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Paris-Nice: Santiago Buitrago pushes ahead of Luke Plapp to win stage 4 on Mont Brouilly
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 4 of Paris-Nice!
A lot of climbing on the menu today on the road to Mont Brouilly (3km at 7.7%).
150 riders begin today's stage following the abandons of Arnaud De Lie, Oliver Naesen, and Michael Schwarzmann.
Struggling Arnaud De Lie abandons Paris-Nice with cobbled Classics in mind
'After crashing in Le Samyn last Tuesday, Arnaud isn’t feeling 100% yet' say Lotto-Dstny
Only a few minutes before the start of today's stage.
Brandon McNulty is in yellow today after his UAE Team Emirates team triumphed in the stage 3 team time trial.
Paris-Nice: UAE Team Emirates win stage 3 team time trial, McNulty takes overall lead
Jayco-AlUla second, EF Education-EasyPost third in 26.9km race against the clock in Auxerre
The peloton has now rolled out into the neutral zone.
A look back at the stage 3 result...
183km to go
The flag has now dropped and racing is underway on stage 4!
Six riders were on the move but they've been caught quickly.
More moves flow at the front during these early kilometres.
Soudal-QuickStep leading the pace-making the peloton at this early stage.
160km to go
The Côte du Mont-Saint-Vincent (2.9km at 6.3%) is coming up shortly.
The peloton all together at the moment.
Jonas Rutsch (EF) tried a move but he's brought back as the climb begins.
Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) has been dropped.
150km to go
Other sprinters, including Arvid De Kleijn (Tudor) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) are also going out the rear.
Astana's Cristian Scaroni makes an attack on the way up.
The Italian has taken several riders with him on the attack.
Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), Owain Doull (EF), and Jon Barrenetxea (Movistar) went with him over the top.
Scaroni took the five points as first across the summit, followed by three, two, and one points for the trio.
A different set of riders has hit off the front on the way down as Scaroni is joined by Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Stefan Bissegger (EF) and Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Dstny).
KOM leader Burgaudeau leads the break.
135km to go
Two minutes for the move now.
And a 46.6kph average speed so far.
Meanwhile, at the back of the race Michael Matthews has stopped and stepped into his team car. He's out of Paris-Nice.
128km to go
Another hill for the riders now, though it's not categorised.
Over 30km to go until the riders hit the next climb of the day.
Jayco-AlUla have reported that Michael Matthews suffered from "gastrointestinal issues" overnight.
🏥 MEDICAL UPDATEUnfortunately, Michael Matthews has had to abandon Paris-Nice on stage 4 after suffering with gastrointestinal issues during last night. Get better soon Bling. 💪🇫🇷 #ParisNice pic.twitter.com/k7gbAkEXfoMarch 6, 2024
Bora-Hansgrohe are currently leading the way in the peloton.
108km to go
3:30 for the breakaway group now.
Here's what Primož Roglič said at the start of today's stage...
"Looking back we didn't do our best job. When you have opportunities to win time and you lose time…. We lost one minute. It's better than losing two a lot but there are a lot of things we need to discuss.
"Today is a new day, the sun is out and we have to do our best. It's always the right day to attack but the thing is you need to have legs. It's a challenging parcours, it's hard and hopefully, when I have the legs, we will do our best. We will see. The results so far don't show much of the legs.
"Let's say that the fact I won a similar stage in 2021, we can take that as a positive sign. Every day is important for the GC. Probably yesterday was even more important than today."
100km to go
Inside the final 100km now and the riders are closing in on the Col de Boubon (4.4km at 6%).
Remco Evenepoel compared today's stage to a Classic...
"It was obvious that the teams at the end of the start list would have less favourable conditions, that's the way the game is played in our sport. We were unlucky but we still showed that the team was in good shape and we set a good time.
"Today looks like being a great Classic. It's going to be one of the most important days of the week. We're in a good position, as I'm not too far behind the UAE guys in the general standings. But we're not the only ones, so it won't be up to us to take responsibility for controlling the race."
