Blazin' Saddles: Paris-Nice – 5 takeaways from the last race of the season?

Updated 18/03/2020 at 13:13 GMT

As the dust settles on what could be the final race of the season, Felix Lowe takes a look at some of the main talking points from a surreal and not altogether welcome edition of Paris-Nice, led from start to finish by the German Max Schachmann.

Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) during the 7th stage of Paris-Nice 2020

Image credit: Getty Images

With most of Europe now on coronavirus lockdown, there is no knowing when the pro peloton will be allowed back into its collective saddle. With all races in March and April cancelled – plus May's Giro d'Italia postponed indefinitely – it will be some time before we witness any Thomas De Gendt breakaways. And when we do, it remains to be seen how fun bunch sprints are when all riders must never stray within two metres of their rivals (Sam Bennett, here, may particularly struggle).

But amid growing widespread concern over the Covid-19 crisis, and with seven top teams refusing to take to the start, one race seemed to defy the headwind of public opinion and kept on turning the pedals almost to the sun. Despite calls for its cancellation, ASO's Paris-Nice went ahead as planned after its RCS sister race Tirreno-Adriatico joined Strade Bianche and Milano-Sanremo by the wayside.

Paris - Nice

'A walk through a world of pain to heaven!' - Schachmann on final stages of Paris-Nice

00:01:07

14/03/2020 at 14:43

Each day was met with calls for the riders to hang up their shoes and call it a day, but in the end, the Race to the Sun made it to Nice, squeezing in Saturday's mountain-top finish before it finished.

The situation in France and wider world has since escalated, making any conclusions about a bike race largely immaterial. But as there won't be any other races to pour over for the foreseeable future, then let's make do with that we have got.

'A walk through a world of pain to heaven!' - Schachmann on final stages of Paris-Nice

Quintana in the form of his life

A commentator quipped on social media this week that Nairo Quintana did not just look to be back to his best at Paris-Nice – he looked better than ever.

It's funny what a change of air, fresh perspectives, a snazzy red kit, and some new teammates can do. But so far, so good for the Colombian at Arkea-Samsic. Eyebrows were raised when the 30-year-old former Giro and Vuelta winner swapped the heights of Movistar for a French Pro-Continental team whose previous modus operandi was Warren Barguil.

But from the look of his early-season form, the move has worked wonders for Quintana. It's a shame, then, that he may not be able to build on the firm foundations he had laid down since flying the Movistar nest.

Off the back of winning two French stage races and setting what may (or may have not) been a record time up Mont Ventoux to Chalet Reynard, the reinvigorated Quintana had high hopes of a maiden Paris-Nice overall victory. Such ambitions were dealt a fatal blow with a crash in the second stage, which saw him concede 1'22" to the race leader. Quintana's final deficit to Max Schachmann on Saturday? 1'30". Things could have been very different.

The sight of Quintana struggling on his brother Dayer's bike as crosswinds tore through the peloton on the road to Chalette-sur-Loing may have been a reminder of the Colombian's recent tendency to court disaster and implode. And his so-so race against the clock – conceding a further 45 seconds to Schachmann over 15km – a reminder that his talent bucket is not wholly devoid of holes.

Nairo Quintana helped by his brother after untimely crash at Paris-Nice

But his solo climb to victory at Valdeblore La Colmiane in stage 6 indicated that Quintana has at the very least rediscovered the climbing legs that once made him the odds-on favourite not only to become Colombia's first Tour winner, but to end his rival Chris Froome's long reign in yellow.

Of course, his compatriot Egan Bernal – absent from defending his Paris-Nice crown following Ineos' decision to cease racing in the wake of directeur sportif Nicolas Portal's tragic passing and the escalation of the coronavirus crisis – has since stepped into the role for which Quintana was initially cast.

But from the look of Quintana's form this year, should he and the remaining 175 riders get a chance to race the Tour de France this summer, he'll do so with more relish than recent years.

Taking a supposed step down with Arkea, assuming clear leadership, and focusing his calendar around races in same country as that hosting his primary objective – all this seems to be paying off for Quintana. Albeit in a year where the racing has now ground to a halt and the Tour may well be cancelled. How typically Quintana-ish that would be.

