Hilly Paris–Nice opener brings no GC gaps, as Lamperti surprises with sprint win

It promised to be an excellent week in France. The Race to the Sun started in Achères with a strong start list. The main draws were, of course, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), widely seen as the top favourites for the overall win. A late blemish was João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates–XRG) pulling out, as he would otherwise have been right in that conversation too.

Stage 1 was immediately an interesting test: the roughly 170-kilometre run to Carrières-sous-Poissy was anything but flat. The finale, with two passages of the tricky Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes, looked ideal for fireworks. Fast men fancied their chances, but it also felt like a day where a GC rider could try to land an early blow.

Six riders went up the road early: Sébastien Grignard (Lotto–Intermarché), Mahtis Le Berre (TotalEnergies), Max Walker (EF Education–EasyPost), Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) and the Team Jayco AlUla duo Patrick Gamper and Luke Durbridge. They would battle it out over the climbs for the first mountains jersey.

Pedersen proved strongest in the KOM fight, taking maximum points on the first two climbs (via Paris–Nice’s update on X). But as the finish approached, the pace ramped up in the peloton. INEOS Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek, Visma | Lease a Bike and Groupama-FDJ United all committed to the chase, steadily cutting the gap. At the foot of the penultimate climb, the advantage was down to around a minute and a half.

Pedersen again took the points and all but secured the polka-dot jersey. Behind, things stayed relatively controlled: Visma | Lease a Bike and NSN Cycling kept everything in check and kept the break within reach. On the final ascent — where the steepest ramps hit 12% — everyone waited for a real acceleration. It came briefly from Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ) and Alex Baudin (EF Education–EasyPost).

Vingegaard and Ayuso were attentive, but the peloton was still far larger than many expected. The attackers quickly realised it would not stick, and the remaining escapees were eventually brought back too. Visma | Lease a Bike did a strong job in the run-in, and an unexpected bunch sprint followed anyway. There were several crashes in the technical finale, but Lamperti launched early and held on to take the win.