Vingegaard: "I’m extremely happy, and extremely proud"

March 11 ^th 2026 - 17:10

“I wouldn’t say we expected such a crazy day! We expected it to be crazy, but definitely not like it ended up. We also had a plan to go on the second last climb, but it was full gas racing from the start. It was hectic, extremely hard all day, there was not even time to take clothes off… Taking the stage and being in yellow, I couldn’t hope for more. I’m extremely happy, and extremely proud of winning a stage like this.

Last year, I had to abandon the race. Then, I had the leaders jersey and I crashed. Coming back and winning a stage, my first in paris-Nice outside of the TTTs, it’s really nice to start the season this way.

The weather conditions had a big influence obviously. First of all, it was crosswinds straight from the gun. Already there, a few guys were caught behind. And later on, a lot of guys were freezing today. I didn’t, because lot of clothes on, which is also the reason I couldn’t take them off. Also with the rain, it affected the race. Edoardo [Affini] was there with me most of the day, he did a super good job.

We saw really big gaps and obviously I’m happy to have such a big gap in the GC. Now our goal will be to try to take the yellow jersey to Nice. We have a very strong team here. I can defend… But if I feel good, it’s always nice to win more stages.”