Cyclist
Pro Log: Americans run the show at Paris-Nice, Jonas Vingegaard wins Tirreno-Adriatico as Juan Ayuso impresses, Lorena Wiebes dominant once more
Welcome back to another edition of Pro Log. We’ve been treated to a double stage race delight with both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico this past week, won overall by Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) respectively.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Meanwhile SD Worx-Protime’s Lorena Wiebes went back-to-back-to-back-to-back at Ronde van Drenthe, winning for the fourth year in a row.
American dream at Paris-Nice
It had been an American 1-2 on general classification at Paris-Nice since the end of Stage 6 into La-Colle-sur-Loup. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) sat atop the standings with Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) 23 seconds behind with two mountain stages remaining.
Jorgenson clawed back time on Stage 7, narrowing the gap to just four seconds. It was on the final day that he overhauled his compatriot, attacking with the persistent Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) in the final 44km on the Côte de Peille. McNulty had initially tried to bridge with Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) on his wheel but could never reach the two ahead of him, Vlasov eventually left McNulty behind to form a trio up in front.
Vlasov cracked on the final climb of the Col des Quatre-Chemins. Evenepoel won the stage and worked his way up to second overall as Jorgenson secured his first WorldTour stage race victory. McNulty finished third overall.
It was also nice to see Ineos Grenadiers’ Egan Bernal back in the mix with some consistency too after his career-derailing crash in 2022. It has been a long road to recovery for the 27-year-old. He finished in the top five on a hilly Stage 4 and ended Paris-Nice 9th on GC.
Jonas Vingegaard victorious at Tirreno-Adriatico
Another race, another win for Visma-Lease a Bike. Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard gained another victory under his belt this season following success at O Gran Camiño. Vingegaard won Stage 5 and 6 at Tirreno-Adriatico by quite some margin, finishing ahead of second place Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) by 1:12 and 26 seconds respectively. He won by 1:24 overall.
Ayuso had been a fighting force throughout the week-long race. He led from the first stage after beating Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) in the individual time-trial, only giving up the top spot to Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) after Stage 4. Ayuso remained in the top two overall for the rest of the race after Vingegaard took over as race leader on Stage 5. He even labelled himself ‘the first human’ on GC.
Jonathan Milan was by and large the best sprinter at Tirreno-Adriatico, winning a hilly Stage 4 and a flat Stage 7, plus the snazzy looking purple points classification jersey.
No one can match Lorena Wiebes
Lorena Wiebes once again dominated at Ronde van Drenthe, a 158km cobbled race from Beilen to Drijber that covered six ascents of (and finished on top of) the Vamberg.
A strong Christine Majerus perfectly led out Wiebes in the final kilometre as the race hit the final short ascent, Wiebes then blasting away for her fourth victory in a row at Ronde van Drenthe. Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) finished second with Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) third.
See you next week.
The post Pro Log: Americans run the show at Paris-Nice, Jonas Vingegaard wins Tirreno-Adriatico as Juan Ayuso impresses, Lorena Wiebes dominant once more appeared first on Cyclist.
