Two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard took control of the Paris-Nice stage race with victory on Wednesday’s fourth stage marred by lashing rain, cross-winds and crashes.
The imperious Dane took the race leader’s yellow jersey after attacking Red Bull-Bora pair Daniel Martinez and Tim van Dijke on the steep final climb, one kilometre from the finish of the 195km stage from Bourges to Uchon.
Colombian Martinez was second at the summit, 41sec adrift, and now trails Vingegaard by 52sec overall in the eight-day race.
German Georg Steinhauser is third overall, 3:20 back, after coming home fifth on the day, almost three minutes after the winner.
Vingegaard said he had been prepared for a hard day, and joked he hadn’t even had time to take off some of his bad weather gear he’d been wearing pre-race.
“Maybe you can call me a trendsetter with the long pants,” he said. “I just didn’t have time to take clothes off.”
“The start was so hectic, I’m just so happy I’m here and I’ve won the stage,” he added, also thanking teammate Edoardo Affini for pacesetting him into the leading group.
Crosswinds early on caused havoc and splintered the peloton.
In driving rain and cold conditions that forced riders to wrap up, the slippery surface also caused several riders to crash, including overnight leader Juan Ayuso of Spain.
Eleven riders would fail to finish the stage.
Ayuso was taken away by ambulance and another overall contender in Team UAE’s Brandon McNulty also withdrew after a heavy fall.
Three of Martinez’s Red Bull teammates drove the pace at the front until he and Vingegaard were the only overall contenders left to contest the stage victory.
Ineos’s French recruit Kevin Vauquelin battled to sixth on the day despite being dropped early on, leaving him now fourth overall at 3min 39sec.
Three hilly stages and a big mountain run on Saturday remain, with Thursday’s stage five featuring an uphill finale and three climbs in the final 40km.
jk-dmc/bc/jc