Onto the day's second climb now.
Still three minutes between the break and peloton here.
Over the top of the Col de Boubon and Burgaudeau leads the way for another five mountain points.
Scaroni, De Buyst and Bissegger follow for three, two, one points.
Now it's onto another second-category climb, the Côte de Vauxrenard.
82km to go
The climb is 3.2km with an average gradient of 6.7%.
Race leader Brandon McNulty among the peloton.
The sprinters dropped earlier are now on the way out the rear once again having made their way back on.
Meanwhile, Bora-Hansgrohe continue to pull.
Burgaudeau is once again the leader over the top for another five points.
Gorka Izagirre (Cofidis) has abandoned the race.
25 points for Burgaudeau now in the mountain classification.
Now down into the valley again on the way to the next climb.
Just over 2:30 between the break and the peloton at the moment.
The breakaway speeding through the French countryside.
Scaroni has pushed on in the break as the riders take on the next climb of the day, the second-category Col de Durbize.
It's 2.2km at 9.4%.
56km to go
Scaroni is the sole leader over the top this time.a
Behind him, the peloton has also put on the pace, closing to within 1:20 of the lead.
Only Scaroni and Burgaudeau left up front.
De Buyst and Bissegger back in the peloton as Bora-Hansgrohe continue to lead.
It's been a wet day out there on the bike and the rain continues to fall.
48km to go
Scaroni with 40 seconds now.
Burgaudeau is brought back now.
The day's first ascent of Mont Brouilly coming up!
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UAE, Lidl, Ineos also up front with Bora.
Just 16 seconds for Scaroni on the climb now...
40km to go
Riders are dropping out the back but no major moves up front this far out.
Scaroni is hanging on here! He'll survive over the top.
Bora-Hansgrohe lead the peloton over the top 20 seconds down as the bell rings out.
Scaroni's big effort to stick out front comes to an end.
And there's a split in the peloton on the flatter run towards the day's intermediate sprint.
33km to goI
It's all come back together pretty quickly though.
And here comes the sprint!
Pithie, Evenepoel and Roglič are all up there pushing on.
It's Evenepoel who comes out on top, though. Roglič in second.
Six bonus seconds for the Belgian means he gains two on his GC rival.
A look at that sprint.
🏁 32km🟢 Sprint intermédiaire 🟢📍 Régnié-Durette1️⃣ 🇧🇪@EvenepoelRemco, 10pts, 6''2️⃣ 🇸🇮@rogla, 6pts, 4''3️⃣ 🇳🇿@LaurencePithie🟢, 4pt, 2''#ParisNice pic.twitter.com/YCy87asdqGMarch 6, 2024
Another short sharp test coming up now as UAE Team Emirates lead the way to the first-category Côte du Mont-Saint-Vincent.
The climb is 5.1km long at an average of 7.3%.
26km to go
Soudal-QuickStep also up front in the peloton here. McNulty is right behind Evenepoel in the line.
Now it's Bora to the front.
Green jersey Pithie out the back. Meanwhile Luke Plapp has gone on the attack.
23km to go
Plapp has 15 seconds on the peloton in short order.
David Gaudu among a handful of riders caught up in a crash on the way up.
He's chasing back on with a teammate while up front Santiago Buitrago has attacked over to Plapp.
21km to go
Plapp and Buitrago still 15 seconds up the road.
The pair are over the top.
Gaudu almost a minute down after the crash, so 40 seconds down on the peloton.
16km to go
Plapp and Buitrago on the move.
Tirreno-Adriatico stage 3 is over and done with and there was a sprint after a crash-marred finish.
The peloton strung out in a line on the descent.
It's the longest descent of the day heading back towards Mont Brouilly.
UAE, QuickStep, Lidl, Bora, Ineos all up at the head of the peloton with all their GC contenders up there too.
Onto the flat and things slow up and riders look around to see who will take it up.
