Riders furious over botched neutralization and total chaos in Paris-Nice: "This is race manipulation"

Ilan Van Wilder still managed to make the best of it. "Suddenly, it got really cold, and it started raining," he told HLN. "The rain quickly turned into melting snow, and then the race motorbike stopped us, but at first, I didn’t really understand why. Everyone stopped to put on warm clothes, and then, out of nowhere, the peloton started moving again. We rode for 15 kilometers without knowing what was going on." Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard were also critical of the chaotic restart.

The Belgian rider from Soudal Quick-Step acknowledged that stopping the race was necessary. "The roads were indeed too slippery to race safely. But first, we stood still for ten minutes, then we descended for fifteen kilometers without any information, and then we had to wait again at the bottom. Everyone was completely frozen." However, the restart was far from smooth, according to the 24-year-old all-rounder. "When we set off again, there was still a car in the middle of the peloton—it was a bizarre neutralization. A lot of guys had to drop out due to hypothermia. Honestly, it wasn’t fair at all, you could even say it's race manipulation."

Despite the brutal conditions, Van Wilder stayed with the favorites for a long time, though the cold—and a poorly timed caffeine gel—impacted his performance. "I took a caffeine gel five minutes before the neutralization, which caused me to crash a bit at the end. After that, I just had to push through on pure determination to finish strong." As the team leader for Soudal Quick-Step, Van Wilder finished 11th, 28 seconds behind stage winner João Almeida. In the overall standings, he holds the same 11th position, 1:24 behind leader Jonas Vingegaard.

Oliver Naesen also believed that the race organizers made the right call. "Unavoidable," he called the neutralization when speaking to Sporza. "But after that, things got messy. The race was stopped, and I went to the front as the riders' representative. The jury told me that both the breakaway and the peloton would stop, and then we’d decide what to do next." That was the moment when many riders rushed to get extra clothing, including the experienced Belgian from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale. As he counted his layers out loud, he remarked, "1, 2, 3... You can’t race like this, can you?" The situation was even worse for Stef Cras, who was forced to abandon the race due to hypothermia. The TotalEnergies rider had to be taken to the team bus.

During the neutralization—while the riders were still on their bikes—the 34-year-old Flemish rider decided to gauge the peloton’s willingness to continue. "I asked the teams for their stance and did a quick poll. Seven teams said we should stop, and two teams wanted to follow the majority." Armed with this information, Naesen rode back to the front, but by then, the peloton was completely scattered. A few minutes later, when he reached the race jury, he was told: "We’re starting again in two minutes." Naesen summed up the moment with frustration: "And there you stand, just like half of the peloton, covered in extra layers of clothing."

Naesen was especially frustrated with the teams that turned the race into complete chaos. "Movistar immediately hit the gas," he fumed. "Some guys were still stuck between the team cars. There was absolutely zero solidarity. This is race manipulation! I have nothing to gain from this personally, but I think of riders like Ben O'Connor and Aleksander Vlasov." O'Connor ultimately finished 26th, two minutes behind João Almeida. The Australian stormed into his team bus, cursing and visibly furious.

Meanwhile, Iván Romeo was seen arguing with race officials. The young Spaniard was eager to keep racing, even though not everyone had made it back into the peloton. "We’ve already stopped once. Why are we stopping again here? If others aren’t back, that’s not my problem!" he yelled at the race director, who refused to budge. The moment the race restarted, Movistar attacked full gas, causing some riders to lose significant time.

Vlasov suffered the worst, finishing 16 minutes down. "They assume the race is neutralized, and then suddenly, they see the group split into three pieces. That’s not how this should go." With even more bad weather expected in the coming days, things could get even worse. "On Saturday, they’re predicting 30 centimeters of snow. I have no idea how we’re supposed to get through that, but apparently, no one is listening. This is road cycling, not a giant slalom!"

One of the GC contenders who managed to survive the chaos was Mattias Skjelmose, who even finished third. However, he wasn’t happy with the conditions either. "I felt pretty good—until it started hailing," he said afterward, wrapped up in layers in front of the camera. "The race was neutralized, and that’s when it got really cold. I took five minutes to decide to stop and put on every layer of clothing I could. If they restarted the race, then so be it."

On the final climb, the Lidl-Trek rider was still hanging on, but his legs were fading. "I really felt it in the peak moments, during the accelerations. When your legs are frozen, it seriously affects you. I suffered a lot. I had to go really deep in the final few hundred meters—it wasn’t fun at all. Honestly, I didn’t think we would keep racing, but Mads (Pedersen) told me early on: ‘Get ready, because no way are they going to stop.’ So, I flipped the switch, and despite shivering, I was ready to race."