In the end, the 82nd edition of the Race to the Sun, as Paris-Nice is known, saw very little sunshine.
On the other hand, as is often the case in this race, the overall victory of Paris-Nice 2024 was decided by a matter of seconds, and it was on the last day that the Yellow Jersey changed shoulders, finally landing on the shoulders of Matteo Jorgenson, the young American rider from Team Visma | Lease a Bike having shown himself to be very consistent and ultimately stronger than his long-time friend, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), his compatriot!
This week's summary of Paris-Nice 2024
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Olav Kooij for sprint victory on stage 1, the favourites are already showing up!
It all began with a looping stage around Les Mureaux, in the Yvelines region, which was a classic affair, with a breakaway being caught up with a few dozen kilometers to go, and ... the protagonists in the general classification were already showing their mettle, battling for the bonus seconds awarded at the intermediate sprint in Montainville, where Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) took the 6 seconds!Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) were also on hand to shake up the race. Under their impetus, the peloton thinned out very slightly, and it was with a few fewer sprinters that it entered the bunch sprint at the finish in Les Mureaux, after a failed attempt by Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies). Many sprinters were still present, however, and victory was finally decided between Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Olav Kooij (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), the Dutchman beating the Dane by not even half a wheel. Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) took 3rd place.
Stage 2: a second sprint, a second Dutchman!
Between Thoiry and Montargis, the stage was mainly dominated by the battle for points in the best climber classification (with two 3rd category climbs), with Mathieu Burgaudeau taking a lead for the rest of the week ... even though he will lose his polka-dot jersey on the final stage of this Paris-Nice 2024!On the long straights, the absence of wind meant that there were no curbs, and it was finally in a grouped pack that the riders made their way to the finish line at the end of a long straight, even if it got a little scattered towards the end because of a small climb in the finale. In the end, it was another Dutchman, Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), who came out on top.
Stage 3: the Emiratis fastest in the team time trial
Stage 3 of Paris-Nice 2024 saw the return of the ever-unusual discipline of the team time trial, this time around Auxerre. With two bumps in the day's course, and with the particular Paris-Nice rule of applying real time for each rider and taking the time of the first rider for the team, we saw several sprinters dropped by their team-mates in this team time trial.At the intermediate timing point, it looked as if Soudal Quick-Step and Remco Evenepoel were going to do well, coming through with a 17-second lead over the team that ultimately won the stage! However, with the onset of rain, the Belgian team had to take more precautions in the second part of the time trial, and it was finally UAE Team Emirates who won the stage, 15 seconds ahead of Jayco AlUla, 20 seconds ahead of EF Education-EasyPost and no less than 22 seconds ahead of the Belgian team!
Mont Brouilly: Buitrago's solo victory on stage 4
The 4th stage of Paris-Nice 2024 lived up to its promise with 7 difficulties. Four riders broke away from the rest of the field: Jasper de Buyst(Lotto Dstny), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan Team) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies).On the 4th climb, Burgaudeau and Scaroni accelerated and the breakaway split in two, but in the end it was Scaroni who took off alone to the summit. Scaroni then managed to stay alone at the front until the summit of the first ascent of Mont Brouilly.
The peloton was all grouped together again, until Lucas Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla) and a little further on Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) went on the attack on the penultimate difficulty, the Col du Fût d'Avenas - Les Chappes. Their gap didn't grow much, but the 40 seconds or so were enough to allow Santiago Buitrago to take the stage victory, solo in the end thanks to a new attack on the first slopes of Mont Brouilly, where the Colombian managed to go alone. His initial breakaway companion nevertheless took advantage of the situation to take the yellow jersey at the end of the stage.
In the group of favourites, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) took advantage of the slopes of this final climb to get rid of Primož Roglič (BORA-hansgrohe), but it was Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) who finally beat him to the line for 3rd place and to take the final bonuses available at this finish.
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A new sprint for stage 5: a new victory for Olav Kooij
The triptych of difficulties between Saint-Sauveur-de-Montagut and Sisteron didn't prevent the sprinters' teams from setting up and competing for the stage's sprint finish, even though traditionally a breakaway gets away with the win in Paris-Nice finishes in Sisteron!However, even though 8 riders took off, joined a little further on by two more, the peloton never showed any inclination to let their gap grow, notably with the Lidl-Trek team for Mads Pedersen, the Visma | Lease a Bike team for Olav Kooij and Groupama-FDJ for Laurence Pithie. By the time they crossed the line for the first time, the leading group had a lead of just 7 seconds over the chasing peloton, and the breakaway soon came to an end.
The remaining ten kilometers or so were an opportunity for some to try their luck again, but without success, and the sprinters raced to the finish! Pedersen was the first to go, from quite far, Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) then overtook him, but in the end it was Olav Kooij (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) who rounded these two obstacles to take the stage victory, while the overall lead remained unchanged.
One Dane hides another: Skjelmose wins the stage
In the cold first part of the stage, it was Dane Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) who did all he could to join the breakaway of 10 riders (including Mathieu Burgaudeau [TotalEnergies], still looking for points for his polka-dot jersey), in anticipation of a possible breakaway success and therefore a sprint from a small group.The peloton, however, took no notice and caught up with the breakaway with around 60 km to go, although Burgaudeau briefly exited again, to go for points at the summit of the Col de Gourdon. After the first passage over the line, it was Primož Roglič (BORA-hansgrohe) who launched an attack on the first slopes of the Côte de La Colle-sur-Loup, but, joined by a group of favourites, it was Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) who launched the hostilities. Joined by Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), this leading trio headed for the finish line in La Colle-sur-Loup.
