00:00Welcome to the 84th edition of Paris-Nice, the race to the sun, which got underway just
00:06to the west of the capital this Sunday.
00:08Paris-Nice kicks off the World Tour stage racing season in Europe with a typically challenging
00:13eight-day route, including a team time trial.
00:16The standout name for overall victory is Jonas Vingegaard, who starts his season today after
00:21a training crash in late January.
00:24It wasn't the plan initially to be here, but I'm here and I'm happy with being here,
00:31so yeah, I think I've had a pretty decent preparation for here, but yeah, we will see in the race.
00:39Well his rivals include UAE's Brandon McNulty and Juan Ayuso of Lidl Trek, while the Ineos
00:45Grenadiers have several GC options, including their new signings Oscar Onley and Kevin Vukala.
00:53Well, having strength in numbers means that we can animate the race in a way I couldn't
00:58before, so we'll definitely try.
01:00I like the route, it suits me.
01:02There's also a team time trial which is an objective for the team, so there are several
01:06possibilities.
01:08Paris-Nice is the one week-long stage race I'd really like to win, and doing it this year
01:13would be amazing.
01:15Officially a sprint stage, today's opener features nearly 2,000 metres of climbing, but
01:20having already won twice this season, Binyam Gamay believes that he can be there in the
01:24final.
01:26I'm pretty confident with my shape, especially for today.
01:32On the last part of the race, there is quite a short and steep climb, but I think that's
01:37the type of race that I like, so I think we will see today on the race, but I'm pretty
01:45sure I think I have legs to pass this climb.
01:49It's a stage of two halves, straightforward for the first 100k and then rather bumpy for
01:54the last 70.
01:55All four categorised climbs come in the second half, including two hikes of the short but
02:00steep Côte de Chantelieu-les-Vignes.
02:02It's 1.1km at 8.3% and could seriously thin out the bunch before a potential sprint.
02:13Well there were six men in the day's breakaway.
02:15Caspar Pedersen of Sudau Quick-Step, Max Walker of EF Education Easy Post, Matisse Lebert
02:21of Total Energies, Sébastien Grignard of Lotto Ante Marche and Luke Durbridge and Patrick
02:27Gamper of Jaco Alula.
02:29Their squad unfortunately lost Kel O'Brien apparently to illness just after kilometre
02:34zero.
02:35The average speed hovering just above 45 kilometres an hour after two hours of racing, with the
02:40gap around a minute and 15 seconds.
02:44Lots of teams spread out across the road in the peloton, protecting their sprinters or
02:49their GC men.
02:51The break soon reached the first official climb, the Côte de Gargenville, which meant the first
02:55points towards the King of the Mountains jersey.
03:00Pedersen in the blue colours here, sprinting to the line, ahead of Walker and Lebert to
03:04take a maximum three points.
03:12On climb number two, the Côte de Vaux-sur-Seine, Matisse Lebert decided to up the tempo in the
03:17breakaway and only Pedersen had the legs to follow him.
03:21The Dane grabbing another three KOM points at the summit.
03:26But the rest of the breakaway soon caught up again, their lead still over a minute.
03:32The peloton were just playing a bit of cat and mouse at this point, apparently not wanting
03:36to make the catch too soon.
03:38Visma Lisa bike moving up to the front as they approach the final circuit with those two
03:43climbs up the Côte de Chantelieu-les-Vignes.
03:47The breakaway even managed to slightly increase their advantage after getting a first look at
03:52the finish line in Carrière-Sous-Poisy.
03:54The bunch now trailing by a minute 40 as they hit the penultimate climb.
04:00The six breakaway riders still collaborating nicely with Pedersen and Lebert once again
04:05battling for polka dot points.
04:07Three more for Pedersen to guarantee him the jersey overnight.
04:11In the peloton riders starting to drop as they battled their way up this climb.
04:16Some of the sprint teams were losing men and that was good news for the break who still
04:20led by a minute and a half.
