Signs of weakness from Vingegaard in the Algarve, so these riders see their chance in Paris-Nice: "Racing with expectations every day"

In his first race of the year, Jonas Vingegaard made an immediate impact: he won the final time trial of the Tour of the Algarve and secured the overall victory in Portugal. However, in the mountain stage, the Visma | Lease a Bike rider also showed signs of weakness — he was unable to follow the very best climbers. This has given plenty of his rivals hope as they prepare to take him on directly in Paris-Nice, where the two-time Tour de France winner will face serious competition.

Perhaps the best rider in the queen stage of the Tour of the Algarve was João Almeida. The UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider effortlessly dropped his rivals on home soil. "t’s been a good start to the season for me and the team," he said in a press release. "We have found the winning way and been fighting for every race as they come. Here in Paris-Nice, we are going to do our best as a team. I want to be up there with the best guys and fighting for a good result. The shape is good after the Volta ao Algarve. I have been recovering and doing some training to stay sharp. Now I am feeling good about this one and we are going to go for it as a team."

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Almeida let teammate Jan Christen win in the queen stage of the Tour of the Algarve

Buitrago and Martinez lead Bahrain Victorious

Another rider in excellent form is Santiago Buitrago. The Colombian climber impressively won the overall classification at the Tour of Valencia, securing two stage victories in the process. He also came close to winning in the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes but fell just short. However, having already won a stage in Paris-Nice last year, Bahrain Victorious has full confidence in him. "Santi definitely deserves the support of the team," said sports director Roman Kreuziger on the team’s website.

"He showed last year he was there and in shape, and the start of this season he’s going well. We have to keep our feet on the ground but we also have ambitions. It would be nice if he could win a stage and also be placed high on GC." Bahrain Victorious also has another contender in Lenny Martinez, who will get his own opportunities. "This will be Lenny’s third race in France with us, and he’s our ‘joker’ (wildcard, ed.). The main goal for him is to get through the first three days without losing time, which is all part of the learning process looking to the future. We’ll see how he is day by day."

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In the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes, Buitrago narrowly lost to Christian Scaroni

O'Connor hopes for redemption after slow start

For Ben O'Connor, his first months with Jayco-AlUla haven’t gone exactly as planned, with a 10th-place finish in the Tour of Valencia. However, the Australian is optimistic about Paris-Nice. "Training has gone as well as it can for the last couple weeks," he stated in a press release. "We’ve been working hard at altitude recently so we should be going into the race with expectations every day. Paris-Nice marks the start of the big one-week races in Europe. It’s always a tricky race that covers pretty much every discipline and the team time trial, in particular, is a stage in the race we are all excited for."

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