Cyclingflash
Luke Lamperti sprints to first WorldTour win in Paris-Nice opener

Luke Lamperti sprints to first WorldTour win in Paris-Nice opener

Luke Lamperti won the opening stage of Paris-Nice. The American from EF Education-EasyPost was the fastest in a bunch sprint. Vito Braet finished second, Orluis Aular third. Further down the top ten, we also saw Milan Fretin (fourth), Biniam Girmay (fifth), and Mike Teunissen (seventh).

The opening stage of Paris-Nice immediately offered the chance for some excitement. The riders finished on a challenging circuit around the finish town of Carrières-sous-Poissy, featuring the tough Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes (1.1 km at 8.3%) as the key test. This climb – with a steepest section of 12 percent – had to be tackled twice. After the summit, there were still 11.5 kilometers to the finish line.

The breakaway of the day consisted of six riders: Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step), Luke Durbridge (Jayco AlUla), Patrick Gamper (Jayco AlUla), Max Walker (EF Education-EasyPost), Mathis Le Berre (TotalEnergies), and Belgian Sébastian Grignard (Lotto-Intermarché). They rode flat out but received little room from the peloton. About a minute and a half advantage was all they could hold. NSN Cycling, aiming for a sprint with Biniam Girmay, led the chase.

On the first ascent of the Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes, we also saw the teams of the GC contenders at the front. But this was mainly for safety reasons; there was no acceleration. Consequently, a large group crested the climb together. Carlos Rodriguez, one of the spearheads of INEOS Grenadiers, had to chase after the group due to a bike change but managed to rejoin before the second climb of the Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes.

Little action in the peloton
On the Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes, the breakaway riders attacked each other, but no one managed to break away for good. However, Durbridge fell behind. The remaining five escapees had a slim lead of just under 30 seconds over the peloton at the summit. We hardly saw any activity in the peloton on the final climb, aside from an unsuccessful attack by Ewen Costiou. Vingegaard showed himself at the front but otherwise kept a low profile.

After the climb, Visma | Lease a Bike took over at the front of the peloton. The yellow-black squad hunted down the breakaway in support of Axel Zingle, who could capitalize on his fast legs if it came to a sprint. And the sprint did happen, as the peloton reeled in the last escapees with 1.5 kilometers to go.

Lamperti wins after lead-out from Van den Berg
Before the sprint began, there were two crashes, one involving Lenny Martinez among others. At the front, EF Education-EasyPost took charge. It was Marijn van den Berg who launched the sprint for his teammate Luke Lamperti. The American sprinted from a long way out, didn’t let Biniam Girmay pass on the right, and kept off the other contenders as well. This secured him his first WorldTour victory. Vito Braet sprinted from the back of the pack to claim second place, with Orluis Aular finishing third.