The Slovenian Primoz Roglic, from the Jumbo team, won Paris-Nice on Sunday after the eighth stage won by the Briton Simon Yates, winner alone on the Promenade des Anglais. oglic, a three-time Vuelta winner, received invaluable help from his team-mate, Belgian champion Wout van Aert, to preserve most of his lead.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo) won Paris-Nice on Sunday despite a moment of weakness in the eighth and final stage won by Briton Simon Yates, solo winner on the Promenade des Anglais. 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.
No fall unlike last year
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 20 seconds on Yates before reducing his deficit to nine seconds on the line, thanks to the help of the omnipresent van Aert. In the final standings, Roglic beat Simon Yates by 29 seconds and Colombian Daniel Martinez by 2 min 37 sec.
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”.