Tadej Pogacar seals 'dream' Paris-Nice victory for UAE Team Emirates

Double Tour de France champion wins his first attempt at race

Paris-Nice race winner Tadej Pogacar alongside second-placed David Gaudu, left, and Jonas Vingegaard who was third. AFP

Tadej Pogacar won cycling's Paris-Nice on Sunday when his solo triumph on the Riviera town's iconic Promenade des Anglais propelled the UAE Emirates rider to a crushing overall victory on his first entry to the eight-day event.

The Slovenian, a double Tour de France winner, finished alone to clinch a third individual stage of the race, bowing to the crowds as he crossed the line, with Frenchman David Gaudu ending second overall and Jonas Vingegaard in third.

“It was always my dream to win Paris-Nice,” Pogacar, 24, said.

“The competition here was really huge. To be alongside David Gaudu and Jonas Vingegaard on the podium is special.”

Pogacar has changed his schedule this season in a bid to regain the Tour de France title he let slip to Vingegaard in 2022.

He was leading going into Sunday's mountainous stage in the Nice backcountry and made a solo break on the final climb.

“I really know these roads,” added Monaco resident Pogacar. “I knew exactly how my legs were on the final climb. I was really good with maths today. I calculated it great.”

The FDJ Groupama rider Gaudu also put himself on the season's map with this performance.

“It's a super result, it's not always you can go on the podium in a World Tour stage race,” said the French climber. “Pogacar was the strongest. There was nothing much you could do.”

Danish Tour de France champion Vingegaard of Jumbo came third after a mini-meltdown this week, when he lost time after attacking too hard. “I still have to improve,” he said.