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Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) squeezed his grip on GC at Paris-Nice ever so slightly tighter Friday.
In the absense of injured teammate Jonas Vingegaard, the U.S. star attacked for intermediate points late into another wet and wild day in France to gain a further four seconds on next-best Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Jorgenson and Visma-Lease a Bike came out swinging Friday after the concerning injury and overnight exit of Tour de France star Vingegaard.
The “Killer Bees” blew up the race with an echelon attack at 55km to go that left UAE Emirates’ double-threat João Almeida and Brandon McNulty swinging in the crosswinds and way out of contention for the overall.
Jorgenson then finished the job with his bonus-points raid on the day’s final climb.
“We made a plan this morning and executed it to perfection,” Jorgenson said. “On the bus, we looked at the course and knew that it could be quite windy in the Côte des Baux-de-Provence descent.”
#ParisNice
Picture of the day. ️ pic.twitter.com/S4JL8PlljW
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) March 14, 2025
The 25-year-old now leads his title defense at the “Race to the Sun” by 40 seconds ahead of a weather-decapitated “Queen Stage” on Saturday.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) won the reduced sprint on Friday’s French stage into Berre l’Étang.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s bonus-second attack on the final climb of the day forced a pick ‘n’ mix group of rouleurs, climbers, and everybody in between, and the monument-chasing Dane proved fastest.
“After such a tough day like today, it’s nice to win. You know, it would be a pity to be second or third,” Pedersen said after the stage. “It’s super nice to get a victory along with the team and also [Mattias] Skjelmose moving up in the GC. For us, this was a perfect day.”
Ineos Grenadiers went two-three on the stage podium with Josh Tarling and rising sensation Sam Watson.
Dversnes denies the favorites with breakaway win
Meanwhile, several hundred kilometers away, Norwegian journeyman Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) scooped the win of his career on stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico.
The 27-year-old Dversnes spent 200km in the early breakaway and beat back a late chase led by Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) for shock victory in a gruelling race through the Apennines.
Pidcock, Van der Poel, Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), and Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates) all spent more time trading haymakers in the final 5km dash toward the finish line than focusing on Dversnes, who made the TT of his life toward victory to bolster his team’s pursuit of WorldTour points.
“I tried to get in the early break, but we weren’t sure if we’d get a good gap because of my position on GC,” Dversnes said after the stage Friday.” Luckily we managed.
“Then in the final climb, I got instructions from my director to go all in. Fortunately, it turned out to be good enough. I wasn’t sure if i could win until 500 meters to go,” Dversnes continued.
“I’m really happy, it’s my first WorldTour win, it means everything, it’s for sure the biggest win of my career.”
Overnight race leader Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) was ruled out of the finale with a mechanical, but didn’t lose time under “the 3km rule.”
With Ayuso only 22 seconds back, Saturday’s mountaintop finish to Frontignano looms large over 83kg Ganna’s jersey defense.
