"There wasn't even time to take off any clothes" - Jonas Vingegaard takes win on historically brutal day at Paris-Nice

Jonas Vingegaard experienced disaster last year at Paris-Nice, but this time around he has the race virtually sealed. On stage 4, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider thrived in the crosswinds, avoided the crashes, thrived in his clothes selection and climbed better than anyone to take over the yellow jersey after Juan Ayuso crashed out of the race.

"We expected a crazy day, but not that crazy. We had a plan, we wanted to attack on the penultimate climb, but it was full-on racing from the start," Vingegaard said in a post-race interview. "There wasn't even time to take off any clothes. Maybe you could call me a trendsetter, with my long pants. I just didn't have time to take them off."

With his bib straps on his shoulders outside of the Visma jersey, Vingegaard was able to convey just how difficult the conditions were this Wednesday afternoon in the French race. The temperatures were quite low, which made the rain falling on the riders all day long extra difficult. With the wind blowing very hard and with crosswinds right from kilometer 0, the echelons that were expected took only a few minutes to take place.

"The wind was blowing from the shore right from the start. Some riders fell behind. Later, many riders got cold. I didn't freeze because I was wearing a lot of clothes. That might have been why I couldn't take them all off. But yes, the rain will also have had a significant impact on the race."

The race blew apart right from the start, not catching Visma lacking attention, but with Vingegaard only being followed by one rider: Edoardo Affini. "I felt good. But it was an extremely tough day. Edoardo [Affini] was with me all day; he did a fantastic job. From the start, it was so hectic… I'm just happy to be here and to have won the stage."

Whilst the Italian didn't make it into the decisive split, Vingegaard did, making it to the back wheel of the five-rider BORA train that soared through the flatlands before the day's climbing began. It was an ideal scenario, as the terrain and race situation meant that BORA wouldn't be attacking the Dane, but instead pacing Daniel Martínez throughout the final hour of racing.

Vingegaard took full advantage of the situation, with BORA creating the gap to his main rivals behind - although Juan Ayuso was out of the race and Oscar Onley was experiencing repeated instances of bad luck. The Dane only required his regular climbing legs to make the winning gap. Provisionally, he has the overall classification won... But that will require him to escape bad luck in the coming days.

"Definitely. Last year, I had to abandon the race. I crashed with the leader's jersey on my shoulders. To be back now and win a stage – my first individual victory in Paris-Nice – and to start the season like this is fantastic."