Vingegaard barely has to move as relaxed Dane shows everything is clicking

Vingegaard made his move on the Côte de Saint-Jean-de-Muzols, a climb of 2.2 kilometres at 10.2 per cent, and left the competition behind at the hardest point of the day. Victor Campenaerts — coming from the breakaway — produced the lead-out for his team leader, after which the other GC riders could barely respond.

According to Campenaerts, it was not as easy as it may have looked. “It was a hectic start, and as a team we were definitely under pressure,” the Belgian told Sporza. “At Paris–Nice that is not shown on television from kilometre zero, like it certainly is in the Tour de France. But it was definitely hard work.”

“There was a big group up the road and a few Movistar riders jumped across to it,” he continued. “It is better to be on the offensive than to be pushed into defending. That allowed me to save a bit of energy.”

Campenaerts then used that energy for his famous turn on the front for his leader on the steepest gradients. “The plan was to grab everyone by the throat at that point, and then Jonas could go solo. When I pulled off, they were not really on the wheel anymore. He even gave a little left-handed wink, and after that I could follow the rest of the finale on the radio,” said the super-domestique.

Vingegaard himself added: “Before I really had to launch my attack, I already had a gap because of Victor’s pull. That was a really great lead-out. It meant I could stay within my limits, and then I just had to hold that to the finish.”

“We originally planned to go there, but on the road we still had some doubts about how exactly to approach it. In the end, the whole team was there for me and that felt fantastic. I am happy I could repay that confidence,” said Vingegaard, whose team had already lost Davide Piganzoli and later also Axel Zingle.

According to Campenaerts, there is even more to come from Vingegaard. “He is in a really good place, actually since December. Jonas is very relaxed, and it was clear that we did not come to the start here just to get race kilometres in. So the fact it is all coming together is really beautiful.”