10km to go
Now Ineos hit the front, still on this wet descent.
Gaudu now 1:20 off the leaders and almost a minute behind the peloton.
Jonathan Castroviejo works on the front for Egan Bernal.
Buitrago and Plapp now have nearly 30 seconds.
7km to go
Still racing towards the final climb.
The gap is growing as the peloton hasn't really sped up.
38 seconds now.
5km to go
2km to the start of the final ascent of Mont Brouilly.
Ineos Grenadiers with four up front.
Can the two leaders hold off the peloton on the way up? They've got a good headstart.
4km to go
41 seconds now.
Now UAE move to the front to up the pace.
Jay Vine on the front and Aleksandr Vlasov for Roglič too.
Bora and Ineos lead it.
Vine out the back now.
3km to go
Here we go. 3km at 7.7% to the finish line!
Buitrago and Plapp begin the climb 40 seconds up.
Now Ineos with four men on the front again.
And again they're not making any headway...
It's looking good for the two leaders.
Buitrago and Plapp out in the lead.
2km to go
Still 40 seconds for the attackers.
QuickStep hit the front now with Ilan Van WIlder and then Remco Evenepoel in second wheel.
All the major names still in there, apart from Gaudu, of course.
QuickStep shaving a few seconds off.
1.5km to go
Van Wilder pushing on with Evenepoel, Jorgenson, Skjelmose behind.
34 seconds and slowly dropping.
Plapp is dropping!
Buitrago goes clear with 1.3km to go.
The gap goes back up to 40 seconds.
1km to go
It looks like Buitrago will add a third career WorldTour win to his palmarès here.
Van Wilder continues to lead the GC group of around 15 men.
No moves and Buitrago's lead is increasing!
500m to go
Buitrago has 46 seconds now.
The GC group pass under the flamme rouge and still no sign of an attack.
Now Evenepoel attacks, finally.
Buitrago now over 50 seconds up the road.
Evenepoel's small acceleration doesn't change much.
Gall, Evenepoel, Jorgenson, Roglič, Bernal, Skjelmose, McNulty all up there.
Buitrago comes to the finish line.
Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) wins stage 4 of Paris-Nice
Plapp comes across in second at around 11 seconds back.
And now Evenepoel makes a dash for the line alongside Skjelmose.
Just under 40 seconds down as Skjelmose outsprints him at the finish.
Great job to Buitrago and Plapp for animating the race because it was dreadful otherwise. No hint of a GC move until 500 metres out...
Buitrago gets the stage and Plapp rides into the yellow jersey of race leader.
Plapp has a 13-second GC lead over Buitrago now.
McNulty is at 27 seconds with Almeida (29) and Evenepoel (30) rounding out the top five.
Paris-Nice: Santiago Buitrago pushes ahead of Luke Plapp to win stage 4 on Mont Brouilly
Australian champion takes over GC lead with aggressive ride
Buitrago celebrating the win atop Mont Brouilly.
While Skjelmose and Evenepoel sprint to third and fourth.
Finally, here's our new race leader Plapp enjoying his time on the podium.
Here's a selection of what Remco Evenepoel said to CyclingProNet after the finish...
"It was very good day. I thought I was third but David showed me that Plapp was still in front. I thought I took some seconds on the line but it's not a big thing. I think it was overall a very good stage for us.
"Let's say some tactics of UAE were a bit strange to let the guys go all of a sudden, especially if you have four guys at the front of the classification. You can take one guy out and make him work. That's what they started to do but in the end Vine stopped. In the end, it was a bit unfortunate for the GC guys that Buitrago and Plapp – two dangerous guys – could stay away."
And here's what stage 4 winner Buitrago said after finishing...
"I didn't really expect it today, but I came in with fantastic condition and when I saw Roglič put the pace down on the climb, I decided to try. In the end you never how things will play out. I'm very happy with the victory today."
That's all from us for today at Paris-Nice. Be sure to come back for more live coverage on stage 5 tomorrow!
