Paris-Nice: McNulty makes up for lost time with stage 5 win

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Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) continued his sequence of solo early-season success as he dropped his breakaway companions on the Col de la Mure and spent almost 40km alone to win stage 5 of Paris-Nice in Saint-Sauveur-de-Montagut.

It was the American's third victory of 2022 and his first at WorldTour level. After his overall challenge was ruined by a crash on the wind-buffeted second stage, McNulty's lone effort in the Ardéche put an altogether different slant on his Paris-Nice.

"I was debating even continuing on or just resetting, so from considering not even starting today, it's incredible," said McNulty, who came home almost two minutes clear of chasers Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM) and Matteo Jorgensen (Movistar).

The Col de la Mure also proved pivotal in the race for the general classification, as yellow jersey Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was dropped on its slopes. His teammate Primož Roglič was thus left surprisingly isolated in the finale, but the Slovenian withstood the accelerations of his direct rivals to move into the overall lead, 39 seconds clear of Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco).

Jumbo-Visma had hitherto looked untouchable, but they showed surprising vulnerability here considering their collective exhibitions in the opening half of the race. By the upper reaches of the category 1 Col de la Mure, Roglič had only Rohan Dennis for company in a severely reduced peloton, and the Australian underscored his value by leading over the top of the climb.

Roglič was left to his own devices on the unclassified climb to Saint-Vincent-de-Durfort in the finale, but he defended himself sagely, picking and choosing his battles, but taking care to track accelerations from Simon Yates and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe).

By the end of this race, Roglič's rivals may come to rue their inability to exploit his solitude here, and the men at the upper reaches of the general classification all crossed the finish line together, 5:43 down on McNulty.

"I think, for Wout, he has in mind some other plans and other goals and trying to be ready for that," Roglič said of Van Aert's struggles. "For me, we all know it's a goal, this Paris-Nice. The guys did a really great job pulling all day, hard, everyone, so that I could be at the end with the best ones."

The climbing continues on stage 6, with a rugged day to Aubagne, though it remains to be seen if weather conditions will allow for the planned summit finish atop the Col de Turini. No matter, and despite his isolation here, Roglič remains the favourite for overall victory.

"I don't know, we will see. The fact is that, not tomorrow I think, but for the weekend, there are two hard days," he said. "Definitely on the last [stage], I can also say that I have some experience from the last year. For sure, there is a lot of racing coming up and I will do my best. Then we will see what it means."

How it unfolded

The peloton was decidedly smaller at the start of stage 5 in Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert, with no fewer than 18 riders – among them, Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), Yves Lampaert and Zdenek Stybar (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) – withdrawing overnight as flu swept through the peloton. Four more riders would abandon on an attritional stage as Paris-Nice finally hit the hills after a flat opening half.

The Col de la Croix de Chaubouret, a climb redolent of the Tour de France's many visits to Saint-Étienne, was the day's first climb, and the day's break was already clear of the bunch by its early slopes. McNulty was joined by nine others in the move: Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels-KTM).

By the summit, they had almost 6 minutes in hand on the peloton, and they would maintain that buffer for most of the day, as the race crossed into the Ardèche and crossed the Côte de Saint-Jeure-d'Ay, Côte de Saint-Romain-de-Lerps and Côte de Toulard, where Madouas did enough to secure the king of the mountains jersey.

Jumbo-Visma controlled the peloton on those early climbs, and they seemed content to allow the escapees some leeway. Come the base of the Col de la Mure, McNulty et al still had over 6 minutes in hand, and it was already clear that the stage winner would come from their number.

On the lower slopes of the Mure, McNulty briefly dropped to the rear of the break and Madouas cast a glance over his shoulder, seemingly surprised that the American was struggling. His doubts were well placed. McNulty was simply depositing his arm warmers with his team car. Moments later, he accelerated from the back of the group to the front and then disappeared around the next bend. There were still 38km to go, but it was already clear that McNulty would not be seen again, while the break fragmented behind him.

Back in the peloton, meanwhile, Jumbo-Visma's yellow-and-black jerseys began to drop away from the front as Arkea-Samsic took up the reins, and when the maillot jaune Van Aert sat up, Roglič suddenly only had Dennis for company.

Dennis, however, set a steady tempo once Arkea-Samsic desisted, and bunch relented sufficiently to allow the enterprising Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) clip off the front alone. The Frenchman had almost a minute in hand over the summit, but he would eventually be caught on the run-in.

McNulty, meanwhile, was a minute clear of the remnants of the break at the top of the Mure with 33km remaining, and he would double that advantage by the finish, making light work of both a technical descent and the climb to Saint-Vincent-de-Durfort.

By the 10km drop towards the line, he could already savour victory on roads familiar from his recent Faun-Ardèche Classic victory. "It was kind of put everything in for today, just either do it or die kind of way. I got in the break and then actually felt super good all day," McNulty said.

Back in the group of GC favourites, Daniel Martinez (Ineos) tested the waters with an attack on the last unclassified climb, while Roglič preferred to mark Simon Yates and Vlasov's accelerations, before unleashing a testing one of his own with 10km to go.

That effectively marked the end of the attacking, as Martinez and the earlier attacker Martin were brought to heel and the remaining GC contenders rode to the finish together. Jumbo-Visma's aura of invincibility may have diminished, but Roglič's lead over his rivals is unchanged and the yellow jersey is on his shoulders. He won't lose it easily.