Evenepoel and Roglič upstaged by Jorgenson at Paris-nice
The Race to the Sun was won by an American, Matteo Jorgenson, for the first time in 18 years, as the favourites missed out, writes Adam Becket
The last time an American won Paris-nice, Matteo Jorgenson was six. Eighteen years on and the Visma-lease a Bike rider won the biggest race of his career in just his third event with his new team.
The 24-year-old admitted that he was not looking to win Paris-nice ahead of the event, but thanks to consistent riding all week, combined with making the right moves on stages six, seven and eight, the man from Idaho swapped one yellow jersey for another come the end in Nice. Helpfully, it’s where he lives when in Europe, so it was on home roads where he claimed the race win.
Jorgenson’s win was hardly a surprise – he does ride for Visma-lease a Bike after all, the team which won every Grand Tour last year – but he has clearly already improved since his move from Movistar in the off-season. Having lost Primož Roglič to Bora-hansgrohe, the Dutch squad appear to have a capable GC rider ready to take his place already.
Stepping up
“I have made a step. I wouldn’t say it’s some crazy step. But in this team, they really just look after every single detail,” he said. “There’s really nothing that we’re doing that no other team is doing, but I think we’re doing every single detail to the maximum. They have the mindset of performance first in every single regard – our nutrition, travel and management.
“It’s just a pleasure and it was the best decision I think I’ve made in my career joining this team.”
Not the predicted narrative
With his victory, Jorgenson upended the narrative ahead of the Race to the Sun, that it was a two-horse race between Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-quick Step) and Roglič. Jorgenson won with the former in second, but 30 seconds behind.
While Evenepoel did have an impact on the race, with repeated aggression, neither put in the dominant performance many would expect from the elite quarter who will be challenging at the Tour de France this summer: Evenepoel, Roglič, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-lease a Bike).
While Vingegaard was dominating on the other side of the Alps at Tirrenoadriatico, his rivals could not quite have the same impact in France. Evenepoel might have won the final stage to Nice – surprisingly, his first in the country – but he and his team let the race slip away from the Belgian. They will need to be better to challenge at the biggest races.
Roglič, meanwhile, performed well below his best in his first outing for Bora, eventually finishing 10th, 5:33 back from Jorgenson. However, he can take
“Joining the team was the best decision of my career”
comfort from the fact that a lot of his team’s race was decided by the stage three team time trial, where Bora were hit by worse weather than many of their rivals, and the fact that this was his first race. There is time for things to improve, and the form of his teammate, Aleksandr Vlasov, is promising.
Elsewhere, Lidl-trek and UAE Team Emirates both looked better as GC teams, something which bodes well for the competition as stage racing continues this year.