Zingle finishes ninth in Paris-Nice opener, Vingegaard starts season without trouble

Zingle was well supported by his team, but just couldn't compete for the top positions: he finished ninth. “I was in an excellent position, but I lacked the momentum to go for it,” he said on the team's website. “Looking back, I waited a little too long, which meant I was overruled by riders coming from behind. It’s a pity, because there was a huge opportunity here for me and the team.”

Sport director Marc Reef is especially happy that the team got through the day without incident, especially since there were several crashes in the final kilometer. “We can be satisfied that everyone reached the finish safely. It was a hectic stage. At times it was difficult to stay together as a team. Jonas was very well supported throughout the day by Edoardo and Victor."

Once Vingegaard was safe, the focus went to bringing Zingle. The Dutchman was disappointed that there wasn't more in it. "In the final kilometers, we took responsibility ourselves to close the gap to the breakaway. We had a chance to go for the win with Axel while also making sure Jonas stayed safely near the front. It’s unfortunate that Axel couldn’t do the sprint we had in mind.”

Vingegaard completed the stage unscathed, but he certainly did not enjoy his first race day of the year. The climber hopes to win the overall classification, but is already looking forward to the mountains. ‘It was stressful. Very stressful. I hope not all my race days will be like this this year. Then it's no fun anymore,’ Vingegaard told Feltet after the stage.

So what went wrong for the leader of the Killer Bees? “I didn't think today's course was very good,” he grumbled. “I didn't think it was suitable for a WorldTour race. Bad roads, constantly turning left and right, holes in the road surface. Especially the last descent, which we rode three times, was not good enough for a WorldTour race.”