Discover the Stage 4 highlights !
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More Information on:
https://www.paris-nice.fr/
https://www.facebook.com/parisnicecourse
https://twitter.com/parisnice
https://www.instagram.com/parisnicecourse/
© Amaury Sport Organisation - www.aso.fr
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SportTranscription
00:00Today, Paris-Nice returns to La Loge des Gardes, where Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar faced
00:07off two years ago.
00:09The Dane ended up being dropped by his biggest rival and David Godou, finishing the race
00:14third behind the pair, although he went on to get his revenge at that summer's Tour
00:19de France.
00:24Like in 2023, stage four comes after a win for Vismalisa Baik in the team time trial.
00:30The Dutch squad are in control, with defending champion Matteo Jorgensen in the yellow jersey
00:35and Vingegaard just six seconds further back in second place.
00:40I think we have a good plan.
00:43We went through some scenarios and I think it'll be about being defensive and then responding
00:48to whatever the other teams throw at us because in the end there's 20 other teams here that
00:53have their own plan.
00:56UAE has a very strong team, also Djeko has a strong team, some strong contenders and
01:01also Trek.
01:06We have to keep an eye on everyone, so to say.
01:09UAE's trio of leaders are on the back foot after losing 42 seconds yesterday, but the
01:14TTT went well for Ben O'Connor.
01:17He's the top-ranked GC rider behind Jorgensen and Vingegaard.
01:22I enjoyed yesterday.
01:23It felt great, so hopefully I'll have a great day today.
01:27A tricky, rolly, kind of twisty day today.
01:29I think we'll just come down to the final climb and the best man wins.
01:37Today's outing boasts over 3,000 metres of elevation gain.
01:41Only Saturday's seventh stage features more.
01:44There are six climbs to tackle, heading from Vichy to the Loge des Gares, which is almost
01:48at seven kilometres, at 7.1 per cent.
01:51That is where we can expect the GC fireworks, and today's stage should give us a clearer
01:56picture of who can win this race.
02:04Eight riders got into the day's breakaway.
02:07Ben Swift, Thibaut Guernelec, Vincenzo Albanese, Andreas Lecknesund, Sylvain Monniquet, Dion
02:14Smith, Thomas Gachignard and Edouard Plancart.
02:17Their maximum gap a shade over three minutes.
02:24Or Visma-Lisa Bike just pacing the peloton, as one of their GC rivals was forced to abandon.
02:29Santiago Buitrago crashed when returning to the bunch after a puncture, and the Bahrain
02:34victorious rider withdrew after a concussion protocol.
02:38Really unfortunate for the Colombian, who won stage four of Paris-Nice last year.
02:44Now there were plenty of mountains points available today, and once again it was team
02:48Total Energies on the hunt.
02:50After Alexandre Deletre on the first two days, Gachignard led the way over the climbs today.
02:58On the fourth of them, the Côte du Canon, he had a chance to grab the polka dot jersey
03:03from his teammates.
03:07On the same climb, the Ineos Grenadiers decided to shake things up, as Tobias Foss and Josh
03:12Tarling attacked from the peloton, with Foss starting the day 11th overall, 39 seconds
03:19down.
03:21Five more points for Gachignard at the summit, as he became the virtual king of the mountains,
03:26although there would be 20 for the stage winner.
03:31It had been a fast-paced stage up until this point, but then the weather gods got involved.
03:36Heavy rain and a hailstorm, making the road extremely treacherous, and forcing the organisers
03:41to neutralise the stage.
03:46The various groups coming to a halt, as the time gaps were frozen, not unlike the riders
03:51themselves.
03:52Most of them dashing to the team cars for wet weather gear, or even jumping in to get
03:57out of the rain.
03:58What a day to be a bike rider!
04:11Well fortunately the weather did gradually improve, and they would resume the stage with
04:1528.8km remaining.
04:16We'll get going again in two minutes, when everybody has caught up.
04:17We'll restart with the same gaps we had when the place was neutralised.
