Jonas Vingegaard took overall victory at Paris–Nice on Sunday, adding another dub to his impressive palmares. But in Cycling CanCon™, the race also marked a breakthrough result.
Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello-Q36.5) finished a very impressive 14th overall. That’s his best GC result in a WorldTour stage race. It also bodes well for the rest of his season. Hopefully it means he will be given more opportunities, given his recent rides.
The Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, Que. rider has already shown some pretty fine form this year. He’s spent a whole lotta time in breakaways–both in France and at the UAE Tour. In fact, in the latter–he was in the move for 150km, only to be caught with 3km to go.
In 2025, he rode his first Grand Tour and hopefully Canadian Cycling Magazine readers will see him in another. He’s proven himself as an invaluable asset to team leader Tom Pidcock with his incredible role as a team workhorse. Last year you saw the former national champ driving the pack for hours.
Paris-Nice finale
Stage 8, was, as per Paris-Nice tradition, no fun. It’s never been a flat parade stage like other multi-day races tend to have. The last day of racing featured three big ole Category 1 climbs to break some already tenderized gams.
With Vingegaard leading Dani Martínez by more than three minutes at the start, the overall win appeared secure. The battle for the podium,however, remained wide open with riders like Georg Steinhauser and Kévin Vauquelin still close behind.
Valentin Paret‑Peintre launched a solo move after the early break fractured on the slopes of the Col de la Porte. Paret-Peintre was eventually reeled in with 24 km remaining. On the final climb, the Côte du Linguador, Vingegaard accelerated and only Lenny Martinez could follow. The young Frenchman later edged the sprint for the stage win, while Dani Martínez dug deep behind to secure second overall.
Zukowsky on the week of racing
Meanwhile, Zuke was trying to survive the day, and defend the unexpected GC position he’d earned earlier in the week.
“Honestly, it was kind of a crazy week,” he said. “I came here with zero ambitions for GC. I was just in a teammate role.”
That changed quickly after crashes and bad luck hit the team. On the last day of racing Pinarello-Q36.5 had just two riders left in the race.
Zukowsky had also lost time early because he wasn’t thinking about the overall standings. “The first few days I gave up some free time because GC wasn’t even on my mind,” he said. “After that it was just about holding the position I had. Or doing better if possible.”
The final stage was even harder than expected. Zukowsky said he woke up feeling ill on Sunday morning. That made the prospect of the brutal finale around Nice even more daunting.
Suffering through Stage 8
“I was stressing a bit because everyone knows the last stage here is super hard,” he said. “I’ve lived here for four years, so I know these roads like the back of my hand and I really wanted to have a good day. But with how I felt this morning…I kind of felt like garbage all day.”
He leaned heavily on experienced teammate David de la Cruz, a two-time winner at Paris-Nice.
“He was dragging me around most of the day on the climbs,” Zukowsky said. “Then I tried to do a bit more on the descents because I know them well.”
Even so, the Canadian slowly lost time as the race wore on. “I was shipping a few minutes here and there on every climb,” he said. “Not ideal, but considering how I felt, I’m pretty happy with the mindset, just fighting all day.”
After a week of attrition, simply reaching the finish with a strong GC result felt like a victory in itself.
“I basically rode myself into the ground today,” he said. “It was a hard week for everyone, so I just wanted to give everything I had to reward the team. I wasn’t expecting this result at all, so in the end I’m really happy, and the team is happy too.”