"I decided to go all in" - Tadej Pogacar strikes big on first mountain finish of Paris-Nice

Tadej Pogacar was the main favourite to win Paris-Nice's fourth stage, and he confidently took the win. Above all however, he put in a very big time gap to Jonas Vingegaard, and realistically only has one rival to challenge him for the yellow jersey.

Earlier in the day there was already much to talk about. Pogacar had to stay attempt during the echelons that took place throughout the afternoon in France, but was always in prime position. The Slovenian was comfortable enough to sprint for two seconds right before the final climb, but that effort did not appear to cost him at all during the final ascent. “It was very nervous. On the flat it was already very heavy with the echelons, so it was chaos," Pogacar said in a post-race interview. 

Jonas Vingegaard launched a first attack with just over 4 kilometers to go, to which only Pogacar could respond. He played the long game however, waiting for things to come back together. David Gaudu then launched a move which started to threaten the stage win. “First he went himself, so I thought he was super strong. I therefore did not immediately counter his attack, but decided to wait for the rest," Pogacar commented. 

He then set off in pursuit of Gaudu, and with an explosive attacked managed to drop Vingegaard, who would then crack after going deep into the red. “In the end, the final climb was tough and he (Vingegaard, ed.) missed a little bit to catch me. He couldn't close the gap and cracked," the UAE Team Emirates rider reports. It was a big win when it comes to the overall classification, and afterwards in a sprint he managed to beat David Gaudu. 

"I had good legs, but I also knew I couldn't give Gaudu too much. That's why I decided to go all in, otherwise I wouldn't have won”, he concluded. This win not only earned him a significant buffer over his rivals, but also the yellow jersey.

Pogacar now starts stage 5 with a 10-second gap over David Gaudu and 44 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard. There will be three more stages where attacks are expected, where he will now be racing in the defensive.