Well, it took until the final day, but finally Paris-Nice delivered the thrill we are accustomed to. It began near Versailles last weekend on a much too sunny Spring day in Northern France. The traditional opening bad weather did not materialize this year, and it severely affected the race. Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep) won the first stage in a sprint, the sprint itself was an interesting affair, but there was not much to write home about from the day. The same is true for the second stage where we were teased with crosswinds all day but to no avail, it ended in another sprint this time won by Cees Bol (Team DSM). It was a good win for the young lad who had been knocking on the door of such a victory for over a year now. And on Stage 3 it was a good win for another young lad, Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) who won the race’s only Time Trial wearing a gaudy bulky new aero helmet that resembled Sir Dark Helmet from the Spaceballs science fiction drama. But in that Time Trial, one of the men up there with the best times vying for the win was a certain Relentless rider, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), the prerace favorite. His time was the benchmark for the rest of the General Classification (GC) riders, and the next day he showed them what was what on the steep undulating Chiroubles climb in the Northern Marches of the Alps. He dominated that finishing climb, riding away from all his rivals at the base and showed his Relentless piston-powering aesthetic all the way to the top. Sam Bennett and a four-man Quickstep leadout for the Final Kilometer was the story of Stage 5. And it was back to Roglic for Stages 6 and 7. On Stage 6, all the breakaway riders were swept up late, and no one could match Roglic on the last kilometer-long climb to the line. Meanwhile on the day after Roglic’s whole team worked to bring back the breakaway again, and even though Roglic had a comfortable margin on GC, he kept attacking his rivals and chasing the breakaway down again on the final long 16 km Colmaine climb. Roglic attacked three or four times in the last 3 km, only finding separation from his GC rivals in the last kilometer, and he only caught the last man from the breakaway in the final 20 meters of the race. But Roglic the Relentless proved Roglic the Ruthless that day as he took a 3rd Stage win of the race, snatching it away from the young up-and-coming Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious). Yes, with all the headliners of any sort of climbing or Classics prowess away in the south at Italy’s Tirreno-Adriatico, Primoz Roglic seemed to be starting his season right cruising to a dominant Paris-Nice victory that resembled his Vuelta domination to end last season.
But then we came to the final Sunday’s Stage 8. O! It is quite remarkable how much I have grown to love the final stage of Paris-Nice over the past handful of years—I daresay it is one of my favorite days of Spring watching…as good as many of the Semi-Classics and a few of the Cobbled Classics themselves in my estimation. With Code Red Coronavirus spikes keeping Nice on extremely high alerts, the route had to be changed almost on a dime. And yet, the new parcours kept with Paris-Nice’s now new traditional finish of an intense short mountain stage. Correct me I am wrong, but I believe I heard the figure was some 1700 meters of climbing packed into only some 92 kilometers: that is a big day! Additionally, the roads they used were familiar to viewers of last year’s Tour de France that spent its opening weekend in Nice for two days. I said it at the Tour then, and I say it again: these Southern French Alps take the cake, in my opinion, for ultimate cycling scenery. The entirety of Italy is a close second, but these climbs are picturesque with their high pinnacles and chateaus, their valleys and gorges with that should be the subject of romance painters once again, the sun was shining, the Sea was not too far away…this place cannot be beat. And yet, I am torn by the details of the day. On the one hand, Paris-Nice delivered another thrilling final day that torn up the script and turned the race on its head. On the other hand, just as these roads were familiar from last year’s Tour, alas! so were the final scenes of the day.
25 km into the stage, Roglic the Relentless, the race leader, the man who had won three stages already and dominated so thoroughly proving he was two classes above the rest, crashed heavily. His shorts were torn up and a big bad red road rash could be seen on his left-side thigh and glute. The clothing tears were not R-rated or scandalous, but the bruise was so big and airing out, surely it must have been painful. And yet despite that, still Jumbo-Visma was in control of the peloton even on this mountainous course that went up and down all day. There were a number of riders attempting breakaways or bridging up to the ones already establishing themselves, but none had more than a 90-second lead on the peloton. With 50 km to go, it seemed Roglic and his team were on the verge of wrapping this day up, despite his injuries—he would recover well after today having won three stages and the overall. To be completely candid, Roglic had been so dominant all week, I still gave him a chance to win a reduced-bunch sprint despite the glaring sore injuries. And this sentiment continued for 20 more km or so.
