Tadej Pogacar clinched victory in the Paris-Nice race on Sunday while fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic won the Tirreno-Adriatico.
Two-time Tour de France winner Pogacar was racing in the eight-day event for the first time and won his third stage of this year’s event.
He finished alone to beat France’s David Gaudu by 53 seconds, with Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard in third.
“It was always my dream to win Paris-Nice,” said Pogacar, 24.
“The competition here was really huge. To be alongside David Gaudu and Jonas Vingegaard on the podium is special.”
Pogacar has changed his schedule this season in a bid to regain the Tour title he let slip to Vingegaard in 2022.
The UAE Team Emirates rider was leading Paris-Nice going into Sunday’s mountainous stage in the Nice backcountry and made a solo break on the final climb.
“I really know these roads,” said the Monaco resident. “I knew exactly how my legs were on the final climb. I was really good with maths today. I calculated it great.”
Pogacar won stages four, seven and eight, with the sixth cancelled because of dangerously high wind speeds between Tourves and La Colle-sur-Loup.
Pogacar won the Tirreno-Adriatico in 2021 and 2022, while Roglic won last year’s Paris-Nice race.
But roles were reversed this year as Roglic, 33, won the Tirreno-Adriatico after finishing comfortably in the bunch as Jasper Philipsen won the final stage in a sprint.
It was the Belgian’s second stage win this year but Roglic had won the previous three stages to set the Jumbo-Visma rider on course for a second overall victory in Italy’s seven-stage race, having also won in 2019.
Tom Pidcock crashed out of the race early in the stage, ending a difficult week for the Briton after he won the Strade Bianche last weekend.
