As it happened: Intense final stage of Paris-Nice culminates in two-up sprint
The traditional final day fireworks in Nice bring five major climbs packed into just 145km
Bonjour and welcome to the eighth and final stage of the 2026 Paris-Nice!
We’re all set for the traditional Paris-Nice race finale in Nice. And unlike yesterday;’s heavily-truncated stage, it appears the weather is good enough for this one to go ahead as planned.
After yesterday’s apocalyptic rain and freezing snow, today the cyclists are being greeted by mercifully dry and mild conditions, here in Nice.
Visma-Lease a Bike at the start, ready for more day of defending the yellow jersey.
With a start and finish in Nice, this is the traditional finish of Paris-Nice, albeit with a twist. Rather than finish at the usual Promenade des Anglais, local elections have forced them to move to the Allianz Riviera instead.
The riders are on their way to kilometre 0, making their way through the neutralised zone in Nice.
The parcours is tough and intensive, with three category one climbs packed into just 128.6km. The racing is likely to be on right from the start, with plenty of scope for attacks.
We’re down another six riders this morning - Ewen Costiou, Guillaume Boivin, Cees Bol, Callum Scotson, Alex Kirsch and Josh Giddings are all absent from the start.
Attacks are flying out of the peloton right from the flag.
The jersey wearers at the start - Godon in green, Vingegaard in yellow and Pedersen in polka-dots.
Four riders have a small lead.
Fabio Van den Bossche (Soudal Quick-Step), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), William Blume Levy (Uno-X Mobility) and Jonas Rutsch (Lotto Intermarché) are the four riders with a small lead.
Those four riders have been joined by about eight more riders.
But they’ve now all been brought back, and the peloton is together again.
Kévin Vauquelin has had a mechanical and is off the back of the peloton. The Frenchman has been down on his luck at this race.
Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Fabio Van den Bossche (Soudal Quick-Step) are two of the riders in this new lead group (which has five riders rather than four), having attempted to go clear in the previous move too. They’re accompanied by Matteo Trentin (Tudor), Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies) and yesterday’s attacker Tim Marsman (Alpecin-Premier Tech).
Three riders are behind these five leaders and striving to bridge up to them.
Those chasers were on a hiding to nothing, and have been brought back by the peloton, but the five leaders remain clear.
Vauquelin appears to be back in the bunch, following his mechanical.
Matteo Trentin leading the five escapees.
Tirreno-Adriatico is also coming to a close today, and they're into the final 80km. Follow all the action with us here.
Not only that, we’re also bringing you the Trofeo Alfreda Binda, which has a typically stellar line-up featuring Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos Elisa Longo Borghini, among others.
Here at Paris-Nice, Movistar and Decathlon are leading the peloton, rather than Visma-Lease a Bike - curiously, teams without GC positions to defend or chase.
Race leaders Visma-Lease a Bike have taken over control at the front of the peloton.
The five riders in the day's break.
The pace in the peloton is up on the foothills of the Col de la Porte, with the peloton starting to thin out.
Decathlon, Movistar and Visma-Lease a Bike are the three teams doing the work at the front of the peloton.
As well as sprinters like Luke Lamperti, Caper Pedersen is among those dropped from the peloton. That looks likely to end his chances of winning the Mountains Classification.
Nicolas Prodhomme and Valentin Paret-Peintre have jumped out of the peloton and joined the five leaders.
That explains what Decathlon were riding for - two try and bring the break back and set their own man up, Prodhomme, to attack and get to the front of the race on his favoured terrain of the mountains.
And Movistar have done the same, with their climber Cepeda, who has now joined the leaders.
Prodhomme, Cepeda and Paret-Peintre have gone clear from all of the original break, save for Van den Bossche. They are the new leading group on the road.
They've begun climbing the 6.9% slopes of the 7km Col de la Porte.
Van den Bossche has been dropped by the other three on the climb.
Visma-Lease a Bike take control of the peloton on the climb, where there are only beteen 30 or 40 riders left.
Marc Soler and Will Barta jumped out of the bunch earlier on the climb, and have now joined the leaders.
This is a big move from Soler - he's 6th on GC, and clearly looking to rise.
Paret-Peintre has attacked the others, and now leads the race alone.
Soler has gone clear from the other three and is chasing Paret-Peintre.
Cepeda, Barta and Prodhomme have been caught by the peloton.
Paret-Peintre, at the front of the race on the climb.
All of the main GC riders are still in the reduced peloton, apart from Soler, who remains ahead of them.
Soler has joined Paret-Peintre on the descent.