'Entertainment from start to finish!' - Quintana takes final stage of Paris-Nice

Schachmann comes of age

With Tirreno and Sanremo cancelled in the wake of the UAE Tour fiasco, many top-tier riders juggled their race programmes and added Paris-Nice to their schedules in a bid to maintain form going into the spring classics season which we now know will not take place.

One of those riders was the former triple world champion Peter Sagan, who made his first Paris-Nice appearance since 2011. But Sagan assumed very much a support role at Bora-Hansgrohe last week, coming second and third in sprints but otherwise playing second fiddle to Germany's Max Schachmann, who became the first rider to lead Paris-Nice from start to (effective) finish since his compatriot Jorg Jaksche in 2004.

The 26-year-old hardly put a foot wrong all week, looking just as comfortable with the sprinters, time triallists and climbers over the seven stages en route to securing the first stage race victory of his career.

From the moment Schachmann took the early race leader by outmanoeuvring big hitters Dylan Teuns, Tiesj Benoot and Julian Alaphilippe in the opening stage to and from Plaisir, the German looked very much at home in the yellow jersey.

German champion Schachmann victorious in wind and rain

His lowest finish all week was 17th in the dramatic bunch sprint that concluded stage 5, when Italy's Niccolo Bonifazio surged past Jan Tratnik with 60m remaining to deny the last man standing from the break what would have been a memorable victory for Bahrain-McLaren.

A day later, after the lumpy stage 6 to Apt, Schachmann made his only mistake of the week, overcooking a late corner when trying to limit his deficit to stage winner Benoot, his back wheel locking up and his left side bearing the brunt of a high-speed collision with a wall.

But he got up and completed the stage, retaining the yellow jersey thanks to some admittedly creative interpretation of the 3km rule from the organisers. And when Benoot put him under pressure on the showdown summit finish of the race the next day, Schachmann, although not on his favoured terrain, kept his cool and only conceded 12 seconds to the Belgian. Job done; race won.

Where the former QuickStep rider goes from here is another question. The departure of Davide Formolo has opened a door for Schachmann, although Bora-Hansgrohe are not short on GC talent with the likes of Emanuel Buchmann, Patrick Konrad, Rafal Majka and Felix Grossschartner all capable of high finishes. But none of them have ever won Paris-Nice.

Schachmann, for one, will be grateful for ASO's dithering and their arguably foolhardy decision to keep the show on the road. He has emerged from this surreal Paris-Nice as one of the best one-week stage racers in the world.

'That is something for the ages!' - Niccolo Bonifazio snatches incredible victory

Benoot denied the chance for a spring clean up

Remarkably, Tiesj Benoot's impressive solo victory in stage 6 was only his third win as a pro – coming after his superb Strade Bianche triumph in 2018 and, er, his opening stage win in the 2019 Tour of Denmark.

If Benoot's move to Sunweb from Lotto-Soudal was intended to shake things up and improve the 26-year-old's winning ratio, then so far, it's paid off. Built on a solid training block at altitude in Tenerife, Benoot's week in France represented something of a breakthrough for the Belgian, who left with a stage win and the green jersey while pushing Schachmann all the way in the battle for yellow.

His runner-up spot was a career-best WorldTour stage race result while all the signs were there of a burgeoning bond forming with his new teammates – in particular Michael Matthews and Soren Kragh Andersen.

This time last year, Sunweb were still without a victory in a troubled season which saw the squad only pick up nine wins all year. But Benoot's triumph at Apt was the seventh of the season for Sunweb and followed Kragh Andersen's clinical victory in the time trial.

Schachmann crashes as Benoot takes impressive solo win

"It's a pity we can't go to the classics with these nice, strong feelings," Benoot told his teammates at dinner following his solo success – which took him within 36 seconds of Schachmann's race lead. The Belgian went on the offensive again the next day to finish second behind Quintana and to half his final deficit on the German.

Certainly, the way Benoot finished the race will have left him ruing the 33 seconds he lost in the crosswinds in stage 2 – but not as much as regretting not being able to build on these foundations going into his favoured period of the season.

Benoot had already showed promise in the early one-day races this year, so not being able to ride his home monument, the Tour of Flanders – in which he had three times finished in the top 10 – must be a wretch. Watching the way Benoot put pedal to the metal and ride with such attacking verve in stages 6 and 7 was an indication, perhaps, of him taking out his frustrations on the situation.

