Tadej Pogacar has won the final stage of
Paris-Nice and has conquered the overall classification after one last dominant performance.
It was an explosive day, and as expected strong groups went up the road early on as they tried to anticipate the GC battle. David de la Cruz and Kévin Vauquelin were among the attackers, but the group never got more than minute and a half as Alpecin-Deceuninck helped
UAE Team Emirates control the race.
Over the Côte de Peille there were no attacks in the GC group this time around, as UAE paced a decently sized group up the slopes of the tough ascent, with Wout Poels going solo off the front when it came to the breakaway. The Dutchman was caught with 27 kilometers to go still however, before the final ascent to the Col d'Èze.
Simon Yates made an early move there trying to climb up the GC in the steep gradients, but almost immediately Tadej Pogacar launched his attack. There was no response, no-one had the legs to match the race leader who quickly built a big gap, which peaked at 50 seconds as he soared through to victory.
Jonas Vingegaard,
David Gaudu, Simon Yates and Matteo Jorgenson formed the chasing group which collaborated decently well in the run-up to the finish to keep the race situation as it was. The glory was all out front however. Pogacar arrived at Nice alone and calmly rode through the Promenade des Anglais in celebration, conquering his third stage win and the overall classification with comfort.
Vinghegaard sprinted to second place and Gaudu rode to third on the day. The duo have not switched positions and have finished third and second respectively in the overall classification. Pogacar has also won the points and youth classification, whilst Uno-X's Jonas Gregaard was the victor of the KOM classification, and Jayco AlUla won the teams classification.