Friday Check-In: Paris-Nice & Tirreno–Adriatico

Breaking down the key action from the past few days of racing at two elite early-season stage races

With two premier stage races, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, running simultaneously over the past few days (and into the weekend), there has been a near-overwhelming amount to keep track of and break down.

Below, I wanted to pause to break down the key moments of the concurrent events, including how Matteo Jorgenson has built up an impressive lead at Paris-Nice through the opening six stages of the prestigious French one-week stage race, what we can learn about the big Spring races from the nonstop action at Tirreno–Adriatico, and how Visma-Lease a Bike might have yet another GC leadership battle brewing in their squad.

Paris-Nice

Stage 3 (Catch Up)
Stage 5
900m: Heading into the 1km-long final climb, Brandon McNulty hits the front with an incredible turn of speed, while Jonas Vingegaard, who crashed earlier in the day, struggles near the back.

600m: Matteo Jorgenson takes over the pacemaking and hammers out a brutal pace on the 15% slopes, while his Visma teammate, and race leader, continues to struggle at the back.

500m: Jorgenson’s pace is putting João Almeida, his most dangerous non-teammate GC rival, under serious pressure, which is likely the goal of the effort.

Finish: Bahrain’s Lenny Martinez rips clear for the stage win while Jorgenson holds on to grab a time bonus in third place, while Almeida finishes 7 seconds back, and Vingegaard, who finishes 26 seconds later, loses his leader’s jersey to Jorgenson (Vingegaard would drop out due to injuries the following day).

Stage Top Three:
1) Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) +0
2) Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana) +3
3) Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-LAB) +3

Stage 6
54.9km-to-go: Right as the television coverage starts, we see the Visma team, including the overall leader Jorgenson, ripping off the front of the peloton in a crosswind section with a rare team attack, with a few key GC rivals in tow.

51.8km: When six Ineos riders bridge up to the Visma group, there is enough motivation and firepower in the group to ensure that they are all-but uncatchable to the group behind, which contains UAE’s João Almeida.

250m: Coming into the finishing straight, Mads Pedersen is on the front with two Ineos riders on his wheel, and is seemingly in trouble when he launches his sprint incredibly early.

Finish: However, even after Josh Tarling nearly overtakes him, Pedersen is able to hold on for the stage win, showing that outside of his punishing climbing so far this week, he is rounding into Classics form. Behind, Jorgenson, finishes nearly two minutes ahead of Almeida, and all but seals overall victory, while Mattias Skjelmose, Thymen Arensman and Florian Lipowitz all move up a spot in the GC due to their heads-up riding that allowed them to make the front group.

Stage Top Three
1) Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +0
2) Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers) +0
3) Samuel Watson (INEOS Grenadiers) +0

GC Top Five Going Into Final Weekend:
1) Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-LAB) +0
2) Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +40
3) Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +59
4) Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +1’20
5) João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2’40

Paris-Nice Key Takeaways

Visma’s Brewing Issues: Due to the tension of the intra-Visma leadership battle being quickly diffused with Jonas Vingegaard leaving the race to heal from non-fracture injuries caused by his crash on Stage 5, the clunky dynamic between the two seen earlier in the race will quickly fade.

• However, this won’t completely solve what was clearly an issue, and it will almost certainly be revised at future stage races.

  • The on-road dynamic is oddly similar to the Primož Roglič/Jonas Vingegaard dynamic we saw after the emergence of Vingegaard during the 2021 Tour de France, and could eventually cause the same level of disruption.