Paris-Nice, one of those days that stays with you. The results of a race that could even impact the rest of your career. Roglic still carries that damned response from the final time trial of the last Tour de France with him, an indelible memory, perhaps a legacy that weighs on all his choices. To him, the victory in the stage of the Paris-Nice in La Colmiane little changed, in Gino Mader, They were on the run from the early stages, a lot. Everything changed 30 meters from the finish line (opening photo).
A stage like this cannot simply be described with the eyes, you have to enter into the thoughts of the protagonists.
Roglic's ghosts
"I am Primois Roglic, 31 years old, leader of the Jumbo-Visma. Since that day at La Planche des Belles Filles, that feeling has never left me, which is why I think every race, every finish line should be pursued. And we all have to work towards that. I won yesterday, but what will happen tomorrow? I can't know."
«I am Gino Mader, 24 years old, Swiss, just arrived in Bahrain Victorious. Yes, victorious and I don't have any victories. But this morning I saw the day's breakaway and I got in there, who knows what..."
Mader's Dream
Mader: The stage is coming to an end, and I, Gino Mader, am leading alone. I've also dropped Powless. About forty seconds, will that be enough? There are four kilometers to go, I'll go up, I'll put everything I have into the pedals."
Roglic: "Do they want to start a war on me? I'm wearing the yellow jersey, that's normal, but with all these sprints and slowdowns, I can't understand anything anymore. Kruiswijk is approaching. Yes, Steven, give it a good push, let's see who's holding. Great guy, Steven, he was the captain before I joined the team. He will have his chances, I will reciprocate...".
Mader: "There it is, the banner for the last kilometer, no one can see behind it. I'm almost there, I'm there, I'm there..."
Roglic: «I don't accept this, Maximilian Schachmann snaps at me. It's okay that he's the defending champion, but I'm the strongest and I have to prove it. Always."
Mader: "The finish line, there it is, one last push, but behind me, 'he' is arriving. I feel him coming, 50, 30 meters: then he passes, but this success was mine, it had to be mine."
Roglic: «That's three victories in a row. A cannibal? Maybe, but when I saw him in person, I thought, "Why not?" I was there and I knew I could win. Tomorrow is still a difficult stage, Paris-Nice isn't won until you get past the last meter. I know that well, too well."
Stories already seen
The history of cycling has experienced hundreds of similar episodes and will experience others, but it is precisely these, or even better the feelings and thoughts that nest in these events that have made the two-wheeled sport the most epic there is. A sport of winners and losers, and the first to cross the finish line doesn't always win overall.
Today, a virtually unknown Swiss, with his gaze lost in those last twenty meters, has entered the memory of many, you can bet on it.
