With both
Remco Evenepoel and
Primoz Roglic expected to challenge the recent dominance of Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar later this year, last week's
Paris-Nice was an early season chance for both to lay down a marker.
For Philippa York, a former King of the Mountains winner at the
Tour de France, Paris-Nice could potentially be seen as a missed opportunity for both Roglic and Evenepoel. "Before the start, everyone expected Primoz Roglic to play his part and he did, just not in the category we were led to believe from previous years," York analyses of the Slovenian, who eventually finished 10th overall, for Cycling News. "Everyone was convinced he would be ready to lead his new team,
BORA - hansgrohe to a victory or, at the very least, a podium place."
"March has always been one of his best months, because if he’s not bossing it in France, then he’s over at Tirreno-Adriatico winning there instead," York continues on Roglic. "The first stage saw him attentive enough, but lacking a bit of his usual power when he couldn’t immediately respond to accelerations from the likes of Egan Bernal and Remco Evenepoel. He was able to close down any gaps before they got really serious, so it looked like he was going to ride himself into that last bit of form as the week progressed and he might well have done if it had stayed reasonably dry. It didn’t, though, and disastrous choices in the pacing strategy during the team time trial on stage 3 put paid to any idea that he still might be the man to beat."
In the end, Matteo Jorgenson was the man to take the Maillot Jaune ahead of Evenepoel in second place. "His attacks were brutal enough, but they weren’t as stinging as they could have been, and it was almost as if he was afraid that a resurgent Roglič would counter him if the opportunity arose," York says of the
Soudal - Quick-Step leader. "Remco hadn’t seemed to notice that Roglič wasn’t at his best level and couldn’t or wouldn’t follow when you expected him to. Was the Slovenian bluffing, psyching him out and then going to pounce, or was he really at his limit? It was a good game either way."
Whilst it is easy to dismiss this early season battle as not very important in the grand scheme of things, York believes it could prove very important in the mental department as each and every Tour de France contender tries to get a mental advantage over the others.
"Though Roglic looked to be carrying a few kilos too many, he had to be happy as he saw the front of the race and influenced the outcome even if it was mostly by getting inside Evenepoel’s head," York concludes. "The psychological game of the Tour de France is a long-term project, remember, and every encounter between the protagonists matters."
