously, scored for the first time more than 46 kilometers from the finish. Jorgenson, Vlasov, McNulty, Skjelmose, Roglic and Plapp were able to participate. Evenepoel clearly wanted to wear down the opposition, because a few minutes later he went again. It was not possible to pull away and so peace returned for a while in the group of favorites (where Bernal was missing).
At 3 kilometers from the top, Evenepoel attacked a third time. Jorgenson was the only one who could follow the Belgian champion, McNulty and Vlasov had to leave about fifty meters. Roglic, Skjelmose, Plapp and Scaroni were further away. Jorgenson realized that he had a golden opportunity to win and joined Evenepoel, causing McNulty and Vlasov to give up more and more time. Vlasov then played all or nothing and jumped to the top of the race in one go. At the top, McNulty’s deficit, who was overtaken by the Roglic group, had increased to 15 seconds.
Jorgenson doesn’t make a sound
McNulty received little support in the chasing group and saw the overall victory slip completely out of his hands. 15 seconds turned into 30 and in no time McNulty was already one and a half minutes behind. The final victory would go between Evenepoel and Jorgenson, that much was clear.
Just over 20 kilometers from the finish, there were still some bonus seconds to be gained in the intermediate sprint. Jorgenson accelerated in sight of the arc, Evenepoel strangely made no move. The American was again 2 seconds ahead of the Belgian champion, making the difference between the two virtually 34 seconds. Was Evenepoel so sure of himself or was he just thinking about the stage victory?
Much would become clear on the steep sections of the Col des Quatre Chemins. Evenepoel increased the pace, Vlasov was the victim. But the Belgian champion no longer had any real acceleration on the Col des Quatre Chemins and so Evenepoel, who was crowned king of the mountain, and Jorgenson rode to the finish in Nice with two. Jorgenson was certain of the overall victory, the only question that remained was who would win the stage.
Although that question was not the most difficult to answer. Jorgenson rode the last kilometers with a wall-to-wall smile, when Evenepoel no longer wanted to take over the last 2 kilometers and Jorgenson kept driving, we knew enough. Jorgenson the overall victory and Evenepoel the stage victory: that was the outcome.
