After a week of racing at Paris-Nice in which Jumbo-Visma's strength in depth was evident time and again, the quality of the Dutch once again proved vital on the final stage as stage 4 winner Wout van Aert came to the rescue of overall leader Primož Roglič on the Col d'Eze.
The Belgian helped his team leader in fighting back against a potential race-winning attack from Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco), in the process sealing victory at a race Roglič lost on the final day a year ago.
After a tough day of racing, Roglič once again performed his trademark 'Telemark' celebration on the podium, once again clad in the yellow jersey. Van Aert was part of the podium ceremony, too, taking home the green points jersey he has worn since stage 3.
He adds that points classification wins to two at the Critérium du Dauphiné and one at Tirreno-Adriatico last year. After the finish, he was questioned on the chances of adding the same prize at the Tour de France to his impressive palmarès.
"After Friday's stage, I was looking good for winning the points jersey and if you can take it, it's always nice," he said. "I won it in the Dauphiné and Tirreno-Adriatico, and now in Paris-Nice, too.
"Maybe this summer we'll try to win it in the big one in the Tour," he added.
Should he be free to battle for green in the sprints this July, Van Aert will certainly be performing a balancing act between taking his own chances and supporting Roglič. What is for certain, though, is that the Tour will mark a resumption of a surprisingly little-seen partnership, the pair having only raced together at the Tour and Amstel Gold Race in 2021.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, Roglič was asked whether the race was a testing ground, of sorts, for the Tour in that regard.
"Definitely," he replied. "Because I always said that guys I was here with are quite a big part of who goes to the Tour.
"It's quite a big test for us, eh? In all kinds of situations, circumstances, and strategies – to try things out and see how it works. We showed some nice racing together this week."
Before thoughts of July, though, Van Aert has a string of goals spread out across the spring season. His next one comes up just next week, with the task being to add another Milan-San Remo title to his 2020 victory, before returning to the cobbles through to the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Roglič will accompany him on the start line on Saturday, amid expectations that the Dutch squad and UAE Team Emirates – led by Tadej Pogačar and Matteo Trentin – will attempt to blow the race apart far earlier than the usual flashpoint of the Poggio.
He insisted that he's there to support Van Aert, he insisted, while also cheekily throwing in a joke about he and his compatriot Pogačar attacking on the Cipressa –the climb over 20 kilometres from the finish from where nobody has launched since Gabriele Colombo in 1996.
"Yes, definitely I'm there to be the support for Wout," Roglič said. "That's why I'm going there.
"First of all, I think we need to come to the Poggio. It's 300km almost to the Poggio and then the second thing is that you still need the legs to be able to do something. So hopefully I'm there.
"Also maybe with [Pogačar] we can already go on Cipressa, no?" Roglič joked. "We will see. It will be for sure a hard and challenging day."
Van Aert, meanwhile, said that he left the race feeling good and will now take a short rest before getting back to it for the Classics.
"I leave this race with a good feeling," he said. "It was a really hard stage race and actually it was really nice to feel these legs at the end of a hard eight-day race. It's always good for the confidence.
"Now the work is done, let's say, and it's about resting. Hopefully after some days of rest I'll hold the form through the Classics."
