Vingegaard: Visma ‘deserve the champagne’ as Dane ‘takes revenge’ for 2025 crash

Video credit: TNT Sports

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) said it was “nice to take revenge” after cycling through the location of his crash in last year’s Paris-Nice on the way to victory in Stage 5 of this year’s race. 

The Danish rider secured a second successive stage victory as he finished over two minutes ahead of second-placed Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) on Thursday.

The win extended his strong lead in the general classification, with Dani Martinez (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) now three minutes and 22 seconds behind the 29-year-old heading into the final three stages. 

Stage 5 involved a 205km ride to Colombier-le-Vieux, making it the longest of the race, while an elevation of more than 3,000 metres is the most the riders will have to contend with.

Vingegaard had not been aware that he was going to revisit the site of last year’s crash on Thursday, but he was pleased to create more positive memories this time around. 

“I had the feeling at one moment that this looks like the road I crashed on last year,” he said. “But I didn’t know we were going there.

“But it’s nice to take revenge now and to win here on such a beautiful day. It’s been an amazing day for me and the team.”

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Highlights: Vingegaard takes charge of GC with super solo win

Video credit: TNT Sports

The crash in 2025 led to the loss of the yellow jersey for Vingegaard come the end of the stage, and he later withdrew from the race, having suffered a concussion.

On Thursday, the Dane launched a solo attack with 21km to go and managed to open up a significant gap from there, allowing him to celebrate his victory well before the finish line.

“I really personally wanted to win, but the team also wanted to win today,” Vingegaard explained.

“The team did an amazing job. We wanted to win and try to take as much time as possible. I took a good amount of time.

“Once again, I want to thank my team-mates a lot for today – they deserve the champagne tonight.

“The whole team was there for me, everyone sacrificed everything today, and I’m happy I can pay them back.”

Despite opening up a healthy advantage at the top of the general classification, Vingegaard is keen to avoid any complacency with three days of competition still to come.

“For sure it’s not over,” Vingegaard said. “There’s still three stages left where a lot of things can happen. We just have to keep the focus until Nice.”

Vingegaard’s team-mate Victor Campenaerts, who helped set up the winning attack, said the Dane is in “extremely good shape”.

“Killer Jonas destroyed everybody,” Campenaerts told TNT Sports. “He’s been very relaxed from December training camp and feeling very ready for it. 

“Clearly, when we came to Paris-Nice, already beforehand, [the goal] wasn’t to do race miles or whatever. It was to come here and smash it.”

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