Discussion | Paris-Nice stage 1 - Lack of organisation in the lead-out, chaos in the finale, Visma forcing the pace and the season debut of Vingegaard

One day after Strade Bianche, top-level cycling returned with the opening stage of the 84th edition of Paris–Nice.

If yesterday marked the first race of the season for one of the contenders for the 2026 Tour de France, today it was the turn of another favourite to make his debut, the Danish Jonas Vingegaard of Team Visma – Lease a Bike.

With João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) ruled out due to illness (flu after the Volta ao Algarve) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) due to a wrist injury, the battle for the general classification in the “Race to the Sun” was not poorer, but it was missing two very strong riders.

The first stage of Paris–Nice, however, was designed for a possible clash between the sprinters present in France. The pace was high from the start, with the first breakaway of the race forming early and putting up strong resistance.

The escape group stayed away for more than 160 kilometres and, with the finish line in sight, only a fierce late chase by Visma, who were aiming to take the stage win with Axel Zingle, finally brought the fugitives back after an exceptional effort from the Dutch team.

Casper Pedersen, Mathis Le Berre, Patrick Gamper, Luke Durbridge, Max Walker and Sébastien Grignard deserve credit for their understanding at the front, forcing the sprinters’ teams to work hard to control the race, wearing themselves down and losing riders who could have been important later.

NSN Cycling Team and Team Picnic PostNL were among those who worked the most in the peloton before the final circuit, which included three passages over the Côte de Vaux-sur-Seine (1.3 km at 6.8%) and two climbs of the Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes (1.1 km at 8.3%).

After the final ascent of the circuit, the peloton led by Team Visma – Lease a Bike chased at high speed, with the breakaway still fighting for the win. Their adventure ended with 1.3 kilometres to go, setting up what looked like a bunch sprint.

Inside the final kilometre there were two crashes, one of which forced the peloton to slow and split, leading to a chaotic sprint finish.

There was no real lead-out, and no team had a properly organised train to deliver their sprinter to the line. Everyone was on their own.

The exception was EF Education – EasyPost, with Marijn van den Berg guiding Luke Lamperti into the final metres. The American launched his sprint decisively, controlled his rivals, raised his arms in victory and claimed the stage win, also taking the first yellow jersey of the race ahead of Vito Braet (Lotto – Intermarché) and Orluis Aular (Movistar Team), who completed the podium.

Biniam Girmay will likely still be wondering how he didn’t win today’s stage. The Eritrean looked like the strongest rider in the final sprint, but his positioning left a lot to be desired.

He did manage to find the right wheel, however, as without a proper lead-out train, EF Education-EasyPost were the only team with two riders at the front in the finale. Marijn van den Berg delivered Luke Lamperti perfectly inside the final hundred metres, leaving the American with the simple task of finishing it off.

The breakaway of the day showed strong cooperation and the last rider off the front was only caught with 1.3km remaining. Had Team Visma | Lease a Bike not driven the chase so hard once the race entered the finishing circuit, the attackers might well have held on for the victory today.

Will we see another sprint showdown tomorrow? If so, which team will be willing to take responsibility for the chase? Today, Picnic PostNL and NSN put in a solid shift at the front of the peloton, controlling the breakaway for much of the day, but ultimately without fully shutting it down.

The chaos in the final sprint sent several riders to the ground, although fortunately it was nothing more than minor scrapes. That road narrowing in the finale could have been avoided, especially with the peloton charging in at full speed.

We’ll see what happens tomorrow. My pick, without hesitation, is Girmay, but we’ll find out soon enough if I’m wrong.

Pretty bland stage I would say, wish there was more to argue but what we've had was a regular bunch sprint in a stage that promised more. With the steep climbs in the finale there were opportunities to attack; and there was a yellow jersey at stake too.

The breakaway of the day didn't make it easy on the peloton and there definitely was space in that finale to attack and try to surprise the sprinter teams - which were aided by Visma quite a lot. Hats off to Groupama for trying with Ewen Costiou and Quentin Pacher, but even other teams just followed and didn't really help.

It goes along with the common trend of there being several teams that don't seem to have a firm grasp on what the race is like - when they have no chance of winning in a sprint, have 7 riders in a race, but don't make an active attempt to win or take a top result.

Anyhow it's only day 1 of 8, the breakaway men did create some tension with a breakaway I thought could work at some point towards the finale. The sprint, as had been said, had no real leadouts, but no-one took advantage of the lack of numbers.

EF nailed the leadout and although I have rarely seen someone do a flat sprint with a lower cadence, Luke Lamperti certainly fired enough watts to take a well deserved win. Biniam Girmay looked the strongest, but a sprint requires not only power but also correct positioning and line choice, and he attempted to go through Lamperti through a non-existing gap.