Words: Joe Robinson
Photos: Offside Images
Death, taxes and Deceuninck-QuickStep winning Spring Classics, as somebody said recently. Wrong. Death, taxes and Team Sky winning yellow, more like.
Over a decade of racing to the sun, Dave Brailsford's boys have ruled the week-long Paris-Nice with an iron fist at a level of dominance to rival the team's exploits at fellow French stage races the Tour de France and Criterium du Dauphine.
Since 2011, Team Sky have won six editions of Paris-Nice out of eight with five different riders from three different nations. That sits in the pot with six Tour and six Dauphine titles in the same timeframe.
18 yellow jerseys banked out of a potential 25 so far. No wonder the French fans take such issue with the boys in blue and black.
It's a supremacy that sits neatly between Rafa Nadal's 11 Roland Garros trophies and footballing billionaires Paris Saint-Germain's five Ligue 1 titles in six years.
22-year-old Colombian Egan Bernal is Team Sky's latest rider to don the final yellow jersey at Paris-Nice after a weekend of perfectly timed attacks in the crosswinds, coupled with a strong time-trial and a mature head that failed to panic when closest rival Nairo Quintana attacked from 50km out on the final day in Nice.
'To be honest I can’t believe yet that I’ve just won Paris-Nice. It’s incredible,' Bernal told journalists after sealing victory yesterday.
'It’s one of the biggest races in the world. This yellow jersey means a lot, and not just to me. I think for all of the guys in the peloton, the yellow jersey and the lion are a really big thing, so I’m really happy for myself and also for my team.'
Bernal may have surprised himself, but his victory comes as little shock to us. All week he rode with all the swagger of a seasoned Grand Tour winner en route to what is the biggest victory of his career so far – and we stress 'so far'.
Only 60kg and still a peloton novice, Bernal took the race by the scruff of the neck in the exposed winds of central France. With the ever-invaluable Luke Rowe and multi-faceted Michal Kwiatkowski for company, Bernal forced major splits in the crosswinds, destroying the GC hopes of many and banking valuable seconds on the others.
He backed that up with a time-trial performance that exceeded expectation, finishing just 15 seconds down on TT winner Simon Yates but crucially ahead of close rivals Nairo Quintana, Bob Jungels and Luis Leon Sanchez.
Bernal then matched Quintana on the race's only summit finish, the Col de Turini, in what seemed a coming-of-age, changing of the guard performance on Saturday, before then riding with a level head as his compatriot threw his final dice with a 50km attack on the final stage into Nice.
At no point did Bernal look like he was riding in panic, nor did he ever seem to have lost the race from his grip. Considering he is barely 22, it's almost frightening to see how easy it looked at times.
Bernal now becomes the third youngest winner of Paris-Nice taking his inaugural title before the likes of Eddy Merckx, Jaques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain did likewise.
It's a bit far-fetched at this point to say that Bernal is on track to one day join the above in the pantheon of cycling 'greats', but with his current trajectory, it's certainly possible.
With an ageing Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas heading Team Sky's roster, Bernal is not so much the team's future as the incoming present. He's riding the Giro d'Italia this May as the team's undisputed leader, with a genuine chance of winning the pink jersey at his first attempt.
Do not be surprised if Bernal takes his maiden Grand Tour this year and do not be surprised if he is fast-tracked into Team Sky's Tour team, not as a domestique like in 2018, but as a potential team leader.
As for Team Sky, every year they have won Paris-Nice, they have gone on to win the Tour de France.
It's an ominous statistic for any rider or team looking to break the legacy, and a welcome omen for Brailsford, Froome, Thomas and co.
This will be the last year of 'Team Sky' as the major broadcasters pull out of the sport. The team will continue just under the name of their new financiers Ineos, the chemical company of Britain's richest man, Jim Ratcliffe. New team name and new kit but likely the same old results.
In fact, the stranglehold may increase.
The rumour mill suggests that Ratcliffe is willing to increase the £34 million annual budget, safeguarding the contracts of star riders Bernal, Froome and Thomas but, just as importantly, providing the funds to retain Kwiatkowski, Rowe and Ivan Sosa, riders just as indispensable to the team's continued success in the future.
In other words the name will change but the process will remain the same. Team Sky will become Team Ineos but it will be business as usual when they line up for a pop at a seventh Paris-Nice in nine seasons in 12 months time.
To paraphrase a famous quote from Gary Lineker: Stage racing in France is a simple game: 200 men ride a push bike around France for a week or three and at the end, Team Sky win.