Forgotten the misadventure of 2021, when he saw the final victory escape him during the final stage of Paris-Nice. This time, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic is well on the top step of the podium of the “race to the sun”.
The leader of the Dutch team Jumbo-Visma however had a moment of weakness in the eighth and last stage, won by Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco), solo winner this Sunday March 13 on the Promenade des Anglais.
Primoz Roglic has long controlled the situation during this 115.6 km loop which multiplies climbs and descents in the Nice hinterland. But at the start of the last twenty kilometers, in the Col d’Eze, the final ascent of the race, he suffered when starting the Briton. The Slovenian limited the loss to around twenty seconds, before reducing his delay to 9 seconds on the line.
62 wins
Three times winner of the Tour of Spain, the Slovenian can thank his teammate, the Belgian champion Wout van Aert, whose very precious help allowed him to preserve most of his lead over Simon Yates, his runner-up in the general classification. .
“I wasn’t thinking about the general classification, I only started thinking about it when I heard the gap [dans le col d’Eze]but I was mainly aiming for the stage victory, will detail the Briton after the race. We have seen it in the past several times, at the time of the Sky team, you need a teammate to win Paris-Nice. It was still true today with van Aert. »
Primoz Roglic beats the native of Bury (England) by 29 s. The Colombian Daniel Martinez, third, points to 2 min 37 s. Wout van Aert offers himself the green jersey of the best sprinter. The Frenchman Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) leaves, for his part, with the polka dot tunic of the best climber.
The Slovenian now has 62 victories on his professional list.
Cycling: Tadej Pogacar wins his second Tirreno-Adriatico
The Slovenian prodigy Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) won the Tirreno-Adriatico race, in Italy, on Sunday March 13, unsurprisingly, for the second year in a row, after a week of racing which he dominated. The general classification of the “race of the two seas” did not change at the end of the 7and and final stage, won in a sprint by the German Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) on the Adriatic coast in San Benedetto del Tronto (Marche).
Tadej Pogacar, 23, confirms his impressive start to the season, during which he has already flown over the Tour of the United Arab Emirates and the Strade Bianche. “My form looks like I had a year ago and is not far from my Tour de France form [qu’il a gagné en 2020 et 2021] »reacted the Slovenian at the end of the race.
His next goal, Saturday March 19, with Milan-San Remo, one of the five monuments of cycling. “I don’t put any extra pressure on myself, we go to all the races to win as a team. We’re also going to Milan-San Remo with a strong team next Saturday, but it’s a very difficult race to win. I don’t have enough fingers to count all the favourites, I prefer not to name one. »