"It's a shame that I can't go to the classics with these legs, but there's nothing I can do about it. Other riders will curse it more than me. It's not the end of the world," Benoot told Sporza. His stoicism was almost as admirable as his modesty – for there will have been few riders capable of sticking with Benoot on this kind of form over the Paterberg and Koppenberg, that's for sure.

In Matthews, who sprinted to second place in his wake at Apt, Benoot has found an ideal rider with whom he can dovetail in the hilly classics – and on the evidence of this week, the indications were there that the two have already built up a promising partnership at Sunweb. It is not only a shame for Benoot and Matthews, but for us fans, that we'll never be able to see what they could have done this spring in tandem.

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Alaphilippe times his wobble to perfection

Entering Paris-Nice, Julian Alaphilippe spoke of his struggles to replicate the form that made him the stand-out rider of 2019, saying he was "exhausted and disappointed" with his racing in 2020 so far.

And if the Frenchman was able to make the decisive move alongside Schachmann, Teuns and Benoot in the opening stage, his ailing legs didn't have the requisite zip to compete in the sprint once the others opened up on the home straight.

It proved his highest finish of the week, Alaphilippe's chances of the overall all but wiped out one day later in the crosswinds that tore through the pack on the road to Chalette-sur-Loing.

Where in 2017, Alaphilippe won the race's lumpy time trial with vim, LouLou v.2020 could only muster 18th place in the wake of the impressive Kragh Andersen at Saint-Armand-Montrond. While he finished with the big guns behind Benoot one day later, he shipped the best part of 10 minutes to Quintana on the final climb to La Colmiane on Saturday in a remarkable role reversal to the damage he caused the Colombian (and many others) during last year's Tour de France.

Still, if your legs have to finally catch up with you, then it's no bad thing that this corresponds to an enforced and indefinite layoff for the entire peloton. Alaphilippe has been one of the sport's leading lights for the past two years; a wobble was almost inevitable. It's probably a blessing in disguise that the 27-year-old can now take a bit of time to recover from all he has achieved since that breakthrough Paris-Nice in 2017.

It all doesn't really matter

Of course, the contrasting fortunes of Quintana, Schachmann and Benoot, on the one hand, and Alaphilippe, on the other, merely goes to show, at this unprecedented and worrying time, that it all doesn't matter. Benoot may be on fire and Alaphilippe's flame well and truly doused – but neither rider can exactly do anything about either of their predicaments over the next few months.

Cycling, like all other sports – like most walks of life in general – has now come to a standstill. It will take a backseat for as long as necessary – and, for many, not soon enough. With riders still in quarantine in the United Arab Emirates and the borders of some countries closed, it was a surprise that Paris-Nice managed to run almost right to the end, let alone get out of the blocks at all.

With races being cancelled left, right and centre, and the entire spring campaign being torn apart, the fact that fans were able to turn on the Eurosport Player and watch their heroes do battle in front of the odd roadside spectator and a largely empty finish zone provided a tonic of sorts – a reminder of the normality of which we will all soon be deprived.

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But making any firm conclusions from the 78th edition of Paris-Nice is a false economy given the absence of seven top teams in the form of Ineos, Astana, Jumbo-Visma, Mitchelton-Scott, CCC, Movistar and UAE Team Emirates.

The escalation of the crisis since Quintana won his stage and Schachmann snared the yellow jersey has been sobering. It has emphasised that, while we were grateful to have a distraction in the form of crosswinds and Ivan Garcia Cortina's luxuriant mane, none of it really mattered.

García Cortina emerges victorious from chaotic Stage 3 finish

Whether you're Sergio Higuita, and you've just finished with the white jersey for a promising third place after a solid week for EF Education First, or you're Ag2R-La Mondiale's Romain Bardet, and you've been dropped by Kragh Andersen on a climb after seeing your season's plans to focus on the Giro go up in flames, what happened in a race which should probably not have happened anyway counts for very little in the light of what the next weeks and months may throw at everyone all around the globe, regardless of their cadence in the saddle.

Thomas De Gendt probably had the right idea when he gave it his all on what could well prove to be the final racing day of the season on Saturday. The Belgian's trademark break came to nothing except an 11th place finish at La Colmiane – but it could well be the last move of its kind in 2020. Stay safe everyone.

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