The two-time Tour de France winner again showcased his strength on the climbs during the intense final stage of Paris-Nice. The peloton split early on the succession of categorised climbs on the 118-kilometre stage around Nice, but UAE retained enough numbers to keep the race mostly under control despite the attrition of near constant climbing and descending.
Australian Lucas Hamilton (Jayco Alula) was in the main break of the day, but it never got a big lead and by the fourth climb, the Côte de Peille, the break was caught and the race was led by Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) in a solo move with 50 kilometres remaining.
Poels extended his lead to 40 seconds, but he was reeled in rapidly by remnants of the peloton as they neared the intermediate sprint at the plateau in Eze with 35km to go. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) had a full lead-out from his team, but Pogačar comfortably beat him to bag four more bonus seconds to buffer his lead on the general classification.
UAE Team Emirates led the way with Mikkel Bjerg and Felix Grossschartner until midway up the final climb of the Col d'Eze. There, Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) attacked in a repeat of his surge to victory in the same stage of Paris-Nice in 2022, but this time some of his rivals were able to follow and Pogačar launched his winning attack through a hairpin corner.
The Slovenian increased his lead steadily throughout the remaining climb, cresting the summit with just over 45 seconds lead over a chasing group of Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Yates, Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) and Gaudu.
He picked his way down the flowing descent into Nice without issue, and while the chase worked well together, they were only able to claw back a handful of seconds to the two-time Tour de France winner by the finish line along the coastline in Nice, where Pogačar took a bow in front of the cheering spectators.
"It was always my dream to win Paris-Nice and now I did it it's incredible," said Pogačar, who lives locally to the race finish in Monaco.
"They say attack is the best defence. I really know these roads, I do a lot of training down here. I knew exactly how my legs were on the final climb and how much I could spend to come to the top. I was really good with maths today, I calculated it great."
The two-time Tour de France winner also scored a mental victory over main rival for the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, matching the Danish rider's attacks and bettering them where necessary, to take a comfortable overall victory.
"If I don't win anything until the end of the season it's still not bad," said Pogačar. "I can be more relaxed now."
Vingegaard led the chasers over the line 33 seconds behind, with Gaudu third to secure his second place on the overall podium ahead of the Dane, trailing Pogačar by 53 seconds on the final tally. Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) was the highest placed Australian on the stage, finishing ninth on the day and tenth overall despite working primarily for Swiss teammate Gino Mäder.
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