04:23The front men entering the final lap and it was very much game on.
04:27The lead still over a minute.
04:29No real fight at the intermediate sprint because all these guys cared about was that stage win.
04:34Unfortunately for them, the same was true of the bunch.
04:38The bell is rung, one lap to go, 16.6 kilometres to go for the peloton.
04:45The gap was down to 40 seconds as they hit Chantelieu-les-Vignes for the final time and that man
04:50in
04:50white still had something left in the tank.
04:56Matisse Lebert goes on the right hand side and is he going to have any challenge from
05:00Casper Pedersen who's got a very healthy lead in the competition.
05:07The Frenchman cresting the final climb solo but he was caught by the others with the exception
05:12of Durbridge on the descents.
05:13Their lead though had been slashed to under 20 seconds with 8k to go and a few kilometres
05:19later the writing was on the wall.
05:23Grignard trying one last Hail Mary but the Belgian was swept up before the Flamme Rouge.
05:28It was over to the sprinters to determine the winner of this first stage.
05:35Fabien van den Bosche is the rider who Casper Pedersen will be looking after.
05:41One of their new recruits, the 25-year-old Belgian rider under the Flamme Rouge, 1,000 metres to go.
05:47Dan Hohler has Case Ball in his wheel.
05:50Moving forward in the pink jerseys, his EF Education easy post.
05:53Here is the final left-hand corner as they all start to fight and the team that have won the
05:59positioning
05:59into that final left-hand turn, that is Decathlon CMA CGM.
06:04There's a crash with three riders who are caught up, two of those being from Barring Victorious.
06:09A huge shame for them and another crash on the left-hand side.
06:13This is 61 and this is Lenny Martinez, stage winner in Paris-Nice back in 2025, who has been caught
06:20up.
06:20He'll be credited with the same time for the general classification, however.
06:25But leading out the sprint here is number 166 and this is Ryan van den Berg,
06:31who has got Luke Lamperty by the looks of things on the wheel.
06:34Look at this, EF Education easy post, looking for their first victory since the Tour de France last year.
06:41Coming up fast on the left-hand side, Case Ball now starts to open things up.
06:46Binyam Gurmay is waiting patiently, but he's going to try and find a way through on the right-hand side,
06:52but he's boxed in. Luke Lamperty is going to come to the line and Luke Lamperty gives EF Education easy
06:58post,
06:58their first victory of 2026.
07:03Luke Lamperty taking the biggest win of his career and finally ending EF's long droughts.
07:08The American who joined from Sudau quick-step over the winter, celebrating his first victory at World Tour level and
07:14the seventh in total.
07:16The 23-year-old sprinter and classics rider building on a couple of top tens at opening weekend
07:21and becoming the first leader of this 84th Paris-Nice.
07:27To actually get a win and get the momentum rolling, especially as a sprinter, is really important.
07:31So I think, for me, it's the biggest win I've had in my career and, yeah, will be great for
07:36the rest of the season and before the classics.
07:43Lamperty beating out Vito Bratt and Oluis Aula to take the win, with Milan Fretan fourth and Germay fifth after
07:50getting boxed in by the barriers.
07:51Mike Turneson and Axel Zingley were also inside the top ten.
07:58Lamperty is the first man into the leader's yellow and white jersey as it's officially known here at Paris-Nice.
08:04He leads Bratt by four seconds and Aula by six.
08:09The American is also the early frontrunner in the points classification, taking 25 for his win.
08:15Bratt will wear the green jersey on his behalf in Monday's second stage.
08:25Caspar Pedersen is our first king of the mountains, having taken nine points today.
08:29Lebert, the day's most combative rider, ended up with eights.
08:38Anne Lamperty, who only turned 23 on New Year's Eve, is also the best young rider ahead of Fretan.
08:47Stage two will be another one for the sprinters with a bit less climbing on the menu.
08:51Do join us for that on Monday.
08:53And thanks for watching.
