Saint-Amand-Montrond – La Loge des Gardes – 165 Km

Archivfoto HERBERT MOOS

1 POGACAR Tadej SLO UAE TEAM EMIRATES 04:01:17
2 GAUDU David FRA GROUPAMA-FDJ 00:01
3 MÄDER Gino SUI BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 00:34
4 PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien FRA AG2R CITROËN TEAM 00:42
5 VAUQUELIN Kévin FRA TEAM ARKÉA-SAMSIC 00:43
6 VINGEGAARD Jonas DEN JUMBO-VISMA 00:43
7 BARDET Romain FRA TEAM DSM 00:51
8 MARTINEZ Daniel COL INEOS GRENADIERS 00:51
9 YATES Simon GBR TEAM JAYCO-ALULA 00:51
10 JORGENSON Matteo USA MOVISTAR TEAM 00:51
11 IZAGIRRE Ion ESP COFIDIS 00:54
12 LATOUR Pierre FRA TOTALENERGIES 01:05
13 HARPER Chris AUS TEAM JAYCO-ALULA 01:06
14 SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias DEN TREK-SEGAFREDO 01:22
15 SIVAKOV Pavel FRA INEOS GRENADIERS 01:29
16 POELS Wout NED BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 01:38
17 HAIG Jack AUS BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 01:38
18 CAVAGNA Remi FRA SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 01:38
19 POWLESS Neilson USA EF EDUCATION-EASYPOST 01:38
20 SOBRERO Matteo ITA TEAM JAYCO-ALULA 01:38
21 NARVAEZ Jhonnatan ECU INEOS GRENADIERS 01:38
22 SCHACHMANN Maximilian GER BORA-HANSGROHE 01:38
23 JUNGELS Bob LUX BORA-HANSGROHE 01:50

Gesamt:

1 POGACAR Tadej SLO UAE TEAM EMIRATES 11:55:00
2 GAUDU David FRA GROUPAMA-FDJ 00:10
3 VINGEGAARD Jonas DEN JUMBO-VISMA 00:44
4 YATES Simon GBR TEAM JAYCO-ALULA 00:56
5 MÄDER Gino SUI BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 01:19
6 BARDET Romain FRA TEAM DSM 01:40
7 MARTINEZ Daniel COL INEOS GRENADIERS 01:40
8 JORGENSON Matteo USA MOVISTAR TEAM 01:42
9 POWLESS Neilson USA EF EDUCATION-EASYPOST 01:44
10 SOBRERO Matteo ITA TEAM JAYCO-ALULA 01:54
11 FOSS Tobias NOR JUMBO-VISMA 01:57
12 IZAGIRRE Ion ESP COFIDIS 02:00
13 SCHACHMANN Maximilian GER BORA-HANSGROHE 02:04
14 SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias DEN TREK-SEGAFREDO 02:08
15 VAUQUELIN Kévin FRA TEAM ARKÉA-SAMSIC 02:09

BORA – hansgrohe bleibt bei der ersten Bergankunft hinter den Erwartungen zurück

Die vierte Etappe von Paris-Nizza führte über 164,7km von Saint Amand Montrond zur ersten Bergankunft der Rundfahrt in La Loge des Gardes. Eine siebenköpfige Ausreißergruppe wurde erst kurz vor dem letzten Berg gestellt. Am Schlussanstieg konnten weder Maximilian Schachmann, noch Bob Jungels den Favoriten um die Gesamtwertung folgen und verloren bereits früh den Anschluss. Den Sieg holte sich T. Pogačar, Schachmann und Jungels belegten die Plätze 22 und 23. In der Gesamtwertung liegt Maximilian Schachmann aktuell auf Rang 13.

Reaktionen im Ziel
„Gestern hatten wir leistungsmäßig einen guten Eindruck von den Jungs, heute ging leider einiges schief. Unsere beiden Kapitäne Maximilian Schachmann und Bob Jungels waren bereits sehr früh ohne weitere Teamkollegen, die speziell in der Anfahrt zum letzten Anstieg sehr wichtig gewesen wären. Am Ende sind wir nicht dort, wo wir sein wollten und auch nicht in der Art und Weise gefahren, wie wir uns das vorgenommen haben. Es kommen noch vier Etappen, wir müssen jetzt neue Ziele setzen und zusehen, dass wir wieder in Fahrt kommen.“ Rolf Aldag, Sportlicher Leiter

Pogacar takes over

Tadej Pogacar did not make any favours in the first mountain stage of the 81st Paris-Nice, surging in the final climb to La Loge des Gardes after a constant work by his team all day to win the stage and seize the yellow and white jersey on Wednesday. The Slovenian perfectly timed his move on the 6.7-km final climb to catch Frenchman David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) in the last stretch and lead him by 10 seconds overall. Pogacar’s arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard cracked a little in the final kilometres and finished 6th. He is now third overall, 44 seconds behind the UAE-Team Emirates.

Seven in the lead
The real start was given at 12:40 to 153 riders in rainy weather. Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Maurice Ballerstedt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) were the first to break clear at kilometre 25 and were later joined by Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny), Larry Warbasse (AG2R) and Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech). Polka-dot jersey holder Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X Pro) felt he also needed to be in the front to defend his KOM lead and he joined the breakaway after 35 kilometres.

Echelons after 56 km, Tadej Pogacar’s UAA Emirates team-mates upped the pace and the bunch split in the treacherous crosswinds but quickly regrouped. As the seven took their lead over five minutes, Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) called it quits, as did Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) a little bit later. Some 20 km further up, Groupama-FDJ and Jumbo-Visma created another echelon, which scattered the bunch all along the road. The main casualties at that point were green jersey holder Mads Pedersen and his leader Mattias Skelmjose, as well as third-placed overall Michael Matthews (Jayco Alula) but the pack was finally back together at kilometre 87.

Gregaard collects polka-dots
At the first climb of the day, Cote du Vernet (Km 116.6), Jonas Gregaard collected three points to bring his KOM tally to nine. In the ascent, Ballerstedt was dropped by his former breakaway companions, whose lead had gone down to 2:35. In the descent, Dutch champion Eenkhoorn went and took a few seconds lead over the other five escapees but was run down in the Cote de Cheval Rigon (km 137.5), on which Gregaard picked three more points. With 14 points, the Danish rider made sure to retain his polka-dot jersey on the finish line.

Matthews takes sprint bonus The UAE Emirates team-mates of Tadej Pogacar continued to impose their tempo to the rest of the pack and the break split in the descent after two attacks by Calmejane, who dropped all his companions to the exception of Skaarseth. Their lead went down quickly as the intermediate sprint of the day was nearing and they were caught when Michael Matthews surged to collect six points and six seconds, with Skaarseth and Pogacar behind him. The Slovenian and the Australian insisted for a while before the pack reeled them in.

Pogacar strikes
The stage was set for a showdown on the 6.7-km final climb. Felix Grossschartner led the way for Pogacar at the bottom but Jonas Vingegaard was the first to attack, quickly followed by the Slovenian. The last two Tour de France winners did not charge ahead and as they were caught, France’s David Gaudu counter-attacked with 3 km to go. Pogacar reacted with 2 km to go and caught Vingegaard off guard. The 2020 and 2021 Tour de France winner quickly bridged the gap in the final kilometre and did not leave him a chance on the line.