Primož Roglič made up for last year’s disappointment in Paris-Nice, holding on to what should have been a more certain victory that was made unexpectedly tense in the final stage, with bad weather and a serious threat from Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) on the Col d’Eze.
Roglič, thanks to the help of Jumbo-Visma teammate Wout van Aert, almost single-handedly negated the gap that Yates had at the finish. The Briton won the stage by nine seconds, at one point enjoying a 28-second lead, though Roglič hung on to take the overall by 29 seconds ahead of Yates.
Last year, a pair of crashes on the final stage ended Roglič’s hopes of winning the WorldTour race and dumped him from first to 15th. Sunday’s stage looked at one point as if it might be another disappointment, and the Slovenian admitted he didn’t have the power that he needed on the final climb of the day.
“I don’t go without a bit of drama eh?” he quipped in the post-stage interview. “Again it was super hard the last one, but I have to admit this year I’m more happy than last year after the stage.
“So it’s really a big thanks to to my whole team and especially Wout here at the end. Half human half motor. I would say that Wout can do everything.”
It was the same compliment Roglič delivered to teammate Rohan Dennis after stage 6 that went over the Col de la Mure, Col de Sambuc, and Col de l’Espigoulier, where Van Aert was dropped early and Roglič ended the day isolated and having to cover attacks on his own.
On Sunday, Van Aert not only stayed with Roglič through to the final climb, but helped nullify Yates’ lead that had momentarily threatened to stretch into a virtual general classification before dwindling to a handful of seconds at the line.
“I was definitely not feeling strong enough,” Roglič admitted. “It was steep and I didn’t have power. I was really suffering and fighting over the climb to limit the losses.
“Luckily, I knew that Wout had a super day and he was really, really a big, big help going through with me all the way to the finish.”
There was much talk about Roglič racing over his training grounds once again after he won atop his training climb of the Col de Turini on Saturday but he said it was not an advantage.
“Home race, home roads, but it didn’t make it much easier today eh?” he said. “I’m happy, definitely.”
