Jonas Vingegaard ahead of first major GC test: "We will see today who has the opportunity to win Paris-Nice"

Paris-Nice heads into one of it's most important stages today, as the race reaches the mountains. There will be strong crosswinds and a tough uphill finish where Jonas Vingegaard will be testing his legs.

“We are now moving into the mountains and I am very happy about that. I feel good and hopefully the legs are good too," he said ahead of the stage. "We will see. Whether we are going to use an aggressive course tactic? It all depends on what will happen. It is very windy and so we will have to pay attention from the start. If there's an opportunity, maybe we should try something."

Stage 4 into La Loge des Gardes will not be nice for the riders when it comes to the weather, but it'll all be played out in the final ascent nevertheless. 6.7 kilometers at 7% is more than enough to create differences, specially with Tadej Pogacar looking to take time as he has in the opening two stages. This should be his and Vingegaard's first big battle since the Tour de France.

“We will see today who has the opportunity to win Paris-Nice, but I don't think this stage will be decisive for the overall victory," he believes. He sets off 5th in the overall classification, but first of the big GC contenders, 4 seconds ahead of Simon Yates and 11 ahead of Pogacar. "For that we have to wait for the rides on the weekend. But today we do get a first idea of the value relationships," he concluded.