© Anne-Christine POUJOULATOut of the woods; Stefan Bissegger won the time trial to take the Paris-Nice lead
Swiss youngster Stefan Bissegger made a statement as he won the Paris-Nice time trial on Tuesday to take the overall race lead in first World Tour season.
The 22-year-old Education First rider, completed the 14.4 kilometre circuit that began and ended in Gien, in 17 minutes 34 seconds to edge French time trial champion Remi Cavagna by 0.83sec.
"I'm quite young so I still have to establish myself to the others. So I think I showed in this time trial that I'm here and that they have to be aware of me," Bissegger said at the finish of the stage, the third in the race.
Bissegger outpaced a star-studded field including Slovenian Primoz Roglic who took third, 6 seconds down.
"It makes me happy" to beat Roglic, Bissegger said.
"Time trials are really my thing. I come from track and the short, punchy stuff is really good for me. It feels really good to show what i'm capable of."
Bissegger, silver medallist at the 2019 U23 World Championship, turns 23 on Saturday, the penultimate day of the race.
He made his World Tour debut on the UAE Tour in February where he finished second in the time trial.
"Second big stage race of the year and second of my career," said Bissegger as he prepared to put on the overall leader's yellow jersey. "So it feels really nice to be in this position."
Another surprising 22-year-old American Brandon McNulty was fourth, a further 3 seconds down.
Frenchman Cavagna of Deceuninck Quick Step is second in the same time as Bissegger, Slovenian Roglic of Jumbo Visma is 6sec back with McNulty fourth of UAE at 9sec. British Giro d'Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart is 38th at 44 seconds.
On Wednesday, stage four runs 187.5km from Chalon-sur-Saone to Chiroubles climbs Mount Brouilly twice and concluding with a 7.3km ascent in the Beaujolais mountains.
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