Correction, Soler has not caught Paret-Peintre. He's 35 seconds behind, and 20 seconds ahead of the peloton.
The updated KOM rankings after that climb. Vingegaard has increased his lead and looks good to win the polka-dot jersey, although Paret-Peintre poses a threat:
Visma-Lease a Bike leading the reduced peloton.
Still Paret-Peintre flies down this descent. He’s 40 seconds ahead of Soler now, and 1:17 ahead of the peloton.
This move is a big ploy for Soler, but he’s struggling to get anywhere with it. He needs to pull back 38 seconds on Lenny Martinez to replace him in fifth overall, and a whole 2:06 to take Kévin Vauquelin’s fourth-place.
Paret-Peintre leading the race on the descent.
Vingegaard has three riders with him leading the peloton - Armirail, Campanaerts and Kelderman.
Paret-Peintre has reached the bottom of the descent, and is now travelling through a brief valley road before the start of the second climb, the category one Côte de Châteauneuf-Villevieille.
The peloton has Soler in sight. He appears to have given up the ghost on this attack.
Soler is indeed caught.
Ineos Grenadiers are now leading the peloton through this valley.
Paret-Peintre has just started the Côte de Châteauneuf-Villevieille. This one climbs for 6.6km at 6.6%.
As th peloton start the climb, riders are being dropped.
It’s a really unfortunate moment. One of his teammates swayed into him, forcing to go off the road.
Martinez looks hurt, too, and is only now just back on his bike.
Martínez is back riding with a line of Red Bull riders to help him, but is already 1:30 behind the peloton after the hold up.
His rivals for the podium, Ineos Grenadiers, were already setting the pace at the front of the peloton before the crash, so are under no obligation to slow down and wait for him.
After Kwiatkowski swung off at the start of the climb, Vauquelin was left with just one Ineos teammate, Josh Tarling, but he's setting a strong pace.
50KM TO GO
Paret-Peintre is holding off the Tarling-led peloton for now, holding a lead of 27 seconds as he continues to climb. The Dani Martínez group is 1:35 behind the peloton.
There are about 25 riders left in the peloton.
Vlasov has dropped back to become the third rider to accompny Red Bull leader Martínez.
Pithie and Mick Van Dijke are the other three riders helping Martínez.
Tarling has finished his turn, and Visma-Lease a Bike take over again at the front of the peloton.
Thankfully for Martínez, he has a big buffer over Georg Steinhauser on GC of 2:28, and an even bigger one of 2:47 over Kévin Vauquelin.
Armirail is the Visma rider leading the peloton.
Paret-Peintre is nearing the top of the climb, his lead still about 30 seconds over the peloton.
Dani Martínez reaches the climb 1:30 after the peloton, with Vlasov and Pithie still there to help him.
Here are the updated KOM rankings, with just one more mountain left to complete:
The final climb, the Côte du Linguador, is also a category one, meaning there are ten points on offer at the top for the leader. So Paret-Peintre could still take the polka-dot jersey, but he will have to survive being out in front by then, and Vingegaard doesn't take points from the peloton again.
40KM TO GO
Visma-Lease a Bike are riding like a team who are intent on taking it all, not ust sealing overall victory for Vingegaaad, but also the polka-dot jersey, and the stage win. They’re leading the chase to Valentin Paret-Peintre, and are only 25 seconds behind.
Meanwhile Red Bill are successfully limiting Martínez’s losses, keeping him within 1:30 of the peloton on the descent.
Paret-Peintre has thrown himself down this descent, taking risks and going as wide as possible on the corners. He hasn't given up on either the stage or the polka-dots yet.
Paret-Peintre is on a short uncategorised uphill section, ahead of another descent to the foot of the final official climb of the day.
Visma are closing in on Paret-Peintre. They're now just 20 seconds behind him.
Kévin Vauquelin has yet to make a move today, but is witin reach of the podium at just 19 seconds on Georg Steinhauser on GC. Surely an attack is coming on the final climb?
The peloton, still being led by Visma-Lease a Bike.
30KM TO GO
The peloton is now just 6 seconds behind Paret-Peintre, whose hopes for the win appear over. It's looking better for Dani Martínez though, who's now under 1:10 from the peloton again.
The riders are nearly at the bottom of the descent, after which they will ride the flat for a little while before climbing the final hill.
Paret-Peintre still isn't giving up. It looked like the peloton was about to catch him, but he's retaining his slender lead of 6 seconds.
The catch is made, Paret-Peintre is back in the peloton, with 23km left to ride. While he was able to maintain his lead on the descent, this flat section has brought the end to his hopes.
