Vingegaard Pulls Virtuoso Raid at Paris-Nice

Jonas Vingegaard wins in filthy rain wearing controversial bib tights, and he wins in beating sun wearing the yellow jersey of Paris-Nice, too.

The two-time Tour de France winner doubled up at Paris-Nice on Thursday with a virtuoso 20km raid across the hilly finale of stage 5.

It was a statement victory for the Visma-Lease a Bike star, who claimed a gutsy win to take the GC lead just 24 hours prior.

“I really wanted to win today, and the team really wanted to win,” Vingegaard said at the finish. “We wanted to win and take as much time as possible, and I took a good amount of time.

“I want to thank my teammates a lot … they deserve the champagne tonight.”

Vingegaard kicked out of his teammate Victor Campenart’s wheel and distanced a group of top climbers on the third-last summit of a long and lumpy day Thursday.

Once he got the gap, he didn’t look back.

The 29-year-old sat on a 30-second advantage and then squeezed the throttle in the final 10km to win by more than two minutes on the Colombier-le-Vieux summit.

Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quick Step) attacked out of a malfunctioning chase group across the final climbs of the stage to claim second.

Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) won the reduced sprint for third.

Vingegaard was forced to cancel his season debut at the UAE Tour last month due to illness and injury. Paris-Nice this week is his first race in 5 months.

Vingegaard clearly didn’t slow down in a difficult off-season that saw him lose his long-time trainer Tim Heemskerk, and take a tumble in training after a controversial interaction with a fan.

The Danish ace now has Paris-Nice on lockdown as the race enters its endgame in the Alps and Côte d’Azur.

He’s more than three minutes up on Daniel Martínez (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) after his statement performance Thursday.

Results: Paris-Nice Stage 5