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Joâo Almeida surged late to pip the attacking Jonas Vingegaard at the line to win stage 4 in a cold and miserable day at Paris-Nice that ended into chaos and controversy.
The Dane faded late after launching with 2km to go on a Cat. 1 summit finale, but snatched enough finish-line bonuses to steal away the yellow leader’s jersey from Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Matteo Jorgenson.
Jorgenson crossed the line sixth at 6 seconds back and slipped into second at 5 seconds back a day after riding into yellow as part of Visma’s TTT domination.
The stage didn’t end the way Visma would have liked. Vingegaard kept the jersey within the team, but Jorgenson was gapped and the Dane didn’t manage to win the stage.
“We were working together well on the last climb, covering the attacks together. I was feeling pretty well, and I had the freedom to go for it,” Vingegaard said. “Unfortunately for me I was passed in the last 25 meters. That’s cycling, but also disappointing for me as well.”
Jorgenson said he was sapped by the cold and wet conditions that were exacerbated by stopping and starting the race twice in the closing 30km to 40km.
“I didn’t have a good feeling at all on the final climb,” Jorgenson said. “If you take away the conditions of our legs on the climb, we tactically played it pretty well. Jonas was smart and he got his head back into the game more than I did.
“Just in the end, Joâo was the strongest and the warmest in GC,” Jorgenson said. “We are going to have reassess, get warm, reset, and Jonas will I have a bit more control in the coming days. We lost some teammates today due to the cold. We played it right today, so I am happy.”
Vingegaard criticizes decision to race finale
The two-time Tour de France winner came into Paris-Nice hinted he’d be willing to work for defending champion Jorgenson, and the Dane marked early attacks on the Cat. 1 summit and then countered to drop everyone.
Under such frigid and cold conditions, Vingegaard looked to have better legs than Jorgenson.
Vingegaard hit the red kite all alone and then drove the wedge to the chasers, but it wasn’t enough.
Maybe it’s too early to fire warning shots, especially considering the horrific weather conditions and the relatively easy finale, but Vingegaard wasn’t exactly putting huge time into the bunch.
Vingegaard later angrily criticized the decision to continue the race after it was stopped twice with about 30km to go due to extreme cold and wet, only to be restarted again.
The stage finished on an uphill, so the danger wasn’t high, but riders complained of bitter cold and borderline hypothermic conditions.
“I have mixed feelings today, I am just not really happy at the moment. We should have never raced this final. We should have never continued when we did,” Vingegaard said. “I wouldn’t say it was too dangerous, it was more that we were riding 10-12km in the downhill. Everyone was freezing, no one could feel their brakes. Then we had 5 minutes to heat up, and I still haven’t got the heat back in my body.
“I am still cold. It affects everyone that the weather is like this.”
Almeida surges late to make up for TTT miscue
Almeida and Brandon McNulty kept the pace high in the Jorgenson GC group, and the Portuguese rider surged in the closing 500m to steal away the stage win.
“I am super happy. It was a hard stage. We had some snow and I think we deserved it. I am happy for it,” Almeida said. “I was feeling good. I am not the best in the cold temperatures, and I was suffering, but I never gave up. The climb wasn’t steep enough. Jonas attacked at a good moment, but I am super happy to win.”
Almeida claws higher on GC into fifth at 37 back, and will be under pressure to keep attacking to make up for the less-than-stellar TTT on Tuesday for UAE when the team was eighth at 42 seconds off the winning pace set by rival V-Lab.
The stage was stopped with 29km to go under severe weather conditions of rain, snow, cold, and hail, but resumed to allow the pack to reach the finish line as planned.
Jorgenson: ‘Stressful rollercoaster’ with cold, rain
Riders tried to stay warm in the race stoppage, and after a few fits and starts, the decision was made to resume the race ending atop the Cat. 1 summit.
Jorgenson said communication was unclear between race officials and the peloton about what was going on as the thermometers dropped and the rain turned into snow.
“I don’t know if the weather affected me more than others, I just had an rollercoaster of an internal body state,” Jorgenson said. “I was quite warm when it started to hail, then they neutralized us, and it’s when we stopped that I started to get cold.
“Then they started going again without any explanation. I saw the red car drive away and I pushed for 10km to go keep warm, but they stopped again, and that’s when I got even colder,” Jorgenson said. “It was difficult to get my body temperature back up. It felt like a stressful rollercoaster for the body all day.”
The “Race to the Sun” continues Thursday with a challenging, rollercoaster 203.3km stage from Saint-Just-en-Chevalet to La Côte-Saint-André, ending with a very steep, punchy finale that could split the bunch and provide a springboard for a breakaway.
