Jorgenson claims GC in Paris-Nice for Visma | Lease a Bike: Sheffield and Arensman secure success for INEOS

Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers) won the final stage of Paris-Nice in Nice after a turbulent final stage. Leader Matteo Jorgenson stayed focused on behalf of Visma | Lease a Bike and won the GC of the Race to the Sun for the second year in a row.

After the shortened queen stage on Saturday towards Auron, it was time on Sunday for the traditionally challenging final stage of Paris-Nice, in the city's hinterland on the Mediterranean. After seven days of tough racing in harsh conditions, many riders removed more than one jacket.

We woke up to the news that Mattias Skjelmose, who had crashed heavily on Saturday, had not suffered any serious injuries in the crash. The Lidl-Trek team leader shared this in an Instagram post. "Cycling is a relentless sport," he wrote. "One day you feel great, the next everything can change in a split second. But you must remember that the battles to overcome setbacks are just as important as the victory. In the end, cycling is like life - an unpredictable battle where sometimes you win, and sometimes you learn to get up after falling. Now it's about looking forward and recovering as soon as possible."

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From start to finish, the race was on in the final stage of Paris-Nice, thanks to Pedersen

Yellow jersey Jorgenson was certainly very confident, as he made known before the stage. "A lot can happen. All I can say is that I know the stage perfectly. I know all the roads; I train here every day. So I am as well prepared as possible, but I have seen it often enough that the yellow jersey is lost on the last day. The advantage is that I already experienced it last year," he said.

Another jersey wearer, Mads Pedersen, launched the first attack when the starting shot sounded. The extremely strong Dane had already made an impression on Saturday by staying with the GC riders on the queen stage, and on the final day, he immediately attacked to secure the green jersey. The Dane from Lidl-Trek did not immediately manage to get away, but the pace increased considerably. The first victim of this was Brandon McNulty, number seven in the ranking on behalf of UAE. He even abandoned the race.

Pedersen, meanwhile, continued to push, but he was not alone in this final stage of Paris-Nice. Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) also made their presence known. Pedersen, however, still did not agree with this situation and broke away once more with Georg Steinhauser (EF) and Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Emirates-XRG).

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Jorgenson isolated but strong in tough final stage

Meanwhile, a crash involved O'Connor and Soudal Quick-Step rider Ilan Van Wilder. This happened just before the foot of the Col de la Porte, where the race was also in full swing. Pedersen continued to push solo at the front. Still, things were also opening up in the peloton at the back: Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), among others, had already started to suffer halfway through the stage, with INEOS Grenadiers leading the peloton. At this stage, Jorgenson had already lost all his Visma | Lease a Bike teammates.

Once the top of the Col de la Porte had been cleared, we saw an attack from... yes, Pedersen! The Dane threw himself into the descent like a rock and gained a minute and a half lead. He also defended that lead at the foot of the Côte de Peille, where the better climbers could show themselves at the front again.

Number two, Florian Lipowitz caused a stir there on behalf of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, making life difficult for Thymen Arensman (INEOS, third) and Joao Almeida (UAE), among others. Jorgenson did follow, as did Magnus Sheffield (INEOS) and the XDS-Astana duo Harold Tejada and Clément Champoussin. Due to a lack of cohesion, Arensman and a few others were able to catch up again.

Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), and Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers) had meanwhile crossed over to Pedersen, after which Jorgenson saw his moment to try the same. Pedersen and Sheffield did not benefit from this, so they added an extra element to the front. Pedersen could not keep up with Sheffield's pace on the Col des Quatre Chemins and had to let Jorgenson, Gall, and Vlasov pass him on the climb.

Sheffield continued to defend his lead over Jorgenson and Co., but teammate Arensman tried to put pressure on Lipowitz in the background. However, the Dutch rider was running on a counterattack, and due to Sheffield's high pace up front, he had to fear for his teammate when it came to the final podium. Sheffield held off his compatriot Jorgenson, who came close and took the stage win. In other words, it was an American party in Nice.

Stage 8 results & final classification Paris-Nice 2025

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