Pogacar unbeatable at Paris-Nice: Vingegaard bows. ‘But it was the hardest day’

Pogacar again. The Slovenian of UAE Emirates was also unbeatable on the second uphill finish of the Paris-Nice, the Col de la Couillole, 1676 metres, in the hinterland of the Côte d’Azur. Yet this time Vingegaard, who had come back on the Pogacar-Gaudu duo, had tried to surprise him and anticipate the sprint to 250 metres, but there was nothing to do. After Friday’s stage was canceled due to very strong winds, Tadej Pogacar, in the leader’s yellow jersey, easily dominated the seventh stage of the Corsa verso il Sole with an uphill finish after a 15.8 km ascent at 7.3 Average %: second at 2″ the French David Gaudu (Groupama-Fdj) and third at 6″ the Danish Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), fourth Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) at 19″. “It was the hardest day of this start of the season, we have been very strong since the beginning. And now another very busy day awaits us,” explains Pogacar, 24. For Tadej it is the seventh victory of the season in 12 days of competition, or even better in 27 calendar days. Pogacar won the one-day race Jaen in Spain Paraiso Interior on the dirt road, then the Ruta del Sol with three stages, then the two successes at Paris-Nice on as many high-altitude finishes: 53 victories in his career.Unbeatable on any terrain: on dirt roads, in sprints, uphill.

The ranking

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In the standings now Pogacar has 12″ on Gaudu, 58″ on Vingegaard and 1’27” on Simon Yates. Sunday eighth and final stage, Nice-Nice, 118 km with the double climb to the Col d’Eze, iconic climb of the Côte d’Azur : 6.1km at 7.6%.Then on Saturday 18th the 114th Milano-Sanremo, declared objective of Pogacar.