Paris-Nice 2026, March 8-15

[Armchair Cyclist]

A blow for twins trying to assert their individual autonomy: Mick and Tim awarded most combative rider of the day.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Vauquelin:

"Imagine you're first in line of the peloton and a rider pushes you into the ditch and you find yourself at the back of the bunch when the echelon starts.

I'm joking but still imagine it (someone from Soudal)".

I have a weird feeling he isn't joking.

It doesn't sound great, but perhaps he's good friends with Paret-Peintre and it is indeed a joke.

 

[search]

This was the flaw in Bora's strategy IMO. The Bora DS would have looked like a genius if Martinez would have been able to follow Vingo and maybe even outsprint him at the finish, putting himself second by a handful of seconds with 4 stages to go. Alas, he almost couldn't even follow Van Dijke.

on the other hand, Bora has had rather fortunate overall victories in Paris-Nice before, and 2nd in GC is of course not a bad position to get another one

 

[QueenStagiaire]

It doesn't sound great, but perhaps he's good friends with Paret-Peintre and it is indeed a joke.

Paret-Peintre probably couldn‘t push someone in the ditch if he tried.

 

[canina82]

Any news about Ayuso, McNulty and Piganzoli?

 

[Oldman]

This was the flaw in Bora's strategy IMO. The Bora DS would have looked like a genius if Martinez would have been able to follow Vingo and maybe even outsprint him at the finish, putting himself second by a handful of seconds with 4 stages to go. Alas, he almost couldn't even follow Van Dijke.

The main flaw ended up being the cold weather impact. You could see Martinez stiffly trying to maintain contact on the flats and frequently riding in waterspray of whichever twin was ahead of him. Jonas stayed closer to the center crown of the road, sacrificing some aero advantage to avoid the water channels unless there was no choice.
Then this, too: after sitting on all day Jonas managed to take 40+seconds. He usually would've put over 2 minutes into the big twins so he may have used alot of energy just staying warm. The two large Dutch guys did the monster work and still rode the hard last 3km proportionately better than either climber. Neither looked chilled. If there would've been one directive that should have been given Dani: "rotate through occasionally to keep warm."

 

[Red Rick]

Any news about Ayuso, McNulty and Piganzoli?

Ayuso no broken bones, don't know about the others.

 

[Oldman]

on the other hand, Bora has had rather fortunate overall victories in Paris-Nice before, and 2nd in GC is of course not a bad position to get another one

Jonas hasn't won it yet. JV has won the previous 2 PNs, though; lest we forget.

 

[Squire]

He usually would've put over 2 minutes into the big twins

2 minutes in exactly 1 km against a TvD who is actually trying? Vingegaard is good, but not that good, I think. I do agree that Van Dijke was 'proportionally' better today though, compared to a normal day, that was quite clear. But DFM was also 'proportionally' worse than he would have been compared to Vingegaard on a fresher effort.

I'm a bit surprised by all the armchair DS-ing against Red Bull's tactics. There was no way they were gonna play it any differently when they had their leader and three rouleurs as part of the front five. Sending a Van Dijke on the attack would have been clowning of the highest order.

 

[Berniece]

Is everyone already happy with their position in the GC or will we actually see some teams try something crazy? Profile tomorrow gives the possibility for this, although Visma might be strong enough to keep everything together

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Is everyone already happy with their position in the GC or will we actually see some teams try something crazy? Profile tomorrow gives the possibility for this, although Visma might be strong enough to keep everything together

Ineos should definitely try hard, because as far as we know, Martinez could be in completely horrible form in normal weather. Other than that, I doubt that anyone on 5-10 is that interested in a big move but Lenny isn‘t a completely boring rider so he might do something

 

[Heston]

Vauquelin looks like the 2nd best rider in the race. He did a huge effort today and was still the 2nd fastest on the final climb today.

Ineos should at the very least try to break Steinhauser to put Vauquelin on the podium.

 

[armchairclimber]

Well, at least they might've gotten the stage win.
Tim Van Dijke had the legs to do it, today.

