Patrick Lefevere watched the images of this year's Paris-Nice with sadness and, in his opinion, in many aspects he relived the same scenes from the 2014 Giro d'Italia, when on the Stelvio, Rigoberto Uran lost the pink jersey and that Giro was won by Nairo Quintana.

"This week I had another flashback. During Wednesday's stage of Paris-Nice, I suddenly thought back to the 2014 Giro, when we lost Rigoberto Uran's pink jersey in a way that still bothers me today - Lefevere recounted in his weekly column in Het Nieuwsblad: the scenario was exactly the same as what happened this week at Paris-Nice with the neutralized descent".

Patrick Lefevere refers to the stage of May 27, 2014: that day Uran was still in the pink jersey but by the end of the day he lost it and it was taken by Quintana, who carried it to Trieste. When Quintana attacked during the descent from Stelvio, race radio communicated that motorcycles with red flags would follow the descent in small groups to ensure safety. Some teams, like Omega of Lefevere and Astana, interpreted this as a kind of Formula One safety car, but in that case there was no neutralization as many had believed. To complicate matters, there was a Twitter message from the organization, which was deleted and then called an error.

"Due to extreme cold with snow instead of hail, the organization decided to neutralize the Stelvio descent - Lefevere recalls referring to May 27, 2014 - I think the term 'cancel' was initially used, but 'neutralize' was certainly communicated via radio. For those who want to verify, there are even screenshots from the Giro's official Twitter channel indicating that the descent would be neutralized. Until suddenly it was no longer the case. Our Rigoberto Uran was changing jerseys between cars when Nairo Quintana passed Marco Velo on a motorcycle and rode away to win the stage and the Giro".

For Lefevere, what happened in 2014 was a true distortion of facts, and for him the stage of Paris-Nice with the group slowly descending was exactly the same thing. "I want to say that the decision taken at Paris-Nice was wrong. If you neutralize a stage at that point, in the middle of nowhere, all the frozen riders no longer know where to take shelter. The buses were already at the finish line, there was no room for seven people in the team cars and no house was in sight".

Last Wednesday, the jury decided to stop the race and then have the riders descend slowly along the 13-kilometer descent because the road surface was too slippery and therefore dangerous.

"The reason was the neutralization of the slippery descent. Apparently, a motorcycle of the Garde républicaine further ahead had already been hit by hail and even the support car of Decathlon-AG2R had an accident, but in a controlled descent there would have been no problems for the riders". Lefevere still remembers with bitterness what happened in 2014 and is certain that that day his team with Uran suffered a great injustice.

"The chaos of Wednesday and that of the 2014 Giro are not worthy of a World Tour race. On Wednesday, Movistar was in the front, while Vlasov and Vingegaard were still inside the cars". Regarding yesterday's stage with the finish in Auron, Lefevere thinks it's normal to find bad weather at this time of year in a ski resort and that race organizers should avoid mountain stages in March.

"The queen stage was drastically shortened and it's good that this decision was made in time. Even last year, the exact same stage towards Auron could not be fully completed. The finish was placed on the Madonne d'Utelle, after only 104 kilometers of racing. This year Auron was proposed again, but the Côte de Belvédère and the Col de la Colmiane were canceled. Certainly a shame, but predictable if you decide to race towards the inland, far from Nice and the French Riviera. Auron is a ski resort and the ski lifts are always at high altitude, so it's not surprising if in March the weather will bring snow. In this regard, I like to remember what Oliver Naesen said: it must remain a race, not a giant slalom".