Paris-Nice 2024: Remco Evenepoel and Egan Bernal animate Stage 1 as Olav Kooij wins sprint

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–QuickStep) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) animated the opening stage of Paris-Nice before Olav Kooij (Visma–Lease a Bike) edged Mads Pedersen (Lidl–Trek) in the final sprint to take victory.

The run around Les Mureaux burst into life with 18km remaining as Kooij’s team-mate Matteo Jorgenson set off in search of bonus seconds at an uphill intermediate sprint. The American hoovered up the maximum 10 on offer ahead of Evenepoel, who took five, but the third man across the line was something of a surprise.

Bernal, who has been a shadow of his former self since a horror crash in his native Colombia in 2022, took two bonus seconds – and was spotted attacking off the front shortly after.

Evenepoel, presumably aware that GC rival Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) was a little off the pace on day one, also attempted to get away on a stage earmarked for the sprinters, but with few others willing to contribute the race came back together with 11km remaining.

Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) then made a lone dart for victory, his lead reaching 16 seconds with 5km remaining, but the sprint teams kept him on a leash and swept up the Frenchman as it headed for a bunch sprint.

Pedersen had a long leadout from Jasper Stuyven, but the Dane still had plenty of tarmac to negotiate when he was released into clear air, allowing Kooij to swing past on the final straight and edge him out on the line.

With all the talk of four big-hitters heading to the Tour de France – defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Roglic and Evenepoel – Bernal could be forgiven for feeling like yesterday’s man.

And while two bonus seconds at Paris-Nice do not serve as evidence of a concerted push at a second yellow jersey at the Tour in July, it was still a big milestone on his remarkable comeback trail.

Kooij leads the early general classification by four seconds from Pedersen and Jorgenson courtesy of time bonuses.