Debrief

RACE OF THE MONTH/PARIS-NICE/8-13.03.20

Any way the crosswind blows

It seemed fitting that the biggest beneficiary of the crosswinds that cut the 2020 Paris-Nice peloton to ribbons in the first two days of the race was a rider representing a team which shares a name with one of Europe’s most notorious winds. The Bora blows strongly southwest from the mountains across the Adriatic, but Max Schachmann, who would go on to win the race, had the nagging seasonal wind blowing in from the west across the plains of northern France, along with chilling heavy rain, to help put fancied rivals out of the running in the spring’s valedictory race. Many GC riders, from Thibaut Pinot to Nairo Quintana, were blown away in the wind; even as the dust settled at the end of stage 2, only 15 riders were within a minute of the German.

RACE RESULT

Stage 1 had been key, less for the time gained and lost than for what it told us about the form and sharpness of