NICE, France (AP) — Two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard has won Paris-Nice, a year after crashing out of the weeklong race.
The Visma-Lease a Bike leader, who built his success in the mountains earlier in the week, finished second in Sunday’s final stage behind Bahrain Victorious’ Lenny Martinez, who was the only rider able to follow Vingegaard’s attack some 20 kilometers from the finish line.
Martinez followed the Dane up to the summit and the pair then worked well together until the final kilometer, with the Frenchman coming out on top of the sprint for the stage win.
Vingegaard increased his lead in the general classification to 4 minutes, 23 seconds over Dani Martinez, from the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team. Organizers said it was the biggest winning margin since 1939, and the fourth biggest in the history of the race.
Vingegaard also secured the best climber’s polka-dot jersey, and took the best sprinter’s green jersey.
Georg Steinhauser, who rides for EF Education-EasyPost, completed the overall podium.
Vingegaard showed he is in strong climbing form, producing earlier this week a dominant breakaway victory on the hilly fifth stage.
As well as chasing a third Tour crown this year, Vingegaard is set for his Giro d’Italia debut in May in a bid to win all three Grand Tours.
He won the Tour de France in 2022 and ’23 and last year clinched his first Spanish Vuelta title.
The 29-year-old Vingegaard has stepped up his preparations after being soundly beaten on the Tour by rival Tadej Pogačar in the past two years, especially in the toughest climbs.
The 113th Tour starts on July 4.
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