08/03/2023

Paris-Nice: Tadej Pogacar wins stage 4, takes yellow jersey and puts serious time into Jonas Vingegaard

Tadej Pogacar has put on a demonstration. A dominant performance saw the UAE Team Emirates rider win stage 4 of Paris-Nice and put on the yellow jersey.

A breakaway of seven riders went up the road with Larry Warbasse (AG2R Citroën Team), Hygo Houle (Israel - Premier Tech), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny), Maurice Ballerstedt (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Anders Skaarseth and Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team).

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The strong winds put some tension in the peloton throughout the day, with splits occurring on several occasions with around 100 kilometers to go but they were all balanced, cancelling all splits. So the breakaway managed to resist as the peloton moved in a more calm way into the hills.

The breakaway - it's last survivors - were brought in with 17 kilometers to go at the intermediate sprint as Tadej Pogacar sprinted to another 2 seconds. The peloton was slowly losing riders and the run-up to the final climb was treacherous, with INEOS Grenadiers taking to the front into the base. Clément Champoussin shortly attacked off the front, but Felix Grossschartner set a strong pace that brought it back together and got the group to around 20 riders.

With just over 4 kilometers to go Jonas Vingegaard launched a big attack with only Tadej Pogacar responding. The duo got a large gap over the GC group but then slowed down, with Jayco AlUla bringing it back. David Gaudu immediately launched an attack. Several other riders made a move shortly after, but with 2.5 kilometers Tadej Pogacar made his move, and this time around there was no possible response from the competition.

The duo worked together and extended the gap on the rest. It was to come down to a sprint, Gaudu put on a strong fight but Pogacar was at the very top and took the stage win. It was a dominant triumph, beating Gaudu and Gino Mäder who comleted the podium. Vineggaard arrived at the finish 43 seconds behind, minus bonifications.