photo credits @ WTFK
Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) made the most of an animated stage 8, marking the many attacks of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) to claim his first victory in the World Tour. In his wake, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished second on the stage and thus sealed the overall victory in dominant fashion, putting the final touches to a triumph built both on the flat, especially with the echelons towards Berre-l’Étang, and on the climbs.
Already crowned in 2024, he is the tenth rider to win back-to-back editions of the Race to the Sun, following the likes of Jacques Anquetil (the first to do so, in 1965 and 1966), Sean Kelly (who holds the records with 7 wins in a row in the 1980s) and Max Schachmann (winner in 2020 and 2021), while his runner-up Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) won the best young rider standings and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) completed the overall podium, just ahead of Sheffield.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) attacked as soon as the flag dropped, while a flurry of attacks animated the final stage around Nice, with Pedersen featuring in almost every group, along with other attackers such as Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla), Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost).
However, the pace was too high for Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), who was forced to abandon after being dropped early in the day, along with Max Walker (EF Education-EasyPost) and Adrien Petit (Intermarché-Wanty), who suffered the same fate.
Pedersen, again and again and again
With the peloton chasing every attack and counter-attack, Pedersen went solo at the bottom of the first categorized climb of the day to Col de la Porte (7km at 7.2%). Yet, he was caught as Ineos Grenadiers set a fierce pace in the bunch, reducing it to less than 30 riders at the summit, leaving Jorgenson isolated with no teammates to support him.
Pedersen attacked again along the descent, quickly opening up a gap of 1’15’’ into the last 50 kilometers of the stage.
Lipowitz responded with an attack up the Côte de Peille (summit at km 79.2). But Jorgenson reacted as well, as did Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) and Aleks Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) who eventually managed to join him inside the last kilometer of the climb.
Sheffield and Jorgenson fly away
Sheffield later managed to get away on the descent, subsequently bridging the gap to the front trio with 30 km to go. From there, the margin increased to a minute, while Jorgenson reacted towards Col d’Èze.
The situation settled towards the final climb of the day, Col des Quatre Chemins, with Sheffield going solo with 12.5 km to go.
At the summit, his advantage was 20’’ ahead of Jorgenson and Gall, enough for the American to storm to victory in Nice, while Jorgenson sealed the overall victory for the second year in a row.
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