Two-time Tour winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) has confidently secured overall victory at the 81st edition of the Paris-Nice long-distance race. The Slovenian dominated the demanding eighth and final stage around the port city of Nice (118.4 kilometres) from the front, was able to pull away on the decisive climb to the Col d'Eze and drove to his third stage victory.

"It was always my goal to win Paris-Nice," Pogacar said at the finish after bowing to the crowd: "It was even a dream, so it's incredible. If I don't win anything by the end of the season, it's still a successful season."

The 24-year-old crossed the finish line at the Promenade des Anglais with a 33-second advantage over Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). Pogacar's big opponent from Denmark won the finish sprint against David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), but in the overall standings Vingegaard finished third behind the Frenchman (+1.39 ).

"The level was very high. Sharing the podium with Gaudu and Vingegaard is very special as they are two excellent drivers," said Pogacar, who is in impressive early form and has won nine of the 13 races so far this year.

Until 21 kilometres before the end, all the top riders were together in a leading group of 30, then Pogacar impressively pulled away on the six-kilometre climb with an average gradient of 7.6 percent to 45 seconds. "Attack is the best defense," commented Pogacar.

There was a moment of shock to survive about 60 kilometers before the finish: In a curve, a car stood in the way, but the drivers were all able to avoid in time.

As the best German driver, Nils Politt (Bora-hansgrohe) finished 45th in the overall standings.Maximilian Schachmann, who had won the long-distance race in 2020 and 2021 and was in 13th place after Friday, had to retire the day before due to a cold.