While the finale of today's opening stage of Paris-Nice suggested it may be one of the sprinters who can also climb a little - like Ireland's Sam Bennett - Jumbo Visma had other ideas. The Dutch team hit the front on the final climb and shred the race to pieces.
Most, though not all, of the sprinters in the field were spat out the back of the disintegrating main field as the men in yellow and black put on one of the best team displays cycling fans have seen for a long time.
After they hit the front en masse on the final climb – the 1.2km Cote de Breuil-Bois-Robert averaging 6.9 per cent gradient – the pain etched on the faces of the riders around them suggested something big was about to happen.
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And happen it did; Primož Roglič, Christophe Laporte and Wout van Aert riding away as the race exploded behind them under the pressure they applied.
Laporte was the first to light it up and he did the bulk of the initial damage up the climb. While Zdeněk Štybar (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) was the only rider in the race able to live with the pace of the three Jumbo Visma men, he was soon being distanced and four became three.
When they crested the climb, in cold and breezy conditions, with just 6km of the 160km stage into Mantes-la-Ville remaining they rode as hard as they could for time. Such was their effort that Laporte, and even Van Aert, were visibly under pressure at times.
However, while the group behind was small the strongest riders did their best to contain the three leaders; TotalEnergies and Ineos Grenadiers most notable in trying to minimise the damage.
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The gap gradually opened and by the finish, when Laporte was ushered forward to take the win in front of a home French crowd, the Jumbo Visma trio all put their arms in the air in celebration of an incredible 1-2-3.
Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies),
who looked the strongest of the riders left behind today, managed to attack the
remains of the peloton and finished alone in 4th place, some 19 seconds down on
the leading trio.
Just two seconds behind him, some of the fast men who had the legs to stay in the remains of the peloton mopped up the minor placings.
Former world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) won
the sprint for 5th place from the 50-rider peloton. The impressive 21-year-old
Eritrean Biniam Girmay Hailu
(Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) was 6th.
When time bonuses are factored in, Laporte leads the race overall by four seconds from Roglič with Van Aert in 3rd at six seconds. Latour is 4th at 29 seconds, a huge gap already, with Pedersen and everyone else in the remains of the peloton today now at 32 seconds in the general standings.
For his part, Sam
Bennett was one of the riders distanced as the field exploded on the final
climb. The Bora-hansgrohe man finished alongside team mate and Irish champion
Ryan Mullen – the Irish pair placing 85th and 86th in a group at 2:14.
Bennett may get his chance for a sprint finish tomorrow when the riders tackle 159.2km from Auffargis to Orléans over mostly flat terrain, though with crosswind potential.