But with only 25 km to go, the riders in three groups spanning 90 seconds all together came off a beautiful and twisting forested decent onto a long straight highway…and all of a sudden it was not three groups but four! At the front of the fourth group some dozen or so seconds behind what remained of the peloton comprising the third group was Roglic the Relentless pacing the group back to the peloton. What had happened? The cameras had not caught anything! Getting a better look at him, it seemed he was on a new bike, and it seems perhaps on his right side was a new fresh tear in his shorts—not nearly as bad as the left but surely painful. His elbows were both cut up as well. And a few kilometers later it was confirmed by the Jumbo-Visma team, Roglic had crashed for a second time today. And thus finally, the Paris-Nice came to life in its very finale. Tirreno had been the more exciting race this year until this point, but now the typical chaos of the final stage was coming to life once more just as it did in the Contador years as he rolled the dice with escape after escape trying to overhaul a Team Sky rider’s GC lead.
On a straight main road through the valley there was a bit of a crosswind and the 3rd group peloton was strung out in one long line, while Roglic had his 4th smaller group strung out in one line as well. The gap was only 30 meters between the two groups, but like a proper crosswind stage in the flat North it was an unbridgeable chasm. Roglic tried to rotate for rest with some of the Groupama riders with him but the gap only grew. But Jumbo teammate, George Bennett, the Champion of New Zealand, caught back to Roglic’s group ready to help his leader salvage the race. Two more Jumbo teammates, Sam Oomen and strong Steven Kruijswijk the Human Coat- Hanger, dropped back from the third group to shepherd their leader as well. And yet in that 3rd group, the peloton containing the second-tier prerace favorites who had been dominated by Roglic to this point, took advantage of the situation. All the news was coming in of Roglic’s struggles, thus Bora-Hansgrohe sent every one of their Band of Brothers still left to ride for second place on GC Max Schachmann, their team leader and defending race champion from last season. Eventually Astana contributed to the pace as well in the interests of their GC leader young Aleksandr Vlasov sitting third Overall. In the course of five minutes, Paris-Nice had come alive after a relatively sleepy week of racing…what a compelling drama it was. O! Roglic has been so dominant, surely he deserves this win. And even here, surely the strong Jumbo Wasps—the strongest team of 2020—could chase down or maintain this gap for the last 20 km. George Bennett in his Kiwi Champion’s Jersey buried himself on the front of the chase. Meanwhile the front breakaway groups’ leads were being eaten away by Bora and Astana leading the peloton trying to distance Roglic behind. George Bennett and Sam Oomen swung off job done with 19 km still to race, the Groupama riders pulled the plug with them, it was all too tough for them. Roglic still had about 100 meters to close and teammate Kruijswijk was on the front working for him. Only one of the Van Poppels (Intermarche) and sprinter Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea-Samsaic) could stay with them. Just as it looked like there was hope Roglic’s quartet could get into the slipstream of the red commissar’s car tailing the Bora and Astana led peloton, alas! Kruijswijk swung off tank empty half a kilometer later—utterly spent in the service of salvaging his team leader’s race here on the final day.
