At Paris-Nice

First showdown between Roglic and Evenepoel

The Slovenian Primoz Roglic had his first showdown with time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel on his debut with the German Bora cycling team, but the victory in the first stage of the traditional Paris-Nice race went to Olav Kooij! 

After 158 km with start and finish in Les Mureaux, the Dutchman won the sprint on Sunday ahead of the Danish former world champion Mads Pedersen. Felix Großschartner (25th) and Felix Gall (49th) crossed the finish line with the field. Roglic helper Marco Haller (120th) was 3:31 minutes behind at the end. The second stage over 178 km from Thiory to Montargis follows on Monday. Apart from two smaller mountain classifications, no major difficulties await. The stage race, which Roglic won in 2022, ends next Sunday in Nice.

For Gall, who is working towards the Tour de France this year, these are the first real days of racing this year. The East Tyrolean from the Decathlon team was able to impress the previous week at the start of his season in fourth place at the Ardeche Classic in the south of France.

Pedersen started uphill, but Kooij countered
The Giro winner Roglic (34), who switched from Jumbo-Visma to Bora at the beginning of the year, and Evenepoel fought their first duel on the last mountain classification a good ten kilometers before the finish. However, the peloton with all the sprint stars caught up and it came to a sprint. Pedersen took off uphill, but Kooij countered in the final meters. The New Zealander Laurence Pithie finished third.