A three-rider breakaway emerged from the start, and they gained a maximum lead of five minutes. After the breakaway was caught at about twenty kilometres before the finish, Team Jumbo-Visma took the initiative.

A strong Nathan Van Hooydonck helped his teammates to the front of the bunch and kept the pace high. Due to the Belgian’s efforts, several sprinters were dropped and attackers were unable to escape the peloton. It was then up to Teunissen to bring Laporte and Van Aert to the final kilometre. Subsequently, Laporte brought Van Aert into ideal position for the final metres of the race, but the Belgian champion fell just short of victory and finished third. The Frenchman’s crash resulted in relatively few injuries.

Van Aert had earned a podium finish in every stage of Paris-Nice and was keen to win today. “Mike and Christophe helped me to the front in the final very well. Before that, we made the race hard and everything went the way I wanted. Unfortunately, the legs were not strong enough to hurt Pedersen today.”

Laporte seemed to be able to ride calmly to the finish after his lead-out for Van Aert, until he suddenly went to the ground. “I don’t know what happened. I had done my job for Wout and rode a little slower than the others. I couldn’t avoid the crash. It’s not too bad, but of course it’s better not to crash.”

For Laporte, the competition for the yellow jersey after tomorrow’s time trial may come from his own team.”I’m not sure if I’ll still be wearing the yellow jersey after tomorrow. But if I lose it tomorrow, I’d rather lose it to Wout or Primoz.”