'Killer Jonas destroyed everybody' - How Vingegaard put Paris-Nice out of reach

Jonas Vingegaard is up and running for 2026. At Uchon on Wednesday, he had moved into the overall lead at Paris-Nice with an assured showing on a day of chaos. Beneath azure skies on the road to Colombier-le-Vieux on Thursday, it was the Dane himself who scattered the race to the four winds with a blistering attack on the steepest part of the Côte de Saint-Jean-de-Muzols.

There were still 21km to go, but the day was already won. By the time a disparate, seven-strong group of chasers formed over the other side of the climb, Vingegaard was already well out of sight.

Like his rival Tadej Pogačar at Strade Bianche last weekend, Vingegaard was now firmly in exhibition mode. He glided up the Côte de Saint-Barthélemy-le-Plain and the final drag to the finish to win by two minutes. In the overall standings, his lead now stands at an eyewatering 3:22 over Daniel Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), while third-placed George Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) is now at 5:50. This edition of Paris-Nice is a procession rather than a contest.

Victor Campenaerts was the most valuable player in the Visma | Lease a Bike supporting cast on Thursday. The Belgian had infiltrated the day’s break of eight riders, and he still had the wherewithal to tee up Vingegaard’s race-winning attack when he dropped back to the yellow jersey group.

“It was the plan, indeed, to go on that very steep climb and try to, in Dutch we say, grab everybody by the throat,” Campenaerts told TV2 afterwards. 

“It was quite exciting to follow on the radio. It should have been quite an exciting fight on that climb, and riders were staying within reach, but then Killer Jonas destroyed everybody…”

Vingegaard hadn’t initially been slated to track the day’s break, but when Movistar put three riders in the move, he figured it was better to go with them rather than lead the chase behind.

“It was first of all a very hard start and then straightaway Edoardo Affini went into killing pace, keeping a very strong breakaway within reach,” he said. “That was also dangerous because Movistar riders jumped across, so I tried to cover that move to save my legs for later.” 

The start of Vingegaard’s season was delayed by illness and a training crash, while the departure of coach Tim Heemskerk and the sudden retirement of domestique Simon Yates added to the sense that something was awry at Visma.

Strong showings from Campenaerts and Bruno Armirail here notwithstanding, some doubts persist about Visma’s collective strength relative to years gone by, but Vingegaard’s confident start to the season has changed the general outlook for the Dutch squad.

“Yeah, but he’s been very relaxed from the December training camp and feeling ready for it,” Campenaerts said. “Clearly, when we came to Paris-Nice beforehand, it was not just to do race miles or whatever – it was to come here and smash it. He feels very good in training, he did a very good preparation for this race.” 

Vingegaard will make his Giro d’Italia debut this year before renewing his ongoing rivalry with Pogačar at the Tour de France. After Juan Ayuso crashed out on Wednesday, Vingegaard is clearly without rival or peer at this Paris-Nice, but he is laying down a marker for his Giro-Tour double attempt all the same.

“Things are going very well, he’s in extremely good shape. It’s very nice to race this way and I think with the team we did a nice race,” said Campenaerts.

“I’ll skip Catalunya but I look very much forward to the big goals, Giro and Tour, but first – we must bring this to Nice.”