Bernal wins Paris-Nice

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Egan Bernal (Team Sky) secured overall victory at Paris-Nice after a tense final stage which saw his yellow jersey come under attack by Nairo Quintana (Movistar). 

Ion Izagirre (Astana) took the stage win in Nice, attacking on the final climb of the day to leave behind the remains of the elite break group led by Quintana. The Spaniard quickly built a stage-winning gap, staying upright on the descent to secure the win, 19 seconds ahead of Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) and Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb).

Quintana, meanwhile, attacked 50km out, echoing similar moves against Team Sky by Alberto Contador in 2016 and 2017. But like the legendary Spaniard, Quintana would fall short. He was the virtual leader at several points, but ended up only taking four seconds on Bernal at the finish.

The Movistar man attacked on the Côte de Peille to link up with the remnants of a strong breakaway group, including three teammates. Despite their best efforts, he was alone for the final 30 kilometres, while Bernal enjoyed the work of several teammates further back.

In the end, his efforts weren’t enough to overhaul his fellow Colombian at the top of the overall classification, but the battle ended up as the latest in a long line of dramatic final stages at Paris-Nice.

For Bernal, it’s his second WorldTour stage race win after the Tour of California last year. It’s the first win of the season for the 22-year-old, who is set to be a team leader at the Giro d’Italia.

“I can’t believe that I just won Paris-Nice. It’s incredible for me. I’m really happy. I just can’t believe it yet," Bernal told the Team Sky website after the race. “When some GC riders started to attack I knew I could follow them, but also I know that I have a really good, strong team, and my team can control these races.

“So it wasn’t too difficult to be calm because I really believe in my team. They did a really, really good job. We knew it was the last day so they pulled really hard.

“Nairo was really strong but I had a really good team - Kwiatkowski, Sosa, Tao [Geoghegan Hart]. When Quintana attacked I thought if I followed then after I may be alone. I preferred to wait a little bit, stay calm."

How it happened

Once again, a very large break got away early on, and for another day Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) was out there looking to hoover up some mountain classification points in order to seal the polka-dot jersey.

Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) was the main GC threat in the group, lying eighth 2:52 down on Bernal. Stage 7 winner Daniel Martínez was also there, while other notable names in the break included Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Lilian Calmejane (Direct Énergie)
Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott), Héctor Carretero, Marc Soler, Winner Anacona (all Movistar), Izagirre, Luis León Sánchez, Miguel Ángel Lopez (all Astana), Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) and Martínez’s EF Education First teammate Tejay van Garderen.

The break swelled over the first two climbs of the day, up to a total of 37 men. Meanwhile, De Gendt added another 12 points to his total on the Côtes de Levens and Chateauneuf.

Trentin was out front on the second climb and was soon joined by van Garderen, who himself was the lone leader as the short 110km stage reached the final 50 kilometres. It was at that point that the action really started as Quintana went on the attack on the Côte de Peille.

The Colombian lay 46 seconds down on race leader Bernal at the start of the day, so a long-range attack over the final three climbs of the stage was pretty much a necessity if he was to have any hope of overhauling his compatriot.

Quintana linked up with his Movistar teammates and was swiftly in the virtual race lead as they caught van Garderen. A minute down the road, Sky were put to work in aid of Bernal. They would have 40km to salvage the race.

Over the top of the Peille, the lead group was an elite collection of riders, including the Astana trio, the EF duo, Yates, Pozzovivo, Naesen, Kelderman and Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe). Quintana only had Soler for company, while 50 seconds back, Bernal had five Sky men at his disposal.

What ensued was a mini team time trial, though Quintana was forced to work at the front alone for the final 30km, with little co-operation from his companions. The gap swung from 35-55 seconds during this time, with yet another nail-biting Paris-Nice finish looking to be on the cards.

The final climb of the Col de Quatre Chemins saw Izagirre go on the attack, leaving van Garderen behind and going it alone in search of the stage victory. Despite an attempt from Yates towards the top of the climb, nobody came close to the Spaniard, who had the win in hand so long as he stayed upright on the descent.

Further back, the work from Team Sky saw Bernal close in on Quintana enough so that, on the descent into Nice, the destination of the yellow jersey was more or less set.

Bernal and teammate Michał Kwiatkowski were part of a small group that crossed the line just four seconds behind Quintana, confirming the makeup of the final podium and another Team Sky victory at Paris-Nice – their sixth in eight years.

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