The Colombian professional cyclist Santiago Buitrago won the first mountain finish in the Paris-Nice long-distance race and defeated the top favorites Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic.
The climbing specialist from Team Bahrain Victorious won on Wednesday (March 6th, 2024) after a difficult 183 kilometers on Mont Brouilly ahead of the Australian champion Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla/+10 seconds) and the Dane Matthias Skelmose (Lidl-Trek/+37). Second-placed Plapp took the lead in the overall ranking.
Time trial world champion Evenepoel (Belgium/Soudal-Quick Step) came in fourth place (+37). The three-time Vuelta winner Roglic (Slovenia/+39), who is making his debut for the German team Bora-hansgrohe, showed a good performance in seventh place on the just three-kilometer but crisp final climb and made amends for the weak team time trial Tuesday.
Duel Roglic against Evenepoel
After the start in Chalon-sur-Saône, the professionals had to overcome seven major climbs. About 35 kilometers from the finish, the Bora entourage around Edel accession Roglic caught up with the Italian Christian Scaroni, who was driving alone at the front. In the showdown between the favorites, however, Evenepoel secured six bonus seconds a little later in the sprint, just ahead of Roglic, while the Bora star took four. Already at his debut on Sunday, both exceptional drivers had their first test of strength. Bora captain Roglic is now in 15th place, 40 seconds behind Evenepoel, his opponent in the duel for overall victory.
Strong comeback from Bernal
Former Tour winner Egan Bernal is back in strong form a good two years after his terrible training accident. The Colombian came in fifth place at the same time as Roglic. The best German was Georg Zimmermann (Wangen/Intermarche-Wanty) in 25th place. The 23-year-old outsider Plapp took the lead in the overall standings, 13 seconds ahead of Buitrago. Evenepoel is fifth, Roglic moved up to 15th.
Paris-Nice ends on Sunday
On Thursday it goes over 193.5 kilometers with four mountain classifications in the 3rd category from Saint-Sauveur-de-Montagut to Sisteron. The 82nd edition of the traditional race ends next Sunday in Nice, where the grand finale of the Tour de France will also take place on July 21st.