On the final slopes to the finish line, it was Mattias Skjelmose who came out on top, finishing ahead of McNulty and Jorgenson, and 52 seconds ahead of the other favourites. McNulty took the yellow jersey at the same time.
Stage 7: short but tough, with Vlasov on his own
Stage 7, which set off from Nice, was due to finish in the resort of Auron (1st category final climb), after the ascent of La Colmiane, also first category.In view of the weather conditions, and the presence of snow on the final climb and potentially also on the previous climb, the organizer decided during the week to modify this stage, and finally arrive at La Madone d'Utelle, thus retaining the difficulty of the finish, but cutting the stage by 70 kilometers and a difficult climb preceding the finish.
At the finish, everyone was no doubt expecting one of the race favourites, Primož Roglič (BORA-hansgrohe), but this was not to be, despite the fact that he was quite far behind in the general classification... In the rain and cold, it was two riders who broke away, Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Johan Jacobs (Movistar Team), while behind them it was full speed ahead. Benjamin Thomas finally gave up the effort in the leading duo, and at the foot of the final climb, Johan Jacobs had a lead of just 15 seconds over the chasing peloton, with Soudal Quick-Step and Remco Evenepoel accelerating hard at the front of the pack and gradually eliminating some of their rivals.
With around 20 riders remaining, however, this strategy partially failed and it was finally Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) who attacked to take the bonus at the intermediate sprint in Utelle. 4 kilometers from the summit, Evenepoel did so again, but without breaking away. That was what Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe) managed to do, and even if Evenepoel managed to drop yellow jersey Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), he couldn't get rid of the other favourites. Aleksandr Vlasov continued, and managed to stay ahead, to win this 7th stage. McNulty kept the yellow jersey, but was now only 4 seconds ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), 35 seconds ahead of Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and 36 ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step).
It all comes down to the final stage: Evenepoel wins the stage, Jorgenson the overall!
As is often the case in Paris-Nice, it was all going to come down to a matter of seconds, and the short but dense stage around Nice was the perfect terrain for this.Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) was the first to launch the hostilities, solo, accelerating on the Côte de Levens, with a group of twenty or so favourites in hot pursuit. At the foot of the Côte de Peille, with around 50km to go, Campenaerts was caught and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) accelerated hard, but only a dozen or so of the favourites were able to keep up. Still on this climb, Evenepoel went on the attack again, but failed to make another breakaway... But with 3 kilometers to go, a third acceleration was the right one to break away, with only Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) able to follow the Belgian champion, at first with Aleksander Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe).
With the yellow jersey holder already a long way off, Jorgenson accelerated to take the bonus at the summit of the Col d'Eze. On the Col des Quatre Chemins, in the last circuit after a quick first visit to Nice, Vlasov dropped back and it was all down to the remaining duo of Evenepoel and Jorgenson. As they approached the finish on Nice's Promenade des Anglais, Evenepoel went on the attack, and Jorgenson savored his overall victory!
Evenepoel also took the green jersey and the polka-dot jersey, while Jorgenson was also the best young rider and therefore also went home with the white jersey.
American friendship: Jorgenson wins the race and snatches the yellow jersey from McNulty
At the start of the stage it was Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) who started in yellow, but it soon became clear that yesterday's slight weakness would be fully revealed today, and that the American rider would not be taking the Paris-Nice 2024 victory. His compatriot Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) was already in ambush in the overall classification, but eventually won the race easily, with McNulty taking 3rd place behind Evenepoel. The friendship between the two American riders, who have known each other since they were teenagers, didn't take a hit though, as this image shows!🇫🇷 #ParisNice
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) March 10, 2024
𝐔. nique
𝐒. portsmanship
𝐀. mong the guys
🇺🇸❤️ pic.twitter.com/Dvqc5BNV6a
Evenepoel, mission accomplished?
Many expected to see an Evenepoel <> Roglič duel on this Paris-Nice 2024 but this was not the case. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) finished 2nd, 30 seconds behind Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), but nevertheless won the final stage of this 82nd edition of Paris-Nice. Considering that there was a possibility he might not win this one, is this a disappointment? Or is he actually up to the task, since he won this stage and finished second overall?Based on his expectations prior to the start in Les Mureaux, it's a success in any case, since he seems to have fulfilled his objectives, while perhaps having prepared himself in part for the Tour de France 2024:
My goal is to win a stage first, and then I feel ready to go for a good overall result (...) It would be nice to win, but if I finish 2nd or 3rd I'll be happy too.
Remco Evenepoel
2nd in Paris-Nice 2024 and winner of the final stage
And Primož Roglič?
... while Primož Roglič (BORA-hansgrohe) finished 10th at 5'33", it was clearly a disappointment!So, has the change of team he so much wanted had a negative effect on his preparation for the season, is the change of gear and other equipment to blame, has the preparation at altitude been different, is it simply a case of not yet being in top form, with a view to better things later in the season, or is age starting to come into play? Or is it a combination of all the above? We'll find out later in the season...
Video summary of Paris-Nice 2024
Throughout the week, you have been able to find the results of each stage of the Paris-Nice 2024 race on the UCI cycling calendar, along with a photo of the winner and a video summary. To relive the race through its 8 stages, go to this page to find the video summaries!© photos : A.S.O./Billy Ceustersdoor Thomas Vergouwen
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