"I had the impression that the earphones were not working perfectly" - Jan Bakelants offers possible explanation for the chaos after restart of Paris-Nice stage 4

Paris-Nice stage 4 stood still for nearly 45 minutes in snow, hail and rain. Something Jan Bakelants will remember the most from the stage. The stage was subsequently won by Joao Almeida who edged out the hypothermic Jonas Vingegaard.

"I think we can see in Vingegaard's performance that he also suffered from the cold," notices Sporza expert Jan Bakelants. "There was an acceleration, but he had difficulty expanding the difference. He hit a ceiling quite quickly, which he doesn't have in normal circumstances. Almeida kept him within range on his own, without the help of his teammates. He timed it best."

Does that mean that Vingegaard is not yet near his top shape? "It's dangerous to make statements about that based on one stage, which was still very special. Maybe Almeida digested it a little better than Vingegaard, who wasn't bad either. He had the legs. But if we measure him against Pogacar, who he is always measured against, we have to conclude that he is not yet all that flashy. And he doesn't need to be."

Bakelants agrees that to pause the stage and subsequently neutralize a 15-kilometer section was the right call. "There was snow and hail on the road so it seems clear to me that the best choice was to neutralise that part. In this way, the organisation exempts itself from prosecution if a crash occurs in such circumstances. In 2025, the peloton will be assertive enough to blame the organization. You want to avoid that now."

Many riders used that opportunity to drop back to team cars to put on some extra layers of clothing, although they could've had picked a better place to stop the race, Bakelants reckons. "They handled it relatively well, but of course you're standing with a peloton of wet riders in 'the middle of nowhere'. Then the only service point nearby is the support car. Then some riders will get cold, but that is still better than someone falling and injuring themselves very badly."

There were some talks about cancelling the stage and then suddenly, the race went on again. Without some riders' knowledge (Aleksandr Vlasov lost 16 minutes). Could've the communication been better? "That's hard to say. During the neutralization I had the impression that the earphones were not working perfectly. That could be possible in this mountainous and wooded environment. Then the follow-up vehicle is often too far away to have reception."