'It’s nice to take revenge' - Vingegaard overcomes 2025 DNF to take Paris-Nice stage

Jonas Vingegaard overcame the negative thoughts of his 2025 Paris-Nice abandon after a concussion to take a fine victory in Colombier-le-Vieux, traversing the same road where his crash occurred the year prior.

Speaking in his post race interview, the multiple Tour de France winner stated he had familiar feelings about the roads he was traversing on stage 5. “I had the feeling at one moment that this looks like the road that I crashed on last year, but I didn't know we were going there,” said Vingegaard.

Vingegaard believed that it was nice to turn a page on 2025 by putting on a cycling exhibition, as the Dane stated: “It's nice to take revenge now and to win here on such a beautiful day.”

Yet again for Visma | Lease a Bike, Victor Campenaerts put in some solid domestique work, teeing up Vingegaard for his 20 kilometre solo effort. On the matter, Vingegaard said: “I got a gap even before I had to attack because of Victor. He did an incredible lead out, then I didn't have to go completely over my limit to try to drop the other guys.”

Vingegaard pushed on after his attack with his advantage at the finish 2:02 over Valentin Paret Peintre in second, with Vingegaard's gap in the general classification now sitting at 3:22 over second place.

Vingegaard is staying calm with the mindset that the job is not finished yet regarding winning the first Paris-Nice of his career. “There are still three stages left, I think, where a lot of things can happen, and yeah, we just have to keep the focus until Nice.”

After crossing the finish line, Vingegaard celebrated with a series of emotional gestures. First he blew a kiss to the camera, then kissed his handlebars before finishing with a kiss on his wedding ring. The Dane later explained that the gesture had a deeper meaning.

“I don’t just kiss my handlebars for no reason. There is a photo of my family on there,” said Vingegaard to Sporza. “That way I always have them with me on the bike. They mean everything to me. I wouldn’t be able to do this without them. They are always there for me.”

Vingegaard will be aiming to continue his fine 2026 Paris-Nice heading into the weekend, but the Queen Stage could be in jeopardy due to heavy snow and temperature forecasts in Auron on Saturday.