Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) lost in the victory of Paris-Nice on the last day of the race after falling twice in the reduced 92.7 km stage from Le Plan-du-Var to Levens.
The Slovenian, who held a 52-second lead over Max Schachmann from Bora-Hansgrohe earlier in the day, arrived on deck on an early descent after crossing the finish line on the 36 km mountain circuit.
He ran again quickly, albeit with ripped shorts and a rash on his left hip, but then fell again on the same descent, without being seen by the television cameras.
While running in the valley, about 25 kilometers from the finish line, he was caught in a crack in the platoon and quickly discovered that he had fallen a second time, suffering a tear in his shorts on the right side as well.
Roglič had several teammates with him at the time, but he quickly overtook them in the chase back to the main group, who saw Astana-Premier Tech and Bora-Hansgrohe take the lead quickly to take advantage of the bad luck of the yellow shirt.
The Jumbo-Visma pilot quickly lost time and, at the 15 km mark remaining, Schachmann was wearing the virtual yellow shirt. Roglič continued to chase solo while Bora-Hansgrohe and Astana-Premier Tech led at the front of the race, but had lost more than three minutes to the stage winner, giving Schachmann another victory in the race.
Roglic lost 3:08 on stage and dropped to 15th in the final overall standings.
Speaking on arrival, his teammate Steven Kruijswijk explained what had happened.
“He hit the last time on the descent, in one of the last corners, and he couldn’t put the chain back on, so he got a little stuck in the back, and in the front of course they started pulling,” said the Dutchman said.
“There was a lot of wind in the valley and, with just three or four of us, we couldn’t ‘close the gap. We tried to close it as quickly as possible, but we couldn’t get back.
“After the first crash, where he fell very hard, we put him back in front and tried to take control of the race. The last drop was really unexpected, otherwise we could have kept the shirt, I think. by him. He fought to the end. If you see how he did last week, he was the strongest in the race, but anything can happen until the last day. “