Paris-Nice: Poels wins stage 4 time trial

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Wout Poels (Team Sky) claimed victory on the stage 4 time trial of Paris-Nice to move within striking distance of the yellow jersey, which remains on the shoulders of Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana Pro Team).

The 18.4km test from La Fouillouse to Saint-Étienne was not a straightforward one, but Poels made light work of the hilly course to take the stage win, 11 seconds ahead of Marc Soler (Movistar Team), while Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) recovered well from a misjudged corner on the final descent to place third, 16 seconds down.

Sanchez, the day's final starter, produced a solid ride to place seventh, 28 seconds down on Poels, though his overall lead has been reduced to just 15 seconds as Poels moves up into second place. Alaphilippe's general classification challenge remains resolutely intact, and he lies third overall, 26 seconds down on Sanchez, and just ahead of Soler.

"It was quite a hard time trial, especially in the beginning with the uphill and at the end the little short peak. It was a really hard TT, but really good for me," said Poels, whose victory comes amid an especially trying week for his Sky team, whose practices were called in question by the parliamentary select committee report on doping in British sport published on Monday.

"I'm focused on racing. Of course I support Dave [Brailsford] and the team," Poels said when asked for his opinion on the matter after the stage.

Poels set out his stall over the opening part of the course, as he recorded the quickest time led through the first time check after 8 kilometres, following the steady climb towards Saint-Heand. The Dutchman was 12 seconds ahead of Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) and 14 clear of Soler at that point, and he negotiated the final part of the course well to seal stage victory.

Soler managed to peg back three seconds over the final 10 kilometres, but the most impressive rider down the back stretch of the race was Alaphilippe. The Frenchman began steadily, and was only ninth best, 25 seconds down on Poels at the 8km mark. He took flight on the descent that followed, however, and began to close in on the winning time, though even without his brief wobble in the closing kilometres, the Frenchman would not have made up the entirety of his early deficit.

Poels' Sky teammate and defending Paris-Nice champion Sergio Henao enjoyed a solid afternoon, and spent a brief stint in the hot seat after bettering the time of Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) by hundredths of a second.

By day's end, Henao would drop to ninth on the stage and, like Yates and Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott), finished the stage 33 seconds down on Poels. In the overall standings, Henao, Chaves and Yates lie in ninth, 10th and 11th overall, respectively, all 48 seconds down on Sanchez.

"We still have a few cards to play. I'm now good on GC, Sergio is good too," Poels said. "We're still up at the front, so we're going to fight for it. It's better to have more choices - yesterday for example, I had bad luck so it's always easier when you have a few at the front."

Time lost

With four stages still to come, the Saint-Étienne time trial is far from decisive, but it has added greater definition to the general classification picture. Soler's strong showing keeps him in contention to continue Movistar's longstanding tradition in this race, which stretches back to Miguel Indurain's first victory in Reynolds colours back in 1989.

Ion and Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) remain in the hunt after they placed fifth and sixth on the stage, both 27 seconds behind Poels, while Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) limited his losses well and enters the second half of the race in 9th overall, 42 seconds behind Sanchez.

It was a more trying afternoon for other general classification contenders. Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) conceded 1:21 on the stage and now lies 22nd overall, 1:36 behind Sanchez. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) is now almost two minutes down on GC, while neither Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) nor Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) – both already well adrift in the overall standings – were able to make much headway here.

Sanchez, meanwhile, declared himself satisfied with his first defence of his yellow jersey, even if he perhaps conceded a little more ground than he might have anticipated to Poels. The Spaniard upset Alberto Contador to win this race overall in 2009, and he knows that every second counts on the road to Nice.

"With the wet roads I couldn't take the risks that I would otherwise have taken, but it was the same for everyone. My legs had recovered pretty well from yesterday," said Sanchez. "Looking ahead to the coming stages, there's a long way to Nice. But I'd have signed for this at the start of the race."

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