Random fact. I made the other version of the For An Angel video, in Yucatan, Mexico. Apologies for swerving off topic, but none of my CQ Manager riders survived the carnage in anything like good shape.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--3eIRSg2RY

 

[Oldman]

2 minutes in exactly 1 km against a TvD who is actually trying? Vingegaard is good, but not that good, I think. I do agree that Van Dijke was 'proportionally' better today though, compared to a normal day, that was quite clear. But DFM was also 'proportionally' worse than he would have been compared to Vingegaard on a fresher effort.

I'm a bit surprised by all the armchair DS-ing against Red Bull's tactics. There was no way they were gonna play it any differently when they had their leader and three rouleurs as part of the front five. Sending a Van Dijke on the attack would have been clowning of the highest order.

Red Bull's tactics were spot on IMO. Racing in those conditions have impacts that don't show up until late and usually involve which riders ate well enough to continue to apply effort...If you sit on exclusively in those conditions few will find a way to go faster when it counts.
Vauquelin rode angry to the finish and finished well to my point about effort vs. weather.

 

[KZD]

Too bad Ayuso crashed out, Vingegaard and Visma can now control the race but anything can happen as we saw today.

Massive performance from the Van Dijke twins, unfortunately for Red Bull, Martinez wasn't on a good day.

 

[Berniece]

Ineos should definitely try hard, because as far as we know, Martinez could be in completely horrible form in normal weather. Other than that, I doubt that anyone on 5-10 is that interested in a big move but Lenny isn‘t a completely boring rider so he might do something

I would think Martinez is better in good weather, he’s Colombian after all

 

[postmanhat]

I'm a bit surprised by all the armchair DS-ing against Red Bull's tactics. There was no way they were gonna play it any differently when they had their leader and three rouleurs as part of the front five. Sending a Van Dijke on the attack would have been clowning of the highest order.

Red Bull rode it perfectly to secure a podium chance for Martinez. As he said, he had nothing left at the end, like nearly all the other humans (kudos to Vauqelin and Steinhauser).

Performances and a stage to celebrate. Will possibly be one of the best of the season, before the aliens really find their form?

 

[Squire]

Performances and a stage to celebrate. Will possibly be one of the best of the season, before the aliens really find their form?

The season has been really good in terms of entertainment so far, except for Strade Bianche. With most races either being alien-free or having several aliens go against one-another, I'm not too pessimistic overall. It's just a select few races that are likely to be a boring alien cakewalk. And at least Vingegaard races somewhat 'normally', so even where he's the favourite and will most likely win, the other riders usually don't end up in some artificial weird race for 2nd place for 80 km.

 

[Squire]

I would think Martinez is better in good weather, he’s Colombian after all

DFM is no stranger to doing well in bad weather, Colombian or not. I think his overall form is decent anyway. It has looked like that in previous races. Curious to see if Vauquelin is as impressive with the sun shining. He also has good history in bad conditions; Fleche Wallonne 2024 comes to mind.

 

[Red Rick]

Plenty of Colombians are great in the bad weather. Quintana and Bernal for example both had some of their best results in terrible weather

 

[Breh]

Well Colombia is also one of the wettest countries in the world and Bogota gets as much sunshine as Reykjavik and just slightly more than Manchester.
Because of the altitude it also doesn't get particulary hot either.

 

[Oldman]

I would think Martinez is better in good weather, he’s Colombian after all

Good, dry, high, low-humidity weather. He's not only Colombian. He's a 130lb. bike rider in Belgian Classics weather. There is a reason that body type doesn't do well when it's liquid ice.

 

[Oldman]

Well Colombia is also one of the wettest countries in the world and Bogota gets as much sunshine as Reykjavik and just slightly more than Manchester.
Because of the altitude it also doesn't get particulary hot either.

I would think he'd train at the higher altitudes and not during rain downpours when he is actually in Colombia. UAE guys have been high and dry this season, haven't they?

 

[Oldman]

Plenty of Colombians are great in the bad weather. Quintana and Bernal for example both had some of their best results in terrible weather

Those two were also meatier and consummate power riders when they had to be. Martinez looked like he was hanging on the wheel by a thread so it was not his happiest ride, for sure.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

They are bib tights, he probably intended on being able to take them off before the last climbs.

Turns out, they were ripped in the front, which is why they were flapping.