Paris-Nice Stage 4: Primož Roglič drops the entire field in first climbing test

In the first test of climbers’ legs at the 2021 Paris Nice, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) won stage 4 in stunning fashion in an uphill attack at 3km to go Wednesday.

Waiting until the final steep climb, Roglič blasted off the front of the group, and no one could answer. With the win, Roglič moved into the overall lead, now 35 seconds ahead of defending champion Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

“I’m happy about the result already. Yesterday was a nice one, I showed myself that we were working good, so it is beautiful. I’m super happy that we have two wins for our team today,” Roglic said. “It was a hard day, with something for me definitely. It was beautiful that I could finish it off. Definitely, the goal is to have [the jersey] in Nice. We deserve it and have a strong team.”

American Brandon McNulty, now third on the general classification, was pleased with how his 2021 season debut is going so far.

“I started relatively early and had no gear in the house today. However, I am happy with the form and I also had very good legs today,” said McNulty, who rode a strong time trial Tuesday. “I started with classification ambitions on this Paris-Nice and it is nice to know that I am now on the right track.”

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) also rode well, and climbed into sixth overall at 58 seconds back. Neilson Powless (EF Education-Nippo) slipped to 27th overall at 29th at 2:20 back.

Noticeably absent from the fight to the finish was Tao Geoghegan Hart the leader of Team Ineos Grenadiers. The young Briton crashed on the penultimate descent, alongside David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). TV cameras caught sight of him drifting off the back of the peloton while clutching his hand.

Geoghegan Hart abandoned shortly after the crash and was taken to a hospital for examination.

Not our race this year. Sadly stage four concludes at #ParisNice without @taogeoghegan.

The young Brit was forced to abandon following a crash in the closing kilometres.

He will now head to hospital for further assessment. Medical update to follow later. pic.twitter.com/O8TaXk6rvu

— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) March 10, 2021

How it happened

A break that included Oliver Naesen (AG2R-Citroën), J.J. Rojas (Movistar Team), Fabian Doubey (Total Direct Énergie), Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech) established a three-minute gap by the time the peloton rode through the 60km to go mark.

The group worked well together until a small climb at 50km to go in which Doubey — wearing the polka dots of the leader of the KOM competition — cracked. The lead group came apart and was one by one reeled into the main group.

By the base of the next, penultimate climb, Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) wearing the green jersey was popped out of the main group, along with Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers), as well as Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Seeing a chance to go it alone, Bernard went into time trial mode into the climb, over the summit, and down the back side of the rise.

While chasing on the high-speed descent, Geoghegan Hart appeared to strike a pedal on a steep and tight corner and went down. David Gaudu (Groupama_FDJ) went off the road trying to avoid him. Both riders were back on bikes quickly, but it was clear that the Ineos Grendadier rider was struggling.

Landed on my head today. Thank you @INEOSGrenadiers & the medical team for putting my long-term welfare first when it was clear I wasn’t 100%. Little rest, no screen-time & hopefully back soon ❤️. Ciao all 👋 x

— Tao Geoghegan Hart (@taogeoghegan) March 10, 2021

Rémi Cavagna, who posted a very fast time trial the previous day, attacked the main group at 15km to go, right after the previous descent.

Luis León Sánchez (Astana-Premier Tech) gave chase and caught up with Cavagna — about one min behind Bernard — while Gaudu made his way into the back of the peloton, seemingly to have recovered from his off-road exploit.

The two brought Bernard to within a dozen seconds, when on the next rise, Cavagna appeared to have a mechanical and was stuck in a very large gear, unable to effectively pedal uphill.

Sanchez left Cavagna behind and caught up with Bernard, while the American Brandon McNulty (UAE-Team Emirates) in fourth place on the GC, and Roglič went to the front of the main group, about 30 seconds back of the lead two riders.

At the base of the final climb, Jumbo-Visma had put Roglič into position, just six wheels back.

Sánchez was caught with 4km to go when Pierre Latour (Total Direct Énergie) attacked and was immediately countered by an explosive move by Roglič, who went up the road with no one on his wheel.

Jai Hindley (Team DSM) took a moment to respond and was joined by 2020 Paris-Nice winner Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), and a handful of others, but it was too late to bring back the Slovenian from Team Jumbo-Visma.

Roglič rode solo from 3.5km to the finish line. Roglič also earned the lead of green jersey classification, when he came through several intermediate sprint points ahead of Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step).

“Obviously I’m more happy about my result, I proved to myself I was in good shape,” said Roglič. “It’s beautiful and I’m super happy for the team.”

What’s to come

Stage 5, Thursday is a 200km mostly-flat route, and the sprinters will be looking to prise that green jersey off the shoulders of Roglič.

The route will trace through some of the same roads as ridden in the recent Boucles Drôme Ardèche.