He had never competed in Paris-Nice, here he is defending champion. Tadej Pogacar won his first “race to the sun” this Sunday, affording himself the luxury of raising his arms on the Promenade des Anglais already dressed in yellow. A resounding triumph, which marks a winning return of the Slovenian to France, a few months after his second place in the last Tour de France. A victory with the air of revenge, too: on the road to the Côte d’Azur, Pogacar tamed his summer executioner, Jonas Vingegaard, who finished the event in third place. Between the two extraterrestrials of the last Tour: David Gaudu, 26, new certainty of French cycling. Review of the four lessons of this Paris-Nice 2023, the first prestigious stage race of the cycling season.
Tadej Pogacar, untouchable all terrain
There is the sacred and there is the manner. Tadej Pogacar didn’t just win Paris-Nice, he outrageously dominated the race. The Slovenian won three of the seven stages contested (an eighth was on the program but it was canceled on Friday due to the wind). Either the two summit finishes on the program (at the Loge-des-Gardes and the Col de la Couillole) plus the last stage in Nice. A Maousse performance, which echoes that of his compatriot Primoz Roglic, also author of a hat-trick on Tirreno-Adriatico, the other stage race of the week. But the Slovenian didn’t build his success only on the finish lines: he also did his best, from the start of the race, to gain time where he could. From the first stage, we saw him compete in an intermediate sprint to nibble six bonus seconds on his competitors in the general classification. He did it again the next day, then pretty much every time he could. Result: not content with donning the yellow jersey of the winner, the white of the best young person, Pogacar also adorned himself with green in Nice, the color rewarding the best sprinter (the specialists having covered as they approached the steep stages). If it hadn’t been for the anonymous Jonas Gregaard, who escaped every day of the race, to take the peas, “Pogi” would also have been crowned best climber. Hegemonic, the boy.
David Gaudu, the Blue no longer blue
Gone are the days when David Gaudu was just a promise, who distinguished himself by his friendly face wearing big glasses and his walks with his dog Houna. The FDJ rider continues to grow and at 26, he seems to have reached maturity. Second in Nice, he was the only one who seemed to be able to reach the level of Pogacar during the race for the sun. He also signed the best French result there for more than twenty years, and second place for Sandy Casar – also in the colors of the Française des Jeux – in 2002. A result which confirms that his fourth place on the last Tour de France is not the result of chance but that of constant progress since his victory as a young hopeful in the Tour de l’Avenir 2016. Here too, it is not only the result that counts: the Breton has gave off an impression of great ease in the Col de la Couillole, isolated in the company of the two prodigies Vingegaard and Pogacar, He even allowed himself to let go of one of them (the Dane) on the way, sending a clear message: it will take count on him for a podium on the Grande Boucle. Two other Frenchmen slipped into the top 10 of the event: Romain Bardet (7th) and Pavel Sivakov (9th).
Jonas Vingegaard, not yet in orbit despite the Jumbo rocket
The great disappointment of Paris-Nice, here he is. It was announced at worst second, as the duel with his rival Pogacar had to take place, as on the last Tour de France, at heights inaccessible to the rest of the peloton. Here is Jonas Vingegaard third in Paris-Nice, 1 minute 39 behind the winner and almost 50 seconds behind David Gaudu. However, the Dane came with the best team on paper. In particular, it was to propel him into yellow at the end of the team time trial contested on the third day in the Loiret. The Jumbo of Foss, Dennis, Affini and other Tratnik managed to set the best time of the exercise, but Vingegaard was deprived of the yellow overcoat for three seconds by a compatriot, the sprinter-wheeler Magnus Cort Nielsen. Then, Vingegaard was never able to dispute the tunic with Pogacar, better everywhere. “I don’t doubt myself” promised Vingegaard on Saturday after his third place at the top of the Col de la Couillole. While conceding having “still a lot of work from here to the Tour de France”. We will find him in a month at the Tour of the Basque Country to see if he has done his homework.
Mads Pedersen makes an appointment for the green jersey
On the sprinters’ side, Paris-Nice saw three specialists raise their arms: the Belgian Tim Merlier, the Dutchman Olav Kooij and the Dane Mads Pedersen. But it is the latter who made the strongest impression, the only one to have also been on the podium two other times among the biggest thighs in the peloton. The former world champion has above all confirmed that he is one of the most comfortable sprinters – with Cort Nielsen or Matthews – to pass the bumps that the organizers like to sow on the course. If he has given up wearing his green jersey facing the Col de la Couillole – too high, too hard for his 70 kg on the scale – he has nevertheless set a date before the next Tour: he will be one of the very serious candidates for the title of best sprinter on the Champs-Elysées.