Vingegaard proves he’s an echelon specialist in bizarre stage: “There wasn’t even time to take my clothes off”

Even before the start, it was clear it would be a brutal day on the bike. With the forecast crosswinds, echelons felt almost inevitable. “But I wouldn’t say I expected a day this crazy,” Vingegaard laughed, fully wrapped up, in the flash interview. “We expected something, sure — but definitely not what it ended up being.”

Vingegaard found himself in a perfect position thanks to the echelons, but that wasn’t actually the plan. “We had a plan and wanted to make our move on the penultimate climb, but it was full gas racing from the start,” he explained. “There wasn’t even time to take my clothes off. Maybe you can call me a trendsetter with the long trousers, but there was no time to take them off.”

A big lead group formed at the front with around 40 riders, but Visma | Lease a Bike only had two men in it. “I felt good, but it was so hard all day,” said Vingegaard. “Edoardo (Affini) was there for most of the day — he was incredible. The start was super hectic, but I’m happy I’m here and that I could win the stage. It’s unbelievable.”

The stage win — and the yellow jersey — also felt like a kind of revenge for what happened in 2025. “Last year I had to leave the race,” Vingegaard recalled. “I was in the leader’s jersey, then I crashed and had to abandon. To come back to Paris–Nice now and win here for the first time… it’s really nice to start the season like this.”

After a lightning-fast day, the gaps at the finish were huge — and the weather played a major role. “It had a big impact. First there was the crosswind, straight from the start,” he said. “A few guys missed the split, and later I noticed the rest were really freezing. I wasn’t, because I had a lot of clothes on. That might also be why I couldn’t get them off. But the rain also affected the race.”