photo credits @ Paris-Nice
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) won the final stage of Paris-Nice on the Nice seafront today, beating Jorgenson in a two-rider sprint after they cracked Brandon McNulty on the Côte de Peille climb with 40 km to race.
However, today’s second-place finish was enough for Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) to distance his fellow American during the rain-soaked final stage in the Nice hills to secure overall victory in this year’s Race to the Sun.
Evenepoel and Jorgensen were joined by Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the final climb of Col d’Èze, with Vlasov getting dropped while the duo shared the work to ensure the American won overall and the Belgian second on the podium.
Meanwhile, McNulty finished in a chase group with Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) at 1:39, managing to hold onto third overall at 1:47, with Evenepoel finishing just 30 seconds down on Jorgenson.
Earlier, Victor Campanaerts (Lotto Dstny) started proceedings with an early rampage, ripping up the front of the race, before being reeled in just after the halfway point.
As Campanaerts rejoined the pack, Evenepoel put in two thrashing digs to try and wriggle away. The former world champion, known for his long-range attacks, began the day in fourth, 36 seconds behind the race leader, McNulty, whose teammates helped quash the initial attempts to go solo.
A third attack by Evenepoel later broke through UAE Team Emirates. With 44km to go, the Belgian split the front group on the penultimate climb, towing Jorgenson and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) to the summit. The trio stretched out their advantage on the descent to over a minute ahead of the yellow jersey.
Over the 1.7km Col dÈze, the American looted Evenepoel to collect the maximum bonus seconds before helping drive the pace to drop Vlasov on the final climb.
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