Vingegaard calm in the eye of the storm on 'crazy day' at Paris-Nice

On a day conditioned by crosswinds and crashes, Vingegaard held his nerve throughout, and he showed his strength to press clear alone in the final kilometre and move into a commanding lead atop the overall standings. 

With overnight leader Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) crashing out of the race, Vingegaard is now in yellow with 52 seconds in hand on Daniel Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), with Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) third at some 3:20. It was that kind of an afternoon, but Vingegaard remained an oasis of calm amid the chaos.

“I wouldn’t say we expected such a crazy day. Well, we did expect a crazy day, but definitely not like it ended up,” Vingegaard said afterwards. “We also had a plan: we wanted to try to go on the second last climb, but everything was just full gas racing from the start. All day was full gas racing.”

Indeed, the speed and the carnage were such that Vingegaard had no time to remove the bib tights he had intended to wear only for the opening part of the stage. He would tackle the final climb wearing his bib braces outside his jersey. It was neither aerodynamic nor flattering, but it got the job done. “Maybe you can call me a trendsetter with the long pants, but there was just no time to take it off,” Vingegaard smiled.

The race was fractured into echelons almost immediately after leaving the start in Bourges, but Vingegaard was present and correct in the front peloton of 40. That group fragmented still further when the yellow jersey Ayuso crashed out on a wet corner with 47km to go.

Vingegaard would find himself in front with only four Red Bull riders for company, and he signalled his intent by outkicking them to pick up the bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint with 30km to go.

After Nico Denz swung off on the Côte de la Croix de la Libération, Mick van Dijke was next to go on the approach to Uchon. His twin brother Tim would take up the reins with a resolute piece on pace-making on behalf of Daniel Martinez, but with Vingegaard enjoying a free ride, there was an air of inevitability about the outcome.

Vingegaard made his move beneath the flamme rouge, just where the gradient reached its steepest pitches, and he quickly pulled clear to win by 41 seconds from a flagging Martínez, while Tim van Dijke took a defiant third at 45 seconds.

After a crash and illness forced him to miss the UAE Tour, Vingegaard added Paris-Nice to his programme and he has now collected his first win of 2026.

“I’ve been feeling good, but all day was just extremely hard,” Vingegaard said. “Edoardo [Affini] was there with me most of the day, he did a super good job. But the start was just so hectic. I’m just happy that I’m here and I won the stage, it’s incredible.”

Vingegaard wore yellow at Paris-Nice twelve months ago, but he was forced to abandon the race after suffering a concussion in a crash on stage 5. That incident ended his spring, and he didn’t race again until the Dauphiné in June.

This year, Vingegaard will make his Giro d’Italia debut before tackling the Tour de France. After feats of strength from Tadej Pogacar, Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro in recent weeks, this was a reminder of Vingegaard’s quality.

“I guess it’s my first stage win in Paris-Nice outside of team time trials,” he said. “It’s really nice to start the season this way.”