Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo) won Paris-Nice despite a moment of weakness in the 8th and last stage won by Briton Simon Yates, solo winner in Nice.
Three-time Vuelta winner Roglic received invaluable help from his teammate, Belgian champion Wout van Aert, to preserve most of his lead over Simon Yates, his runner-up in the standings.
The Slovenian suffered on the last climb, the Col d’Eze, at the entrance to the last 20 kilometers. But he limited the loss to around twenty seconds on Yates before reducing his delay to 9 seconds on the line, thanks to the assistance of van Aert, omnipresent.
In the final standings, Roglic beat Simon Yates by 29 seconds and Colombian Daniel Martinez by 2’37”.
The Slovenian (32) had lost Paris-Nice on a fall last year, for his first participation.
This time, Roglic controlled the situation for a long time in the last stage, a loop of 115.6 kilometers multiplying climbs and descents in the Nice hinterland, before letting go on the last ascent on the start of Simon Yates.
The Briton, winner of the Vuelta in 2018, won a stage from Paris-Nice for the fourth time. In 2018, he gave up his leader’s jersey on the last day of the ‘race to the sun’.
The Swiss Stefan Küng, very offensive, took 6th place in a mountainous stage 1’44” from the winner.
/ ATS