Bardet sees no impressive Vingegaard in Paris-Nice: "Not at Pogacar or Evenepoel's level"

Jonas Vingegaard won Paris-Nice by the largest post-war margin. The Dane was very satisfied with his performance, and his team director Marc Reef saw a strong Vingegaard at work, but former pro cyclist Romain Bardet does raise a few reservations.

The 2016 Tour de France runner-up expresses this on the Eurosport website. "What Vingegaard showed in Paris-Nice was not at the same level as what Remco Evenepoel did in Valencia, Isaac Del Toro in the UAE Tour, and—of course—Tadej Pogacar in Strade Bianche."

The former AG2R and Picnic PostNL rider does take the harsh weather conditions in Paris-Nice into account. "There were only a few days with ideal weather, which made it impossible to deliver great power outputs. However, Vingegaard did not beat all key rivals in Paris-Nice," referring to the many withdrawals.

In other words, Bardet was not blown away by Vingegaard’s performance, but still sees the two-time Tour winner as the clear number two in stage racing. "Just as Pogacar remains alone at the top, Vingegaard also races in his own category. The rest of the contenders follow behind."

Visma | Lease a Bike saw an 'impressive' Vingegaard
Team director Marc Reef saw only positives after the final stage to Nice. "His metrics are definitely higher than at the same point last season. Paris-Nice is always incredibly tough due to the weather conditions and the routes. Last year, Jonas was even eliminated here himself. And… first, you have to win a race, right? Especially the way he did it was quite impressive."