00:01Welcome to stage four of Paris-Nice.
00:03After the Ineos Grenadiers won yesterday's team time trial
00:07and Juan Ayuso snatched the overall lead,
00:09the race enters a new phase today with a first uphill finish.
00:13Worsening weather conditions will also play their part
00:16with rain forecast throughout the day
00:18and a good chance of echelons early on.
00:21The whole stage is going to be hard,
00:23starting here with the rain, crosswinds from the start
00:26and then we head into quite an up-and-down terrain
00:30and then the finals also the last 30-40 Ks are all, there's no flat.
00:36So yeah, it'll be a really hard final leading into that last K
00:39which is really, really hard.
00:40So I think we'll see differences.
00:42Kevin Vaucelin helped Ineos to a long-awaited TTT win yesterday
00:45and with only two seconds to make up on Ayuso,
00:48he'll be hoping to snaffle the yellow and white jersey.
00:52I think the race will split at the start with all the wind and the rain
00:55and then we'll see how things go in the final.
00:58You never know what's going to happen in a bike race,
01:00especially after a team time trial.
01:02It depends how the legs are.
01:04So yeah, we'll see.
01:06Visma-Lisebike were disappointed to only come fourth yesterday
01:09with Jonas Wingergaard admitting it wasn't their best day.
01:12But the two-time Tour de France winner has a chance to hit back in Auchan.
01:16I think the rainy chapter will start now so we'll see.
01:22All the predictions say all day rain so it will be a cold day today
01:26and obviously it's an uphill finish so you have to be ready.
01:29An uphill finish with a very steep last kilometre.
01:33Even if the final climb only has an average gradient of 4.5%,
01:36it'll be a gruelling hike to the line with pinches at 16%.
01:40A total of 195 kilometres to cover with two medium climbs in the last 60km or so
01:46acting as a warm-up to the finale in Auchan.
01:52Well, as predicted, there was a chaotic start with a huge split in the peloton
01:56and crashes caused by the awful weather conditions.
01:59Dan Holler was forced to abandon after going to ground,
02:02a huge shame for the Dutchman after his lively start to the race.
02:05Meanwhile, Vaucelin, who'd expected the split, found himself on the wrong side of it
02:10in a chase group here of 15 riders.
02:13The Frenchmen and others including Leni Martinez and Marc Solaire
02:16trailed a big front group by around 50 seconds.
02:20The early average speed was a blistering 53km an hour
02:23and it remained full gas all day.
02:25The front group had as many as 40 riders at the start
02:28including Vingegaard, Ayuso, Oscar Onley, Brandon McNulty and Danny Martinez.
02:33The Colombian had a host of his Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe teammates up there setting the pace.
02:38It was going to be tough for Volker and Co to catch up.
02:47Well, things not looking good for Ineos
02:49because Onley had been caught up in the crash that forced Holler to abandon
02:52and appeared to be struggling.
02:53The Scotsman stopping for a bike change
02:55with Josh Tarling ready to pace him back to the front.
02:58The riders entering the final 50km
03:00before the most dramatic moment off the stage.
03:08A big crash in the front group which had disastrous consequences
03:12for several of the GC favourites.
03:14A couple of UAE riders went down including McNulty
03:17but above all so did Juana Ayuso, the race leader.
03:21The Spaniard was clearly in pain
03:23and it was quickly obvious that he couldn't go on.
03:27That is a big, big shame for the leader in Paris-Nice.
03:32Ayuso and McNulty were both forced to abandon.
03:34We wish them and everybody else who went down a speedy recovery.
03:38And that left just five men at the front.
03:40Vingegaard and four from Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe.
03:43Martinez, Nico Dens and the Van Dijk twins, Tim and Mick.
03:46But they were still putting time into their rivals
03:48with Vukalan now over two minutes back.
03:52The leaders soon reached the intermediate sprint
03:55but in spite of their strength in numbers
03:57Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe were caught out by Vingegaard
03:59who sprinted to the maximum six seconds.
04:02This front group was not going to be caught.
04:10Dens' day was done on the penultimate climb
04:13so it was now Vingegaard, Martinez and the Van Dijk brothers at the front.
04:18Onley and Vukalan still losing time with their GC hopes in tatters.
04:21As the Frenchman said,
04:23you never know what's going to happen in a bike race.
04:26Well eventually their groups came together
04:28with David Godu and Jenson Plowright also in the mix.
04:32But with the Van Dijk twins doing a fantastic job
04:35the gap was soon up to nearly three minutes.
04:39In between the two groups was Georg Steinhauser
04:41of EF Education Easy Post,
04:43a survivor of the original big breakaway.
04:48The four men at the front embarking on the final climb to Ushon
04:52with the Van Dijk brothers still plugging away.
04:54They would end up sharing the day's most combative rider award
04:57with Mick the first of them to drop.
05:00Further back, Vukalan had attacked from the chase group
05:02with Godu, Lenny Martinez, Solaire and Plowright all chasing.
05:06Oscar Onley though was dropped.
05:08The gaps remaining stable as the three leaders approach the Flamme Rouge
05:12and that brutal final ramp.
05:181,000 metres remain on stage four of Paris-Nice
05:20and it's Jonas Vingegaard who's going clear into this final
05:23on this unprecedented climb.
05:26He says, thanks very much for the help, but I'm off.
05:29Well, Vingegaard soaring away towards his first victory of the season.
05:33Vukalan still battling for pride and going solo from his group
05:36as Vingegaard emerged victorious from a day of carnage on Paris-Nice.
05:42And it's Jonas Vingegaard who comes into the hoardings
05:45and he's greeted by hundreds and hundreds of fans.
05:49Jonas Vingegaard made his move with a kilometre to go.
05:52He hasn't missed a beat on stage four.
05:54Visma Lisa bike are going to take victory with Jonas Vingegaard
05:58and he's going to take his first Paris-Nice road stage.
06:05Well, Jonas Vingegaard making the most of a horrendous day for his rivals
06:08to seize control of this 84th edition.
06:11The Dane puts in a flawless performance,
06:13making the splits and avoiding the crashes
06:15and he finds himself in a great position to win this race
06:18at the third time of asking, his 43rd career victory.
06:22Last year I had to abandon the race, of course.
06:27Then I had the leaders jersey and I crashed
06:31and afterwards I had to abandon the race.
06:33But, yeah, coming back now, winning a stage.
06:36I guess it's my first stage win in Paris-Nice,
06:40outside of the team time trials we've won in the two times before.
06:44But, yeah, it's really nice to start the season this way.
06:49Vingegaard taking his first win of 2026 by 41 seconds from Martinez,
06:54who was only four seconds faster than the impressive Tim van Dijk.
06:58Mick came fourth and Steinhauser was the best of the rest
07:00at 2 minutes 54. Massive gaps on this fourth stage.
07:05And that means massive gaps overall.
07:07Vingegaard leads Martinez by 52 seconds,
07:10with Steinhauser and Vuckeland both over three minutes back
07:13and the rest at more than five.
07:17Luke Lamperty remains the leader of the points classification
07:20ahead of Vito Brat, with third-place Vingegaard joining Max Cantor
07:24on 25 points.
07:29Kasper Pedersen is still the king of the mountains ahead of Matisse Le Baer,
07:33but Vingegaard is also lurking in third place in that classification.
07:41And Steinhauser takes over from Ayuso as the race's best young rider,
07:45though he has Vuckeland breathing down his neck at just 19 seconds.
07:51A potentially decisive day then on Paris-Nice,
07:54but we're only halfway through the race.
07:56Join us again on Thursday for a punchy fifth stage.
07:59And thanks for watching.