04:19We'll get going again in two minutes, when everybody has caught up.
04:24We'll restart with the same gaps we had when the place was neutralised.
04:28So one minute thirty-five for the seven riders of the three chasers, including the two Ineos
04:34riders, with the peloton at two minutes twenty.
04:38Well, we're officially back underway for stage four of Paris-Nice.
04:50Once they got going again, Albanese was quickly dropped from the breakaway, and Leknesen then
04:55tried his luck solo.
04:57That's worked out for him in the past.
04:59On this occasion though, the Norwegian eased up after eight kilometres or so, and let the
05:03others catch up.
05:07Meanwhile, Swift had dropped back to help his teammates Vos and Tarling, who were struggling
05:11to bridge the gap, and the peloton were closing fast.
05:15Mats Pedersen putting in a huge turn on behalf of his Lidl Trek teammate Matthias Schjelmozer.
05:20The Ineos trio finally caught the remains of the breakaway with 11km to go, but by now
05:25the main bunch were hot on their heels.
05:30Now the peloton at the bottom of the climb, still led by Pedersen and Pollitt.
05:37On to La Loge des Garde then, 6.7km at 7.1%, and Vos was soon solo at the front.
05:44The former time trial world champion had nearly 40 seconds on the peloton, soon down to a
05:49group of favourites, and they were still sizing each other up.
05:53The rest of the breakaway riders hoovered up one by one before the GC battle really
05:58kicked off, with Lennie Martinez attacking, and Vingegaard was straight on the wheel.
06:05There goes Lennie Martinez of Bahrain victorious.
06:10They quickly caught Vos before Vingegaard pulled away, Martinez trying to stay with
06:15the two-time Tour de France winner, but he would soon drop back to the chase group.
06:20So Vingegaard soaring away to glory, or was he?
06:24His rivals managed to close the gap, and heading into the final kilometre at the Dane only
06:28ahead by a few seconds, setting us up for a grandstand finish.
06:35They come into the barriers, they cheer the riders on.
06:39This is going to be a close battle all the way into the finish.
06:42Joao Almeida is closing in, and he's closing in fast on Jonas Vingegaard.
06:47100m remains, I think he's going to do it.
06:50I think he's going to be able to get round Vingegaard.
06:52Joao Almeida comes to the top of La Loge de Garde, and he wins a hectic, chaotic stage
06:58four here in Paris-Nice.
07:01What a performance.
07:03What a ride.
07:08Well, everything looked to be going Visma-Lisabike's way today, until Joao Almeida tore up the
07:13script in the last few hundred metres.
07:15Decidedly, this is not Vingegaard's favourite climb.
07:19The Portuguese rider surging past to take a memorable win for UAE, one that will give
07:23him plenty of confidence for the rest of the week.
07:28I think my shape is good, I feel good, and I'm ready to show who is Joao Almeida, but
07:33yeah, not everything goes as planned, and for sure I'll give my best.
07:38Almeida taking his 14th career win ahead of Vingegaard, quite a scalp, followed by Skjelmoza,
07:43Martínez, Lipovic, Jorgensen and McNulty.
07:47A rather subdued looking Vingegaard nevertheless taking yellow from Jorgensen, with Skjelmoza,
07:51Lipovic and Almeida completing the top five.
07:54O'Connor lost over two minutes.
07:58No change at the top of the green jersey standings.
08:01Tim Moliere still leads Arnaud Dumas by 16 points.
08:06The KOM points were doubled on today's uphill finish, so with a haul of 20, Almeida takes
08:11the polka dot jersey ahead of Gaginard.
08:14And Skjelmoza is now the best young rider by just three seconds from Lipovic, a fourth
08:19day and a fourth different rider in the white jersey.
08:24Tomorrow's fifth stage will be one for the punchers and no doubt for the GC men as well,
08:29with a succession of short and steep climbs in the final 50 kilometres.
08:33Do join us for that on Thursday and thanks for watching.
08:43See you then.