Paris-Nice: Primoz Roglic wins stage 4

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Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) stamped his authority on Paris-Nice, soloing to victory on the stage 4 summit finish atop Chiroubles and taking over the race lead from Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) in the process.

Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) took second place, 12 seconds in arrears, while Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) rounded out the podium at the same deficit.

The win means Roglič now enjoys a comfortable 35-second lead in the general classification, having attacked three kilometres from the line to take three seconds at the late intermediate sprint in addition to the 10-second bonus at the finish.

"I'm definitely happy about the result, eh," Roglič said after the stage. "Already yesterday was a nice one. I showed that I proved to myself that we were working good, so yeah, it's beautiful and I'm super happy that we have two wins [Wout van Aert at Tirreno-Adriatico] for our team today.

"It was a hard day, so it was something for me, definitely. It was beautiful that I had the legs and could finish it off.

"Definitely the goal is to have it in Nice, but yeah, we deserved it and I think we have a strong team here, so we go optimistic into the next stages. We'll do our best and we'll see what that means for the result."

Roglič's move came in response to a repeat attack by Total Direct Énergie's Pierre Latour, but the Slovenian immediately gained a gap on the rest despite being chased by Astana-Premier Tech's Ion Izagirre. He quickly caught and passed late attacker, Izagirre's teammate Luis León Sánchez, and grabbed bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint before settling into a rhythm on his own.

With a lack of organisation or big attacks behind, the Vuelta champion was untroubled in his run to the line and was able to enjoy the 48th win of his career on his own.

2020 race winner Schachmann now lies second overall behind Roglič, while UAE Team Emirates youngster Brandon McNulty lies in third, 37 seconds back. 

Meanwhile, Ineos Grenadiers leader Tao Geoghegan Hart was forced to abandon the race after crashing on the descent of the penultimate climb of the day, Mont Brouilly.

Race leader Bissegger was dropped from the peloton some 21 kilometres from the line on the second-category climb, ending his time in yellow a day on from his superb time trial victory in Gien.

How it unfolded

The fourth stage of Paris-Nice saw the peloton head into the hills for the first time in the race, with six second-category climbs on the menu ahead of the first-category summit finish at Chiroubles (7.3km at 6 per cent).

The riders would head due south from Chalon-sur-Saône, following the Saône river during the 187.6-kilometre stage and taking in the Col des Chèvres, Col de la Pistole, Côte de Croix de Montmain, Côte de la roche de Solutré, and two ascents of Mont Brouilly (3.2km at 7.3 per cent) before the final ascent to the finish.

After the standings shakeup at Tuesday's time trial, it would be a chance for the GC riders to assert their authority on the race, but first it was time for the breakaway to have their moment. After just four kilometres of racing, the group established themselves out front, with Julian Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) joined by Anthony Perez (Cofidis), KOM leader Fabien Doubey (Total Direct Énergie), José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar), Oliver Naesen (AG2R Citroën), and Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix).

By the time the sextet had reached the first climb, the Chèvres, they already had over four minutes in hand, with the peloton not troubled by the makeup of the group despite Perez lying a minute away from race leader Bissegger.

The Frenchman underlined his intentions for the polka dot jersey early on, taking maximum points over the first three climbs of the day as Doubey struggled, ceding his lead by a single point after the Croix de Montmain. Perez did the same again on the longest climb of the day, the Côte de la roche de Solutré, before the break passed the 100-kilometre mark 3:55 up on the peloton.

There was a lull in the action between climbs as the riders raced over 35 kilometres of lumpy roads en route to the first ascent of Mont Brouilly, with Astana-Premier Tech (for Vlasov) and Jumbo-Visma (for Roglič) among the teams leading the way in the peloton.

Perez duly took another five KOM points on Brouilly as sprinters and non-climbers dropped away in the peloton. At the 50-kilometre mark and the climb to the intermediate sprint on the Col de Durbize, Doubey was dropped, ensuring that Perez would be starting Thursday in the polka dot jersey. Meanwhile, the peloton had closed to within 2:40 on the unclassified ascent.

Ineos Grenadiers moved to the front shortly afterwards, positioning team leader Geoghegan Hart for the second ascent of Mont Brouilly as other major names – including Schachmann, McNulty, and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) – also moved up.

The pace increase driven by the GC teams saw the peloton move to within 1:10 of the break by the start of the climb, which started 24 kilometres from the line. Ineos' Laurens De Plus notably upped the pace midway up the hill, hoping to make the race harder for the GC men, while further back race leader Bissegger had dropped for good as Latour and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech) also struggled.

Up in the break, Bernard had struck out alone to lead over the top with 20 kilometres to go. There would be little hope of staying away though, with the George Bennett-led peloton just 40 seconds behind. Early on the descent there was a moment of drama as Geoghegan Hart and Gaudu hit the deck. They both got going quickly afterwards, but the Briton was later seen freewheeling along and examining his wrist as Gaudu mounted a furious chase with teammate Bruno Armirail.

The ever-offensive Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took an opportunity to go on the attack at the 15-kilometre mark, with Sánchez – the overall winner here in 2009 – bridging across to join him. Bernard, meanwhile, had extended his lead to a minute after Ineos dropped off the front of the peloton following Geoghegan Hart's crash.

Cavagna and Sánchez made it to within 15 seconds of Bernard as they started the final climb, but disaster struck the Frenchman almost immediately as his Shimano gearing jammed in the small cog of the cassette. With little he or neutral service could do to fix his problem, he remained standing at the side of the road as the peloton streamed past.

Sánchez caught Bernard with 5.5 kilometres to go, though just 30 seconds further back Jumbo-Visma, BikeExchange, and UAE Team Emirates had taken over at the head of the peloton. Latour made a move at the four-kilometre mark, but the Frenchman was soon brought back – along with Bernard – by a very strong Michael Matthews (BikeExchange).

Latour went again almost straight away, provoking a response from Roglič, with Astana's Ion Izagirre following and Matthews jumping across in an unsuccessful attempt to grab a bonus second at the intermediate sprint just three kilometres from the line.

Roglič caught and passed Sánchez, continuing to push alone ahead of a disorganised chase some 15 seconds down the hill. He pulled out a further five seconds despite the likes of Vlasov, Schachmann, and Tiesj Benoot (Team DSM) pushing on, though they group did peg him back a little in the closing kilometre.

Despite that, the Jumbo-Visma leader looked supremely comfortable on his solo ride to the line, holding the gap to those behind to 12 seconds to take control of Paris-Nice midway through the race.