Paris-Nice: Tadej Pogacar climbs to victory on stage 4

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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) wrestled back control of Paris-Nice on its first summit finish on stage 4, riding away from his Tour de France rival Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) to win atop La Loge des Gardes.

Having already responded to an opening attack from Vingegaard, the Slovenian bridged across to another attacker, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), and remarkably cracked his main rival in the process.

Pogačar outsprinted Gaudu atop the 6.7% climb to claim his fifth victory of the season, with Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious) placing third as Vingegaard was passed by various members of the GC group.

The rider who took Pogačar's Tour de France crown last year eventually dragged himself across the line in sixth place some 43 seconds down.

It was quite the implosion, given the way Vingegaard had kicked off the attacking with 4.3km to go - drawing Pogačar into response but not into collaboration - and even more so given that Vingegaard looked to have shut down Pogačar's subsequent attack. He was late to respond and started well on the back foot but slowly clawed his way back to within just a few metres from Pogačar's back wheel, only for the Slovenian to accelerate through a bend and the gap to creep open again.

From there, it yawned to a gaping hole that leaves Pogačar firmly in control of Paris-Nice and drawing first blood in their first direct confrontation of 2023.

"I was a little bit [surprised]," Pogačar said of Vingegaard's demise. "First he launched the attack and thought he was feeling super super great, so I didn't counter - I was waiting for the rest.

"In the end, it was really tough and I think he just missed a little bit to catch me then he couldn't close and cracked a little bit."

Pogačar moved into the yellow jersey as the new overall leader, his time gaps buffeted by yet more time bonuses. Not only did he collect 10 seconds for the stage win, he'd also grabbed one at the intermediate sprint to take his collection for Paris-Nice to 23 seconds - the exact amount of time he conceded to Vingegaard in Tuesday's team time trial.

Pogačar has a 10-second lead over second-placed Gaudu, who also had a strong TTT, while Vingegaard is in third place but some 44 seconds down. Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) at 56 seconds is the only other rider within a minute of Pogačar.

"It was not in my mind to take yellow today, but you don't say no to yellow, so I'm happy," Pogačar said.

How it unfolded

The 165km stage took the riders from Saint-Amand-Montrond to the first uphill finish at La Loge des Gardes, with exposed country roads in the first half followed by some small hills to precede the category 1 summit finish.

The wind was up and there was a general tension at the start over the threat of crosswinds and echelons, which made for a fast start to proceedings. However, the conditions weren't quite right to cause the anticipated damage, and then race soon settled into a familiar format, with a seven-man breakaway.

Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Maurice Ballerstedt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) kicked it off and were joined in turn by Anders Skaarseth (Uno X-Pro), then Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny), Larry Warbasse (AG2R-Citroën) and Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech), and finally Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X).

The gap went out to four minutes and the race proceeded in relatively calm fashion until a section of cross-tailwind briefly split the bunch. Groupama-FDJ were among the chief protagonists as the bunch splintered into five groups with 85km to go, leaving Pogačar and Vingegaard in a small front echelon. Things were soon stitched back together, however, and the peloton was compact once more with 75km to go.

Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates men soon started to exert control on the stage, upping the pace and reducing the gap to the breakaway on the way to first of the day's climbs, the category 3 Côte du Vernet (2.1km at 5.8%). Already wearing the polka-dot jersey, Gregaard led the break over the top to add three more mountains classification points, as Ineos Grenadiers took over and led the bunch to the top 2:45 down.

With 40km to go, Ballerstedt lost contact up front and Eenkhoorn went solo for a while on a downhill, with the group coming back together to argue over workload as the second climb, the category 3 Côte de Cheval Rigon (5.7km at 3.9%) began. Once again it was Gregaard who helped himself to the points while in the bunch behind, UAE Team Emirates moved through the gears but had to back off when Mikkel Bjerg punctured mid-pull.

Having allowed the Dane back in, they set him back to work on the uncategorised - but long and draggy - Col du Beaulouis and the gap to the break plummeted once more, to the point that it was effectively wiped out by the top.

Indeed, with 15km remaining and bonus seconds on offer at the top, Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) sprang clear and he was followed by none other than Pogačar. They breezed past the breakaway remnants and Matthews bike-threw to pip Skaarseth and took the maximum bonus seconds, while Pogačar came in third to take a single second.

In a moment of drama, Pogačar and Matthews - good friends off the bike - linked up and appeared to be pressing down the descent, but it was soon reeled in by Jumbo-Visma's Tobias Foss. Teams then got reorganised for the final climb of La Loge des Gardes (6.7km at 7.1%).

Clément Champoussin (Arkéa-Samsic) was the first attacker, but UAE's Felix Grossschartner soon set a pace that put him and many others in trouble. Yellow jerks Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) dropped with 5.2km to go and he was soon followed by GC candidates in Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious).

With only 20 riders left, Vingegaard launched his early move with 4.3km to go. Pogačar jumped onto the wheel, and the pair left everyone else behind - déjá-vu from last summer. Pogačar, however, was not willing to press on and sat on Vingegaard's wheel as the easing in pace allowed the group to come back. 

At that point, with 3.5km to go, Gaudu immediately launched his intelligent attack. He gained 15 seconds and it wasn't until a kilometre later that there was any concerted counter. The first move came from Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) and once a couple of others had started to jump across, Pogačar sprinted away as well. Vingegaard was far down the group, and also slow to spot it, leaving him scrambling into response. He looked to have steadied the ship, moving clear of everyone and working his way back to Pogačar, even if slowly. 

But disaster struck with 2km to go as Pogačar accelerated again to make contact with Gaudu and distance Vingegaard.

From there, Gaudu looked to sit on Pogačar as he extended the gap with the intention of trying to win the sprint for the line. The Frenchman responded well to a first vicious acceleration with 300 metres to go, and even drew up alongside, but then had to relent as the Slovenian found another kick to take him clear in the final 100 metres.

Vingegaard crossed the line head bowed, having suffered a significant blow not only in the context of this week but perhaps the psychological tussle of the entire season.

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