Cycling
Paris-Nice: First win for Politt with a new team
Won the Paris-Nice team time trial with his UAE team: Nils Politt. photo
© Jasper Jacobs/Belga/dpa/archive image
After the rain started, the hopes of the two top stars Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic for the yellow jersey at Paris-Nice are gone. A German professional cyclist can celebrate for the first time.
The German time trial champion Nils Politt celebrated his first victory in the jersey of his new cycling team.
The Cologne native won the team time trial with the UAE team at the traditional Paris-Nice tour and also benefited from the rain that started later. This ruined a good time, especially for the two top favorites Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic and their teams. UAE rider Brandon McNulty (USA) also took over the yellow jersey for first overall.
The Politt team, which was able to complete the 26.9 kilometer long course in Auxerre in dry conditions, won by 15 seconds over the Australian team Jayco. The Belgian Evenepoel and his Soudal Quick Step team, who were still in the lead at half time, had to settle for fourth place, 22 seconds behind. Roglic (Slovenia), who has been driving for the German Bora-hansgrohe team since this season, lost 54 seconds and finished eleventh.
The 29-year-old Politt moved from Bora to superstar Tadej Pogacar’s racing team for the new season. He had already impressed at the classic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad at the end of February and narrowly missed out on victory in second place.
There could be major changes in the overall ranking on Wednesday when there are seven mountain tests on the fourth stage after the start in Chalon-sur-Saone. The finish is on Mont Brouilly after a climb of three kilometers with an average gradient of 7.6 percent. The tour that Roglic won in 2022 ends on Sunday in Nice.