Roglic—battered and bruised—had no proper teammates left, to close down the gap that was being pried open ahead by Bora and Astana. And yet, truly, truly, there are always unseen allies looking out for us, and friends can be found in unexpected places. All watching were vocally yelling at their screens willing Roglic on, hoping he could turn the tide or at least keep staunching the bleeding. But it was Intermarche’s Van Poppel that gave Roglic the real unexpected help with the most massive turn he could muster. Surely it was not in Van Poppel’s interests, he had no hope of winning the race, it would not benefit him if Roglic or Schachmann or Vlasov won. And yet, he sorry to see this champion’s race slipping away—it was a mini-2020 Tour de France all over again. Yes, Van Poppel had heart, and he emptied himself for Roglic. Prepares he hopes it shall give him good karma and someday Jumbo will return him the favor, or perhaps he is a gentleman selflessly doing what he thinks is right. Van Poppel gave Roglic another few hundreds of meters turn. Only 18 km were left, but all knew it was now or never to catch the group: they had a 7 second gap to the cars and peloton to close, there was no hope to slowly close it in a measured way over the next 5 or 10 kilometers, this was it. Van Poppel swung off job done, then it was Roglic himself on the front again putting his powerful TT skills to the test. Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni was still on his wheel, but following Van Poppel’s example even the sprinter so rough-around-the-edges selflessly came to Roglic’s aid. In the past, Bouhanni has not won many fans with all sorts of aggressive antics, but here today all Roglic-hopefuls must take their hats off to him. Nacer Bouhanni, the sprinter usually everyone else works for, did a massive turn for hampered and bruised Primoz Roglic. And even after the turn he rotated back with Roglic to stay with him and try to give a second turn as well. Their backs were against the wall, but such an unlikely partnership warmed my heart. Bouhanni and Van Poppel gave the wounded Roglic everything they had, and there was no practical explanation for it. I admire the Intermarche all the more, I shall see Bouhanni in a substantially better light going forward from this day. The day they not only pitied the wounded warrior Roglic, but volunteered to throw himself into the heat of battle just because the dominant champion was suddenly a supreme underdog. Everyone watching simply wanted to push these men’s backsides with the biggest pushes and shoves they could possibly heave. But Roglic and Bouhanni continued to be distanced; up front Bora and Astana had six or seven strong men rotating turns like clockwork to continue stringing out the gap. With 15 km to go, that Bora and Astana peloton swept up all the breakaway riders at the front of the race. But still Bouhanni rode on and came back to the front for Roglic, doing all he could. Yes, today, Nacer Bouhanni proved his highest quality, but with 15 km still to go, his tank too was emptied and his lights went out.
Thus Roglic went at it alone, he got another small turn from Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka Assos) who had already been shelled from the Bora and Astana peloton, but within minutes Roglic was solo once more. Surely, it never occurred to Roglic to give up, he never thought to throw in the towel, and yet just like at La Planche del Belles Filles this was not to be his day. He rode well, but there was nothing he could do about the numbers games Bora and Astana had up front. With still 12 km to go, Bora’s Max Schachmann had the virtual lead, and the rest of the stage would only be a funeral procession to Roglic’s Paris-Nice winning hopes. EF’s Magnus Cort Neilsen would win the sprint from the reduced bunch led all the way to the line by Astana and Bora. Astana’s Vlasov tried a late attack, but he could not find separation from Schachmann who crossed the line in the same group. Schachmann was 52 seconds behind Roglic to start the day, and riding the last 15 km solo with all his wounds, Roglic finished 3 minutes behind the winning group, and lost the Paris-Nice to Schachmann. On Stage 4 to the Chiroubles climb, Roglic was so dominant all figured there was no way he was losing this race, barring major disaster. And thus, on the last stage today, major disaster struck. It was a shame, for Roglic is part of that exclusive Club I often speak of so fondly. The Club of riders who Make-Our-Day every time they win: three days has Roglic already made this transpire in the last week. Surely all thought we would enjoy a fourth today when he won the GC, but alas! this was not the case. And yet Roglic fought bravely, his teammates and unexpected friends gave him everything, and Roglic himself of course gave it everything as usual. And it was a thrilling spectacle. This is what Paris-Nice is all about. I am sorry if it is too hard to dramatize it more than that, but we have seen this story of Yellow Jerseys slipping through Roglic’s fingers before on a bigger and more heartbreaking stage. But we have seen Roglic bounce back as well. If there was ever a rider that could just rub some dirt on his literal and psychological wounds and move on almost unphased the very next day: Primoz Roglic the Relentless has proven he is that man. He will not see this day as a blunder or heartbreaking loss, here was a race he proved he was pinging on great form as he took three stage wins and some unfortunate events dashed the finish. But for Roglic the Relentless, I believe this is of little matter. After his bruised elbows and thighs heel up, I am sure he will be contending for the win in his next race once again without seeming to have skipped any sort of beat. I have said it before, and it is why he is in the Club that Makes-Our-Day: he has a mind of titanium, a will of iron, and a heart of gold. Surely, he shall race with such fortitude for his whole career, but may it continue to bring him many victories for many years yet.
Cycling Odysseys 