Olav Kooij survives punchy opening stage of Paris-Nice to clinch victory from Pedersen

Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) sprinted to the win on stage 1 of Paris-Nice ahead of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Laurence Pithie (Groupama - FDJ).

The win put Kooij into the overall race lead heading into stage 2.

Stage 1 of the 2024 edition of Paris-Nice marked the first race for Primož Roglič in his new Bora-Hansgrohe colours. Joining him was Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) who was taking part in the first French stage race of his career.

The stage started and finished in Les Mureaux and featured three categorised climbs and more than 1,700 metres of elevation across the 157.7km parcours. Although classified as a sprint stage it was far from a nailed-on sprint finish, with the last classified climb coming 12km from the finish.

Heading out for a day in the breakaway were three riders, Stefan Bissinger and Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-Easy Post) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies). With 70km remaining the trio had an advantage that hovered around 1:30, however, this was the most they would be allowed with the gap steadily closing from that point in the race.

With 56km of racing left to go the breakaway's advantage crept under the one-minute mark for the first time.

45km from the finish the infighting within the breakaway began with Bissinger making some moves to distance Burgaudeau, and Rutsch sitting firmly in his wheel. Although nothing came of the successive attacks from Bissinger it did signify the end of the breakaway’s harmony. After a bombardment of unsuccessful attacks, Bissinger found himself dropped by his breakaway comrades just 5km later, and within 1,000m the rest of the break had been caught.

With around 18km to go the race headed for the intermediate sprint where time bonuses would be awarded. The race to the line was up a punchy 10% gradient and saw the puncheurs mixing it with the pure climbers. With a few hundred metres to go Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a bike) lit things up, taking Remco Evenepoel, Egan Bernal and Matteo Trentin with him. Across the line Jorgenson took the full time bonus with Evenepoel and Bernal claiming the remaining bonus seconds respectively.

Over the top of the climb, Evenepoel decided to carry on with the effort and accelerated over the top, dragging with him a handful of riders. A five-second gap was established but was quickly reeled back by the peloton as the road flattened out.

The peloton tackled the final classified climb of the day with 12km to go. This time it was Bernal who decided to up the pace and string things out before Evenepoel made his move over the top and dragged with him a small group of riders. Over the top of the climb, Evenepoel took the maximum points on offer with Roglič and Brandon McNulty filling second and third place.

As the race headed over the plateau the small group that had forged ahead of the peloton struggled to cooperate and was soon brought back.

With the race heading into its conclusion Lidl-Trek found themselves with only one rider in front of Pedersen, with over one kilometre remaining. A long pull from Jasper Stuyven carried Pedersen to within the final 350 meters before leaving him to head for the line. However, it wasn’t to be with Kooij getting the better of him with a late surge from the Dane’s wheel.