The riders are on the climb!
This one might be shorter than the previous two at 3.3km, but with an average of 8.2% it’s likely to cause carnage.
Already riders are being dropped from the peloton.
Camapanaerts is the last man left for Vingegaard, and is leading the group.
Martínez began the climb about 50 seconds after the peloton.
There are about 20 riders left in the peloton, which is getting smaller and smaller by the moment.
Soler is being distenced.
Campanaerts is accelerating, seeming to set up Vingegaard.
Lenny Martinez follows Vingegaard, but everone else is dropped.
Vauquelin and Steinhauser are in a small group chasing behind.
Tejada and Rondel are also with Vauquelin and Steinhauser.
Lenny Martinez is sticking resolutely to Vingegaard's wheel. The Dane has a rival for the win for once!
The two leader are 500m from the top, and still Lenny Martinez hangs on to Vingegaard's wheel.
Baudin and Izagirre have both joined the chase group behind.
The chasers are 30 seconds behind, and the Dani Martínez group at 1:30.
Lenny Martinez is pushing on down this descent while Vingegaard is taking it a little easier.
As things stand, the poduim on GC will remain the same as it did at the start of the day.
The two leaders.
15KM TO GO
The two leaders are 28 seconds up on the chasers, and 1:30 up on Dani Martínez, as they continue to descend the climb.
Lenny Martinez spent most of the descent a little ahead of Vingegaard, but now they're on the flat, they've on each other's wheel and sharing turns.
Knowing that they’re racing against Dani Martínez behind and not just the two leaders ahead, the chase group are working well together and still within 20 seconds of the lead. They’re therefore not out of contention just yet for the stage win.
10KM TO GO
The leaders are 30 seconds ahead of the chasers, and 1:30 ahead of Dani Martínez, as they enter the final 10km.
There’s an intermediate sprint coming up, which gives a chance for Vingeagaard to take some points in the points classification. With more on offer at the finish, he stands to take the green jersey from Dorion Godon.
Vauquelin, Steinhauser, Tejada, Baudin, Rondel and Izagirre are the 6 riders in the chase group.
The stage win is the only thing on offer for Lenny Martinez, as he's too far down on Vauquelin to challenge for his fourth place on GC.
Vingegaard didn’t pass Martinez to take the points at the intermediate sprint, but he’ll still take the points classification provided the duo are still clear by the finish.
Martinez and Vingegaard are still sharing turns, with just 4km left to ride.
Vingegaard is the favourite in a two-up sprint between these two men, but Martinez can pack a punch in a sprint too.
Dani Martínez is within a minute of the chase group. His 2nd place on GC is safe.
The pace is off completely as neither want to take a turn.
Lenny Martinez is the man being forced to lead it out.
Martinez start his sprit early...
In the group behind, Tejada won the sprint for third ahead of Vauquelin and Baudin.
Dani Martínez finishes to seal second place on GC.
Dani Martínez is clearly in some pain at the finish, despite riding on to seal his podium finish. He winces as he is congratulated by other riders.
So the final GC classification is as follows:
2 Dani Martínez at 4:23
4 Kévin Vauquelin at 6:24
Having won stages of Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie and Critérium du Dauphiné last year, Lenny Martinez is making a speciality of these kinds of races. He’ll need more consistency to be a real GC contender, but, at the age of 22, he is really starting to blossom as a rider.
He didn’t add a third stage win to his tally today, but that’s pretty much the only thing that hasn’t gone Jonas Vingegaard’s way at this Paris-Nice. Not only has he won the GC by a huge margin of over four minutes, he’s also done a clean sweep of the jerseys, winning green ahead of Godon and polka-dot ahead of Paret-Peintre.
It was a great day for Georg Steinhauser. His third place on the podium had felt under threat from Kévin Vauquelin, especially given the punchy nature of the final climb, but the German stayed with his rival all the way up it and defended without any problems.
A battle-weary Dani Martínez at the finish, looking hurt after his crash.
The increasingly-familiar sight of Lenny Martinez celebrating a stage win at a World Tour podium.
If you're just tuning in, you can read our full report on the stage today here.
Thanks for joining us today, and for all of Paris-Nice. Lenny Martinez might have won the battle for the stage win, but was the resounding winner in the war for GC. That performance proves Vingegaard is going as well as ever, and looks a hot favourite come the Giro d’Italia, and is looking good to take on Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France.
That’s all still a long way off, and next week attention returns to the spring classics, for the first monument of the season - La Primavera, Milan-Sanremo. We’ll be bringing you live coverage from start to finish, be sure to tune in once more!
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