"I was able to brake just in time to avoid riding into him": Affini says Juan Ayuso's crash could've been much worse

The fourth stage of Paris-Nice 2026 offered unique spectacle. Echelons, torrential rain, crashes and undulating slopes contributed to the general classification completely blowing up after three relatively calm days. That Jonas Vingegaard slipped into the overall lead does not come as a complete surprise, but everything else that happened on the French roads today was out of a sci-fi book. And for then-current overall leader Juan Ayuso, it was a horror day.

The endless duels with his water-protective jacket aside, the Spaniard made the most important split of the day that saw a group of roughly 40 riders steer free from the peloton on wind-exposed sections before reaching the hilly part of the day. However Ayuso did not get to challenge Vingegaard for the stage victory as a nasty crash saw the Lidl-Trek leader abandon with a painful grimace.

At that point, Visma's Edoardo Affini, teammate of Jonas Vingegaard, has been riding behind Ayuso and was able to provide rough information on what happened to the Spanish rider: "I don't know exactly what happened, but I think he just slipped a bit with the back wheel," the Italian told Cyclingpro.net.

According to Eurosport Spain, Ayuso escaped without any broken bones, but it could have potentially been worse for Ayuso with Affini close behind. "He [Ayuso] just crashed in front of me. I'm really happy that I was able to brake just in time to avoid riding into him, that would have been bad for me, but also bad for him. 85kg guys riding into you at 70-80kmph is probably not nice," stated Affini.

For Visma | Lease a Bike, today wasn't a perfect race, as the Dutch has been represented with only two men at the front. Fortunately (for Visma), crashes of some rivals and the team attack of Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe which Vingegaard managed to tag along reduced the risk of missing a key move in such a large group, leaving it up to the Dane to handle the numbers advantage of the German team centered around Daniel Martínez. And the two-time Tour de France champion did so with grace.

Speaking on the stage, Affini said, "I was able to stay to protect Jonas and make sure that he was in the front, straight from the gun. Unfortunately, we were only with the two of us, so we had to gamble a little bit."