Vingegaard believes reduced Paris-Nice stage should have been even shorter

Speaking on France Télévisions, co-commentator Marion Rousse reported that 60% of the peloton had voted in favour of scrapping the stage altogether before the start in Nice. 

On Friday evening, ASO had already removed the summit finish at Auron from the route due to the forecast for heavy snow, while on Saturday morning, they eliminated the day’s first two climbs too, cutting the stage to 47km

Dorian Godon (Ineos) won the stage, which saw the peloton take in a long false flat towards the finish at Isola-Village, some 868 metres above sea level. The worst of the weather had abated by the time the race got underway, but there was snow visible at the roadside in the final kilometres, which were marred by crashes in the peloton.

“We were and we are very much pro racing,” Vingegaard said in the mixed zone in Isola Village after defending his overall lead. “We also need to understand that Paris Nice is one of the biggest races and it has a lot of sponsors. There was a stage today that we wanted to do, so we were actually pro racing.

“But when the finish line is here, maybe it’s not possible and it would have been better to have the actual finish line with 10 kilometres to go. Now it seems there were a few crashes in the end, maybe because it was slippery.

“It seemed quite slippery. In that situation, it probably would have been better to have the finish line a bit earlier. That’s what we wanted as well, because as bike riders rain is part of the job, but when there’s snow it’s a bit different.”

Vingegaard was caught behind the crash in the final kilometre, but the Visma | Lease a Bike rider confirmed that he had not come down in the incident. He retains a lead of 3:22 over Daniel Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) atop the overall standings.

“I’m fine. I backed off at the right moment and made sure I wasn’t in the crash,” Vingegaard said. “I hope everyone else is okay too.”

Already winner of two stages this week, Vingegaard has impressed in his first race of the season, allaying any doubts about his 2026 ambitions after a difficult winter. The Dane, who makes his Giro d’Italia debut this year, looks set to seal final overall victory in Nice on Sunday. 

“Tomorrow is a new day. Hopefully we’ll have a little better weather,” Vingegaard said. “I just hope I’ll have the jersey tomorrow too.”