Primoz Roglic wins Paris-Nice despite familiar late wobble as brilliant Simon Yates denied

Updated 13/03/2022 at 19:06 GMT

Primoz Roglic can finally call himself a Paris-Nice champion – despite another bruising final day that almost saw Simon Yates wrestle the yellow jersey off his shoulders. The Slovenian owes a great degree of thanks to Wout van Aert, who stewarded him through a difficult finale to ensure Jumbo-Visma claimed the overall title. Roglic finished 29 seconds ahead of Yates in the GC.

Highlights: Yates wins Stage 8 as Roglic survives in yellow jersey

A thrilling finale to Paris-Nice saw Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) lose time but survive a late assault to take the overall title by just 29 seconds from Simon Yates (BikeExchange–Jayco).

Though Yates was able to win Stage 8, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) unquestionably saved the day for his leader. Having paced Roglic towards the top of the final climb, he guided him down again and led him into the finish.

“Is there a better team-mate in the world?” asked Eurosport commentator Rob Hatch.

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“The rain comes down sideways at Paris-Nice,” observed Hatch, as the stage got underway. For as it has on so many occasions, the Race to the Sun was drawing to a close under dark skies and in treacherous conditions.

A further 37 riders withdrew before the start or before the finish, leaving just 59 finishers, fewer even than in the Covid-curtailed 2020 edition.

Remarkably, given his success in stage races across his career, this was due to be the first ever Paris-Nice podium finish for Roglic, let alone his first victory. Partly that is because Roglic is still quite early in his career, considering his age; partly because his program has tended towards Tirreno-Adriatico.

With the way his race finished last year, the prospect of history repeating itself must have weighed at least a little on his mind. Paris-Nice likes final day fireworks and upsets are far from unheard of. Roglic has been no stranger to them himself in recent years.

As ever the stage profile was an enticing one: no fewer than five categorised climbs, all category two or higher. Several riders fell out of the front group on the first of them, including Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal), Ryan Mullen (Bora Hansgrohe) and Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers). No escape attempts succeeded, although several riders tried.

On the second climb of the day, the Cote de Chateauneuf, 10 riders briefly opened up a small gap, before being caught thanks to the aggressive pace being set by Jumbo-Visma. With around 70km left to ride it was the Dutch team themselves who caused the peloton to split, leaving just 21 riders in the front group.

They led over the Cote de Berre-les-Alpes, with Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma), Van Aert and Roglic occupying the top three positions at the summit.

On the Cote de Peille, Ineos Grenadiers moved to the front. Omar Fraile laid down a hard tempo that served to scatter riders down the mountain. It was not enough to put Roglic himself in trouble, but with 50km to go he was down to just one lieutenant. Steven Kruiswijk (Jumbo-Visma) and Dennis, both of whom had put in solid shifts on the Col de Turini on Saturday, dropped down the order and off the back, leaving the leader with just Van Aert for company.

Then Dani Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers) launched a testing attack that was too much for his own team-mate Adam Yates. Not for the other Yates, brother Simon, though, nor Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsic.) Van Aert, in the green jersey, grimaced a little but otherwise dug in on the 11% gradients of the Cote de Peille, evidently with tremendous legs at his disposal.

A puncture for Martinez eliminated him from the front group, and gave Quintana the briefest glimpse of the podium’s lowest step. Still Van Aert would not be shaken.

On the steepest sections of the final climb, the Col d’Eze, 4km from the top, Yates began to ride slowly - but surely - away. Roglic was suffering. Having already taken three bonus sprint seconds, the British rider only needed to gain 44 to take the title. Ten more on offer at the finish line - even with Roglic likely to take at least four - meant the race was on.

Quintana went backwards. Yates pushed on. Twenty seconds the gap, up to 25. With 1.5km of the Col remaining, Van Aert pulled ahead of Roglic and began to set the pace for his leader. “They’re fighting big time,” observed Sean Kelly.

As the summit drew into sight, the clock flashed up 28 seconds of advantage to Yates before ticking back towards the mean. The descent and the run-in gave the Jumbo-Visma pair a two to one advantage. Yates’ lead did not look to be enough. As the rain fell onto the slippery white road markings of the descent, only mishap could make a difference to the result.

Into the final 10 kilometres, as the road widened, Roglic had recovered enough to put in a few solid turns. The gap, which had been as high as 500m, was almost halved. The overall threat all but neutralised, pulling Yates back so Van Aert could take the stage became a very real prospect.

Through Villefranche-sur-Mer they all shared the same shot. Into town and the stage hung in the balance.

The Briton benefited from the more technical turns of the final few kilometres while Roglic and Van Aert, having saved the overall, were less motivated to get greedy and go for the stage as well. Yates held on for the fourth Paris-Nice stage victory of his career.

Yates denied afterwards that he was disappointed not to take the overall victory: “I just wanted the stage today,” he said.

“The GC was already too far away. For me to take that much time back would have been a really big ask.” He admitted that the general classification was “in the back of [my] mind but I always knew on the downhill I would lose time.” Yates was also rewarded for his efforts with the day’s combativity prize.

“Without [Wout van Aert] today, Roglic would have been in real difficulty,” added Kelly.

Roglic agreed, describing his team-mate Van Aert as “half human, half motor.”

“I was really suffering to get over the final climb,” he said.

But get over it he did, to take his ever first Paris-Nice title, adding the Race to the Sun to an already remarkable record in stage races.

Martinez did enough to hang onto third place on the podium, while Valentin Madouas (Groupama - FDJ) won the mountains prize by 20 points, from Van Aert, who himself takes home the points jersey. Best young rider went to Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates); the team prize to UAE Team Emirates.

Stage 8 - Top 10

1 - Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange Jayco) 2:52:59
2 - Wout van Aert (Team Jumbo Visma) +00:09s
3 - Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo Visma) ,,
4 - Brand McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +01:44s
5 - Soren Kragh Anderson (Team DSM) ,,
6 - Stefan Kung (Groupama FDJ) ,,
7 - Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroen) ,,
8 - Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) ,,
9 - Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) ,,
10 - Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) ,,

Final Classification - Top 10

1 - Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo Visma)
2 - Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange Jayco) +00:29
3 - Daniel Felipe Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers) +02:37
4 - Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) +03:29s
5 - Nairo Quintana (Team Arkea Samsic) +03:43s
6 - Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) +03:51s
7 - Ion Izaguirre Insausti (Cofidis) +04:52s
8 - Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +5:43s
9 - Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) +05:48s
10 - Aurélien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroen) +03:29s

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