4. Etappe: Vichy – La Loge des Gardes – 163Km

Aufgrund des kalten und schlechten Wetters wurde die Etappe 45km vor dem Ziel neutralisiert und gestoppt.
Der umstrittene Neustart erfolgte dann unter fragwürdigen Bedingungen, nicht alle Fahrer wussten davon Bescheid und bekamen so in große Probleme (Vlasov, O’Connor).

Plomi Foto

1 Almeida Joao UAE Team Emirates-XRG 60 03:37:06
2 Vingegaard Jonas Team Visma | Lease a Bike 40 + 01
3 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek 30 + 02
4 Martinez Lenny Bahrain Victorious 25 + 02
5 Lipowitz Florian Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe 20 + 06
6 Jorgenson Matteo Team Visma | Lease a Bike 15 + 06
7 McNulty Brandon UAE Team Emirates-XRG 10 + 09
8 Tejada Harold XDS Astana Team 8 + 17
9 Arensman Thymen INEOS Grenadiers 5 + 17
10 Champoussin Clément XDS Astana Team 2 + 21
11 Van Wilder Ilan Soudal Quick-Step + 28
12 Castrillo Pablo Movistar Team + 28
13 Storer Michael Tudor Pro Cycling Team + 28
14 Foss Tobias INEOS Grenadiers + 28
15 García Raúl ARKEA-B&B HOTELS + 01:02
16 Martin-Guyonnet Guillaume Groupama-FDJ + 01:02
17 Romeo Iván Movistar Team + 01:07
18 Barta William Movistar Team + 01:20
19 Paret-Peintre Aurélien Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team + 01:40
20 Jegat Jordan Team TotalEnergies + 01:42
21 Steinhauser Georg EF Education-EasyPost +01:42

Gesamt:

1 1 Vingegaard Jonas Team Visma | Lease a Bike 11:50:59
2 1 Jorgenson Matteo Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 05
3 6 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek + 33
4 2 Lipowitz Florian Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 36
5 13 Almeida Joao UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 37
6 7 Arensman Thymen INEOS Grenadiers + 56
7 15 McNulty Brandon UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 58
8 3 Foss Tobias INEOS Grenadiers + 01:06
9 28 Martinez Lenny Bahrain Victorious + 01:09
10 16 Castrillo Pablo Movistar Team + 01:22
11 18 Van Wilder Ilan Soudal Quick-Step + 01:24
12 28 Tejada Harold XDS Astana Team + 01:25
13 26 Champoussin Clément XDS Astana Team + 01:29
14 28 Storer Michael Tudor Pro Cycling Team + 01:39
15 9 Romeo Iván Movistar Team + 02:01
16 16 Martin-Guyonnet Guillaume Groupama-FDJ + 02:02
17 8 Barta William Movistar Team + 02:14
18 4 Steinhauser Georg EF Education-EasyPost + 02:23
19 3 Paret-Peintre Aurélien Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team + 02:24
20 16 O’Connor Ben Team Jayco-AlUla + 02:30

Almeida strikes back

La Loge des Gardes still doesn’t smile at Jonas Vingegaard. On the day after a dominant team time-trial from Visma-Lease a Bike, the Danish star attacked on the final ascent of stage 4 of Paris-Nice 2025, just as he did on the same slopes in 2023. He was still leading the way into the last 200 metres… But, as happened a couple of years ago, the climb proved to be a bit too long for Vingegaard, who saw Joao Almeida turn the tables to claim victory after a subpar performance from UAE Team Emirates-XRG in the TTT. The Portuguese climber follows the track of his leader Tadej Pogacar, winner at La Loge des Gardes in 2023. He also gets back in the GC mix, with overall standings once again redefined after this first climbing challenge. Vingegaard takes the yellow and white jersey from his teammate Matteo Jorgenson, while Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) completes the podium on the day and in GC. The race was momentarily neutralised due to the weather conditions but the riders were then able to resume action in sunny conditions.

The peloton face the first climbing challenge of the 83rd edition of the Race to the Sun with a summit finish at La Loge des Gardes, atop a 6.7km ascent (average gradient: 7.1%). Will it redefine the overall standings on the day after Visma-Lease a Bike made the most of the team time trial to propel Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard to the first two positions?

The many ups and downs of the day inspire attackers. After a fierce battle for the breakaway, eight riders manage to open a gap at km 19: Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa B&B Hotels), Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis), Dion Smith (Intermarché-Wanty), Thomas Gachignard (Total Energies) and Ed Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Gachignard steps up, Buitrago goes down

Gachignard chases the KOM points to defend his teammate Alexandre Delettre’s polka-dot jersey. Behind the attackers, Edoardo Affini and Per Strande Hagenes (Visma-Lease a Bike) drive the bunch to control the gap around 3 minutes.
As the advantage of the breakaway reaches a maximum of 3’35‘’ at km 89, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) suffers a puncture and then crashes as he makes his way back to the peloton. He his forced to abandon.

Race neutralised
On the Côte de Granon, Joshua Tarling and Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) launch a counter-attack, while Dion Smith was dropped by his breakaway companions.
The weather conditions become very difficult, with hailstorms and slippery roads, and the race is neutralised 45 kilometres away from the finish. At that point, the chasers trailed by 1’35’’ and the peloton by 2’20’’.

Here comes the sun
The action resumes with the same gaps and 29km to go. Leknessund sets off at the front but he doesn’t manage to open more than a 15’’ gap and waits for his chasers. Meanwhile, Swift drops back to help Foss and Tarling. And Lidl-Trek, Movistar and UAE Team Emirates unite to drive the bunch.

The three Grenadiers catch the breakaway with 11km to go. And the group explodes on the first slopes of the ascent to La Loge des Gardes. Foss goes solo with 6 km to go. Behind him, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) drives a hard chase and brings the gap down to 30’’.

Vingegaard almost makes it
Several riders shake the bunch: Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious)… But Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) counters and flies past everyone with 2 kilometres to go.

Into the last kilometre he has a gap of 7’’… But that’s not enough to resist Joao Almeida’s strong push in the last 200 metres. The Portuguese leader of UAE Team Emirates-XRG catches the Dane inside the last 100 metres and claims his first victory in French territory.