Bernal defended the lead
Coming into the 2019 season, Nairo Quintana promised to adopt a new style of racing. And during the final stage of Paris-Nice, we got to see what it might be like. The Colombian threw away caution and attacked early, pressing persistently until the very end. This time it wasn’t enough to overturn the 46-second deficit. However, if he tries the same thing in the Tour, it might shake up the favourites. The overall winner Egan Bernal admitted he did not know what to expect from Quintana. Nevertheless, it all worked out for him in the end.
“It’s a really good feeling,” Bernal said. “I can’t believe I just won Paris-Nice. It’s incredible for me. I’m happy. Was it hard to stay calm? Yes and no. When some riders started to attack, I couldn’t follow them but I also knew I had a good team, a strong team and it can control the escapees.”
The 22-year-old must already play down suggestions he’s a Tour de France winner in waiting.
“Winning the Tour is a huge task and I’m not thinking about that yet,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m ready to win a Grand Tour yet, or if I will ever be ready to win one. They’re so different to these one-week races. There are plenty of riders who have won one-week races but have never won a three-week race.”
What do you think? Does Bernal have it in him?
Paris-Nice Final GC
1 Egan Bernal (Team Sky) 29:17:02
2 Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) +39s
3 Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) +1:03
4 Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) +1:21
5 Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) +1:45
6 George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) +2:20
7 Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) +3:02
8 Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +3:06
9 Luis León Sánchez (Astana Pro Team) +3:12
10 Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) +4:07
Cape Epic 2019
The South-African bicycle circus is on the way. The first 20km of the total 560 have been covered, and Nino Schurter with Lars Forster (Scott Sram) are in the lead. The biggest favourites Manuel Fumic and Henrique Avancini (Cannondale Factory) finished second in the unusually cold, drizzling weather. The Škoda sponsored ORBEA FACTORY team currently sits in 40th place, trailing 6 minutes and 45 seconds. We can’t wait to see what happens in the upcoming days!
