Sunday’s first day of 84th Paris-Nice, the WorldTour eight-stage Race to the Sun, culminated in a reduced bunch sprint due to a crash, and Luke Lamperti of EF Education-Easypost took the team’s first win of the season. Nickolas Zukowsky was top Canadian in 109th.
Preliminaries
Sean Kelly won Paris-Nice seven times in a row in the 1980s. Recently it has been claimed by a mix of big names like Egan Bernal, Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar and lesser-known riders like Max Schachmann and current champion Matteo Jorgenson, who both took back-to-back titles. Joregenson is racing Tirreno-Adriatico this year, but his teammate and 2023 podium man Jonas Vingegaard is making his season debut after a training crash in February. Vingegaard, looking to get off to a winning start, faces recent Volta ao Algarve champion Juan Ayuso, David Gaudu, Lenny Martinez and Algarve-hot Ineos duo Oscar Onley and Kévin Vauquelin.
Two Canadians were in the first WorldTour European stage race of the season: Guillaume Boivin of NSN and Nickolas Zukowsky of Pinarello-Q36.5.
The Course
Riders would face all the day’s climbs in the second half of 171 km from Achères to Carrières-sous-Poissy. In two finishing circuits, Cat. 3 Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes, a 1.1-km climb of 8.1 percent, would be the main challenge, the second peak 10 km from the finish.
The first breakaway of the 84th Race to the Sun was a sextet that unfortunately had no KOM points to vie for until the 127-km mark. By the midpoint of the stage, the escape’s lead was only 1:35.
Casper Pedersen scored the first KOM points of the race atop Cat. 3 Côte de Gargenville before adding to his tally on Cat. 3 Côte de Vaux-sur-Seine. Boivin had a mechanical and needed the NSN team car.
Heading into the circuits containing Chanteloup-les-Vignes, the fugitives still held a 1:20 lead. Pedersen took more points on the first passage. Visma powered the peloton. Heading into the last lap, the breakaway could dare to start to believe in its chances. The peloton began to creep closer on the second climb of Chanteloup-les-Vignes, and a few chaps spurted from the field near its crest.
The catch was late, with 1.3 km to go. A crash caused chaos and delayed most of the riders. From the dust emerged a group of about 20 from which Lamperti came around his lead out and held off Vito Braet and Orluis Aular.
Monday’s second stage is a more traditional sprinter’s route.
2026 Paris-Nice, Stage 1
1) Luke Lamperti (USA/EF Education-Easypost) 3:45:17
2) Vito Braet (Belgium/Lotto-Intermarche) s.t.
3) Orluis Aular (Colombia/Movistar) s.t.
109) Nickolas Zukowsky (Canada/Pinarello-Q36.5) +2:25