Greig Leach

With the sprinters having been caught out in the opening stage of Paris Nice, the pressure was that much higher on the pure sprinters in the race. The echelons out on course made it that much more difficult for the pure sprinters to be there to contest for stage honors today. Yet again it was Christian Laporte (Jumbo Visma) who opened up the sprint with his teammate Wout Van Aert on his wheel. But it was the pure sprinter Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) who came around the Jumbo Visma duo to take out the victory in Orleans. The win is just that much more special since a horrible crash in the Tour of Poland two years ago left him near death. Along with the other two all-rounders was the former World Champion, Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) taking fifth on the day. There is realistically just one more day for the sprinters to shine.