Paris-Nice: Bouhanni wins stage 4 in Romans-sur-Isère

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There were no elbows, head-butts or relegations as Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) executed a perfectly timed and clean sprint to win stage 4 of Paris-Nice in Romans-sur-Isere.

The Frenchman blasted out of the Cofidis-led peloton to win the sprint over Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal).

"My teammates did a fantastic job. There were still four of them with me in the finale," Bouhanni said. "I was a little bit vengeful after my disqualification [on stage 2 -ed]. It was at the back of my mind. I had been disappointed so far. In the first sprint, Arnaud (Demare) outwitted us. The next day I was disqualified. That's sport. We all want to win stages.

"I'm really glad to have won especially after the work done by my teammates. My form is growing little by little and Paris-Nice is the ideal preparation for my big objective, which is Milan-San Remo."

Race leader Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) finished in fifth behind Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) to hold onto the maillot jaune with a 14-second lead over Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), with Patrick Bevin of Cannondale remaining in third 19 seconds back.

For Matthews, the stage was one of the last chances for the sprinters before the race ascends the Mont Ventoux on Friday, and the wear began to show as Orica-GreenEdge fought to control the stage.

"Today was about saving energy," Matthews said. "I was really tired after yesterday. It was only 100 km but they were really tiring. So today was about saving strength and keeping out of trouble as there were several crashes in the bunch. Tomorrow is another hard day but I think I can get over the Ventoux. If that's the case and there's a few sprinters left, I'll be among those who stand a good chance. Between the GC and another stage win? I'm really going to take it day by day."

How it unfolded

After a stage 3 truncated due to snow, the peloton was motivated to race on a lumpy 195.5km stage from Julienas to Romans-sur-Isere, and France's biggest showman Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) led the way in the day's breakaway.

He was joined by Matthew Brammeier (Dimension Data), Florian Vachon (Fortuneo Vital Concept) and Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille Provence) but the peloton kept them to only a few minutes, knowing that a category 2 Côte de Saint-Uze with 32km to go would provide a springboard for attacks.

Indeed, the climb caused drama out front and in back, as Voeckler surged and jettisoned his companions, and a crash in the peloton put Sky's Geraint Thomas, among others, on the floor. The sprinters suffered in particular - Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) suffered a mechanical, Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quickstep) and Arnaud Demare (FDJ) were dropped. Demare later abandoned the race.

Over the top, Dimension Data's Nathan Haas tried to go on the attack as the breakaway dangled at less than a minute, but misjudged a bend and went off the verge into a farmer's field.

Voeckler persisted out front, but was fading, and his teammate Sylvain Chavanel joined an attack by Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNl-Jumbo) and Delio Fernández Cruz (Deklo Marseille Provence KTM) that would eventually catch and drop Voeckler, replacing him as leaders on the road.

With 7km to go, the trio had just 15 seconds and the reduced peloton behind still had rivals Matthews, Bouhanni, and Kristoff, whose Katusha team drove the pace to reel in the leaders.

It was a red sea at the head of the peloton with 2km to go as Katusha and Cofidis desperately tried to catch the breakaway, but the trio ahead were having none of it. Vanmarcke and Chavanel did most of the work and looked to be pulling it off, but with less than a kilometre to go Katusha swept past with Bouhanni tucked in just behind.

Unlike stage 2, where Bouhanni made contact with Matthews in the mad dash for the line and was relegated, this time the Frenchman had a clean pair of wheels on the rest of the competition and won without controversy.

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